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Supporting Statement to Accompany Planning Application for a Change of Use and Registered Building Consent in Relation to use of the Building by the Isle of Man College of Further & High Education
Douglas Market Hall is owned and managed by Douglas Borough Council. Over the last few years the number of stall holders has diminished despite efforts to breathe life back into the building using short term weekend events. As a consequence, the Council sought expressions of interest in 2012 for organisations interested in operating the market on the Council’s behalf. Unfortunately, none of the expressions of interest to operate the market were completely satisfactory, however the Council was interested in the proposal received from the College to use the building as the base for delivering their expanded art, design and digital media degree courses. This use would allow the two existing longstanding tenants, the butcher and café operator to remain in place and increase footfall and use of the building during the week in term time but still allow community events, including markets at weekends and holiday periods.
The public will still be invited to visit the building during the week in order to visit the butcher and café and to integrate with the students. Risk assessments will be undertaken for specific activities that do not lend themselves to public integration.
The majority of equipment such as printers, laser cutter etc. will be contained within the existing roller-shuttered stall units so that they can be secured when not in use and when the building is being used for other purposes. During term time, the students will use the shared area in the centre of the building. Each student will be provided with a studio area comprising portable table and a shared portable storage unit. Areas will be defined using portable site fencing. All of this equipment will be capable of being cleared out of the central space when not in use. The site fencing will be reconfigured as required in order to maintain full flexibility of the space. It will also be used for displaying students’ work.
Changes required to the building in order to accommodate the College’s use are very minimal. It is proposed to redecorate internally but otherwise the proposed changes are as follows;
The following series of computer generated images give a flavour of the proposed use of the building during term time. Image 1; Typical term-time layout. Image 2; Digital Suite with equipment located in existing stall units and site fencing demarcating flexible areas.
Image 3; Site fencing and portable storage will maintain visibility across the space and can be used for display purposes. Image 4; The print press, laser cutter and sinks will be contained within the existing stall units.
Image 5; The portable equipment in the central space can be re-configured depending upon activity and use.
Public access into the building will be maintained, as will access into the public toilets. The majority of students currently use public transport to access the college. In this respect the Market Hall is very conveniently located in proximity to the main Douglas bus facility. Staff members will also be encouraged to use public transport but, should they wish to drive, the area is very well served by public car parking with the car parks at Shaw’s Brow, Lord Street and Parade Street being within easy walking distance. Loading and disabled parking is available immediately outside the building in Market Hill.
The proposal anticipates activity within the Market Hall increasing as a result of this new use. It is hoped that it will stimulate more interest in this fine public building and efforts will be made to explore other complementary uses such as public events and exhibitions. The majority of these events are anticipated to take place during the day time at weekends and during the academic holidays. However there is also potential for evening events such as cultural performances, talks and workshops aligned with the building’s proposed educational and artistic functions. These are not anticipated to continue beyond midnight. With this in mind it is proposed to seek a music licence and a fire certificate.
Accompanying notes for drawing No. 140521GM The proposed repurposing of the Market Hall to IoM College studio facilities will create the following key areas:
RECEIVED ON 14 JUL 2014
DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING AND BUILDING CONTROLS Town and City Planning Act 1989 Diet and Officer Insight
NOTES:
1/ Laser cutter venting.
The laser cutter requires a vent to the outside of the building. This will be made possible by cutting into or removing one of the small panes of glass in the corner of the window arch.
A different window - but this shows where the vent will pass through
2/ Wall partition removal.
As seen below on the plan drawing there is a partition between two of the sections comprising the digital suite. This wall will need to be removed.
The wall can be seen in the following two photographs - shaded red.
DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE
There are electrical sockets built into the studwork which will need to be relocated.
The existing electrical sockets (all switched doubles) are either flush-mounted into the studwork or stand proud of the wall as shown below.
In the digital suite particularly, the electrical sockets will be better sited at the south wall side and closer to the ground. The existing ones can stay but new
sockets will need to be placed. The digital suite will be a heavy use area and will need multiple additional sockets as seen on the plan.
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