Policy information sourced from Wandsworth Employment and Industry Document

EI 7 Redundancy of employment premises

To establish whether there is demand for a premises to continue in economic use:

  • The premises must be unsuccessfully marketed for a continuous period of at least 18 months while vacant or available for occupation; and
  • Justifiable evidence must be provided to demonstrate that it is not feasible or viable to refurbish, renew or modernise the premises in order to meet the requirements of existing or future occupiers.

Premises that are in poor condition or have been partially demolished should also be marketed for redevelopment for economic use.

For larger offices that provide over 1,000 sq ms of office floorspace, justifiable evidence must be provided to demonstrate that it is not feasible or viable to adapt the office floorspace as smaller business (B1) units to meet demand from SME businesses.

Alternative uses

In Employment Protection Areas, employment premises should be marketed in accordance with EI7.1 for a broad range of employment uses including all B class and appropriate sui generis uses. Where it is demonstrated that there is no demand for a premises to continue in any industrial use, there will be a preference for the industrial floorspace to be replaced with B1 office floorspace, in order to maximise opportunities for employment floorspace in good locations and to retain clusters of employment premises.

In town centres, local centres, focal points, the Central Activities Zone and employment protection areas, if it has been demonstrated that there is no demand for a premises to continue in B1a office use, a sequential approach to alternative uses will be applied with the preferred alternative uses in the following order:

  • Community or cultural facilities;
  • An employment-generating use;
  • Mixed use, including an employment-generating use and residential use.

Alternative uses should be appropriate for the location and regard must be given to the relevant Local Plan policies, area spatial strategy, and the VNEB OAPF.

For more information please see the Employment and Industry Document