EMPTY buildings and business premises have become a common sight across towns and cities up and down the country.
In the past few years changes to shopping habits and rising overheads have forced companies to rethink the way they operate, leading to online platforms being prioritised.
Southampton has not been immune to the latest trends which have resulted in units or in some cases, entire buildings, being left vacant and eventually falling into disrepair.
While some premises are still lying empty, with no plans to renovate them as yet, others will soon make way for flats or become the home of new businesses.
Below are five empty buildings due to be brought back to life.
Read more: Pictures show changes to Southampton in the past decade
Sir James Matthews building
The Sir James Matthews Building
This impressive building in Southampton city centre has been vacant since Solent University decided to move its business, law and digital courses in 2019.
It was formerly Plummers department store.
Earlier this year, the University of Southampton bought the site in Guildhall Square and is now in the process of renovating it.
The university has also unveiled plans to reopen The Artisan, a popular cafe synonym of live music and and films screened on the walls.
Former Topshop and Topman store
The former Topshop and Topman in Above Bar Street
This unit in Above Bar Street has stood empty since February 2020 – four months after Topshop’s parent company, Arcadia Group, went into administration.
However, sport and fashion retailer, JD, has submitted a planning application to move into the empty store.
JD already occupies a unit further up the road, at 68-70 Above Bar Street, but this is currently listed for rent on property website Realla.
Former Eastpoint Centre site
Plans to provide 128 homes at Burgoyne Road, Southampton, have been approved. Picture: R D Architects/SCC planning portal.
The former Eastpoint Centre site in Burgoyne Road, Hightown is to make way for 128 flats and houses.
Formerly the home of Hightown Secondary School, which shut in the early 1980s, the building was later taken over by the Eastpoint Centre, which was used as a training centre for plumbers, electricians and gas engineers.
The proposed development, approved last month, includes two blocks of apartments and 21 houses.
Bugle Street building
Timothy Edgley 27 January 2022·2-min read Historic building in Bugle Street Southampton which is being restored. Historic building in Bugle Street Southampton
This listed building at 1A Bugle Street, near Town Quay, is being turned into a wedding venue.
The Italian-style site dates back to 1846 and was formerly the home of the Royal Southern Yacht Club.
After sitting empty for “several years”, The Lovebug Group Limited was granted planning permission to convert the building into a seven-bedroom hotel, a mixed use venue centre, and wedding venue.
Building works are ongoing.
Bedford Place unit
16 Bedford Place. Photo: Google Maps
16 Bedford Place was previously occupied by Peter Conway Tailoring.
But after the shop closed down, Shirley Robinson was given permission to turn the unit into a Caribbean-style takeaway.
The takeaway will be allowed to open between 12noon and 10pm, seven days a week.
Work will start once a written scheme for the control of noise, fumes and odours from extractor fans and other equipment has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.
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