Listed building repairs agreed

More repairs to a listed city centre shop which was at risk of collapsing are finally set to be carried out after a five-month delay.

Angel House in Broad Street, which was home to Worcester’s only Poundland store, has been closed for more than two years after it was left in a “hazardous” condition and at risk of collapse following a huge storm.

The Crown Estate, which owns the city centre building, put forward a planning application at the end of last year asking for permission to carry out a long list of repairs carried to the damaged grade II-listed building to protect it from disintegrating which Worcester City Council’s planners have now approved.

But the plans were heavily criticised by government heritage body Historic England which said it had been “concerned” about the application because its plans were “seriously lacking” in detail.

A decision was expected from city council planners in February but it was not made until last week after a prolonged back-and-forth between the Crown Estate and Historic England over its ‘inadequate’ application.

Historic England warned the Crown Estate in January that further clarity was needed over the “extensive” work and no detail had been provided over plans to remove walls and the Crown Estate still needed to justify is “radical” approach.

Despite meetings in March, Historic England said enough information had still not been provided a month later and the application was currently “too vague to be helpful” and “offered nothing meaningful.”

In the planning report, Historic England said: “The reports are all deficient in one way or another in providing an accurate summary and definition of the extent and nature of the works.

“For example, the report has a lot of information but it is not resolved into a set of drawings marking up what is actually proposed in terms of the works with any degree of precision.

“Nothing meaningful is offered in terms of the reconstruction to show how the building will be put back together.”

Angel House closed in May 2021 to allow for renovation work but was left in a “hazardous” condition and at risk of collapse following Storm Arwen later that year.

The application by the Crown Estate at the start of the year revealed the extent of some of the damage to the building including crumbling walls and cracked ceilings, damage to the roof, rotten wood beams and corroded steel.

The new planning application said that a leaking roof light in 2021 led to the discovery of “substantial structural defects” which had then “given rise to concerns for the stability of the whole structure.”

A spokesperson for Worcester City Council said: “We are pleased to have been able to issue the listed building consent which includes a number of conditions requiring further assessment and the submission of technical details.

“We will continue to work closely with Historic England and the applicant to ensure that the heritage significance of this building is conserved for future generations and the building is brought back into use as soon as possible.”