This former office block with ground floor bar in the heart of Bournemouth was converted into a backpacker hostel and café with the help of Paul Basham Associates transport team.
THE BRIEF
With the proposals encompassing 92 backpackers rooms, a managers flat and a 68 cover café, all with only 4 parking spaces, demonstrating site accessibility and suitability for a largely car free development was key to securing the consent.
OUR APPROACH
Details of pedestrian, cycle and public transport accessibility were considered, including preparation of a detailed site accessibility map, to support the low parking provision on site. On-street parking restrictions and close proximity of city centre car parks were also identified as factors to suitability accommodate those who sought to drive to the site.
Multimodal trips for the former office/ bar use compared to those proposed uses, ensuring the modest changes in trip peaks and footfall would not warrant any off-site improvements to the local network.
As most other aspects of the site remained relatively similar to the existing arrangements, the Transport Statement was kept as succinct as possible in order to keep the arguments clear and reduce unnecessary expenditure for the client.
THE RESULT
The change of use application was granted permission in early 2016; a great result from the team at Paul Basham Associates. The site now operates under the Baggies chain, in conjunction with their Brighton and London backpacker hostels. They kindly provided us with some great photos of their hostels; take a look at their website to find out more! www.baggiesbackpackers.com