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The Cedars
(Picture: April 2021)
Location
The Cedars are located on New Road, North Walsham, within a few minutes walk to the east of Market Place and St Nicholas’ Church.
Directly opposite The Cedars is the town post office with the North Walsham Fire Station located immediately to the east of that. A public car park and the town’s library are located further to the east along New Road.
Description
The mainly detached building is assumed late 18th Century with mid-19th Century alterations and additions - namely the two-storey grey brick wing to the east. The rest of the building is mainly white rendered, as can be seen in the photograph above.
The building is currently vacant and owned by North Norfolk District Council. The Cedars were formerly administrative offices for the council.
The building is Grade 2 Listed and is located within the North Walsham Conservation Area.
View the site plan.
Accommodation
The property is a former residential property laid out with a hallway and various rooms over two main floors. It has a basement and a further separate room to the front left, with separate access from the front gardens.
Principal areas are as follows;
- Ground floor net internal area is some 146.66 sqm (1,579 sq. ft)
- First floor net internal area is some 108.8 sqm (1,171 sq. ft)
View the ground and first-floor plans for a possible layout by our Conservation Architects, Kings Dunne.
The premises will be available to let either as a whole or split floor by floor or any other combination that the council considers feasible.
Planning
Indicative discussions with the planning authority have suggested that several alternative commercial uses would be considered subject to planning and other forthcoming consents. Depending on the use of the building, there is likely to be a need for a ramp to be created into the premises to ensure compliance with DDA regulations.
Car Parking
It is anticipated that exclusive off-road car parking will be provided within the site curtilage to the tenants, but the car parking location is yet to be finalised.
Planning and refurbishment proposed.
The current planning use is as office accommodation.
In partnership with Historic England, the council intends to refurbish the premises to a high standard and offer the premises to let, either to a single occupier or multiple occupiers, depending on the nature and flexibility of the tenants to work together.
A copy of the specification of the refurbishment will be available in due course.
Rent and service charges
The Council welcomes proposals from interested parties and would be open to consider both commercial and community uses. The level of service charge is yet to be determined but this will be a fair proportion of the annual costs of decorating, repairing and maintaining any common areas, car parking and landscaping. The council will retain responsibility for the structure of the premises and any external repair and decoration, the annual costs of which would be recovered via the service charge.
New Lease
The length and terms of any lease will be negotiated, and the council intend that a typical lease term would be 5 or 10 years. As indicated above, any new lease would be on an internal repairing basis with a service charge to cover the repairs and maintenance of the structure and external areas.
Building Insurance
Building insurance would be put in place by the council as landlord and recharged to the tenant. The tenant will be responsible for insuring all tenant’s fixtures and contents.
Utility services
The utilities supplied to the premises will be charged to the tenants either by separate metering or fair proportion depending upon the final technical specification that is finalised, or via the service charge if considered more prudent.
Bin storage and waste
A bin store will be allocated within the external area of the site.
Business Rates
The premises are not currently listed for National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR business rates) and will be re-valued and re-listed by the Valuation Office once any refurbishment is completed. The current threshold to claim Small Business Rate Relief is £12,000pa. This and further information can be sourced on the VOA website and is publicly available. View a summary valuation on the government website.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
A new EPC will be provided once the refurbishment works have been completed.
Legal costs
Each party are responsible for their legal costs.
VAT
VAT is chargeable on the rents.
Timing
Tenants will be able to gain access once refurbishment of the property is complete. We are aiming for works to be completed in summer 2023.
Viewings
Inspections of the premises can be arranged by contacting the Estates team at the council. Please provide at least 24 hours’ notice if possible.
Email:
Call us:
01263 516337