Plans to demolish vandalised building approved

Lanson House will be flattened after demolition plans were approved by officials

A large disused city-centre office building blighted by vandalism and antisocial behaviour is to be demolished.

Lanson House, on Mount Street in Preston, will be flattened after the green light was given by the city council's planning officials.

The firm behind the demolition proposal claimed levelling the site would also finally enable the construction of an apartment block on a neighbouring plot, more than five years after plans were approved.

A blueprint for the development of 47 flats – within a building between four and seven storeys high – was approved for the corner of Mount Street and Garden Street in July 2020.

Covered in graffiti

Several windows have been smashed at Lanson House, while some of the security hoardings surrounding the three-storey building - which was constructed in the 1990s - are covered in graffiti.

In documents submitted in support of the demolition project, 1618 Architects said it would "allow an application for both the Lanson House site and the adjacent land immediately to the south to be progressed".

City planners were told that the occupiers of nearby properties were "happy" for the building to be demolished "as there has been lots of vandalism in the area".

Planning officers noted the "gap" that would be created in the Winckley Square Conservation Area as a result of the clearance "would have a negative impact on its character and appearance", meaning that redevelopment of the site was "encouraged", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.