Public consultation held on Friar Gate Goods Yard plans

A public consultation has taken place to get feedback on plans to transform Derby’s historic Friar Gate Goods Yard.

Last month, it was announced that Wavensmere Homes had been appointed by the site’s owner, Clowes Developments, to move forward with plans for a residential-led scheme.

As part of the public consultation, which closed on Monday, new visuals were released to show how new life could be breathed into the derelict site.

James Dickens, managing director of Wavensmere Homes, which is currently delivering the £175 million Nightingale Quarter residential scheme, said: “We are very pleased with how quickly our design team has worked to create the inspiring visuals for how Friar Gate Goods Yard could be reanimated.

“Our plans are commercially viable, while maximising the amount of new public open space, and investing millions into saving the two badly fire-damaged 150-year-old listed buildings.”

Under Wavensmere’s proposals, the landmark site could be transformed into 274 houses and apartments, alongside the restoration of the Grade II listed Bonded Warehouse and Engine House to create potential health and fitness space, a restaurant/café, a flexible office space, and other amenities.

The plans also include new areas of public open space, including play spaces and pocket parks.

A new multi-purpose public realm and community space is also proposed for the area adjacent to Friar Gate Bridge, with retention of some of the original railway arch facades.

New vehicular, pedestrian and cycle access would be created at various points around the site, from Uttoxeter New Road, Great Northern Way, and Friar Gate, with the Mick Mack cycling route also extended.

Friar Gate Goods Yard has been in the ownership of the Clowes family for 40 years, with a number of options for redevelopment proposed but not progressed, due to heritage constraints and commercial viability.

Now that the public consultation closed, Wavensmere Homes and Clowes Developments will use responses to help it submit a commercially viable planning application to Derby City Council this summer.

Friar Gate Goods Yard was intended as the main goods depot for the Great Northern Railway line, to handle coal, livestock, timber, and metals.

Designed in 1870, and entering operation in 1878, the Bonded Warehouse building contained extensive warehouse space and offices.

It was used as a store for the US Army during the Second World War, housing ammunition and other supplies.

The Engine House once supplied power to the hydraulic lifts and capstans at the Bonded Warehouse.

The site first became derelict in 1967, and overtime became overgrown and fell into a poor state of repair.

An arson attack took place at the Goods Yard in 2020, which exposed the whole inner steel structure of the two historic buildings.