Apartments plan for derelict Dudley coach house

The Grade II-listed Abberley House and the old coach house next to it, on the corner of Himley Road, have been lined up for 11 apartments under proposals submitted to Dudley Council.

The plans, put forward by BPN Architects on behalf of Mane Developments, have pledged a "sensitive conversion" of the 19th century listed buildings, including refurbishment and repairs.

A statement accompanying the plans says the outside of the buildings will be cleaned and repaired, while boarded up doors and windows will be reopened and replaced.

The apartments will be a "mix of studios and one bedroom units" over two floors, with the statement saying "smaller units are more commercially viable and help to support the sustainability of the proposal".

It adds: "The main plan changes are the removal of lightweight party walls, blocking up internal doors and the introduction of lightweight partitions to create bathrooms."

The development will feature 11 parking spaces, four at the front and seven at the back of the property, and a paved driveway and new landscaping has also been proposed.

The statement says: "The building is in a very poor state of repair, having been derelict for a long time.

"The conversion of the buildings in to residential units will help to secure the future of the buildings and will provide a fund specifically for the maintenance and management of the buildings."

It adds that the size of some units "falls short" of matching the Nationally Described Space Standards, but that increasing their size would have a "negative impact" on the listed building.

The buildings, which sit near to the Grange Inn pub, have fallen into disrepair having been unoccupied for years.

In the late 1990s the site was bought by the Allfor Group, which wanted to use it as a training base for engineering, but the firm had disappeared by the early 2000s.

It was put on the market for £695,000 in 2017.