Esplanade Quarter building approved

23 April 2015

The Planning Applications Committee has approved a planning application for Building 5, an office block to be built as part of the Esplanade Quarter.

The Committee considered the application on Thursday 23 April 2015 at the first planning meeting following the introduction of the new planning appeals system. Under this new process, the Minister is no longer involved in the initial consideration of applications or decisions that could be appealed.

The application (P/2014/2192), submitted by the Jersey Development Company, is to construct a six-storey office building on the south-east corner of the existing Esplanade car park.

The detached block will provide 69,000 (net) square feet of Grade A office accommodation and a 51-space basement car park. The current carpark will be moved to the other side of La Route de la Liberation.

An overall masterplan for the Esplanade Quarter was agreed by the States in 2008 and revised in 2011. It consists of plans for 620,000 square feet of office accommodation, 388 homes, a hotel / serviced apartments, shops, restaurants, 1,420 basement parking spaces and the lowering of La Route de la Liberation.

The Esplanade Quarter will be built in stages, in response to market demand. This current application is for one of six individual buildings (creating a total of 45,000 square metres of office accommodation) that make up the first phase of the Esplanade Quarter, otherwise known as the Jersey International Finance Centre.

Director of Development Control, Department of the Environment Peter Le Gresley said "The application is in line with the overall vision for the site, set out in the revised Hopkins Masterplan. The Planning Applications Committee acknowledged the range of public concerns on issues around the original decision but took the view that the States of Jersey has set the template for the development of this area and agreed it should go ahead."

"In approving the application, the Committee members were mindful that the masterplan was always intended to be pragmatic and flexible enough to respond to demand while retaining the overall vision."