Office refurbishment and atrium at Santander House, Central Milton Keynes

What was proposed

The scheme would refurbish the vacant office building, demolish the deeds store, add an atrium and commercial uses, and provide a 95-space car park.

“It is proposed to refurbish the existing building; demolish the 2,350m 2 deeds store; construct a 873m 2 atrium on the lower ground floor which would provide an informal seating area/lobby; provide an events space/conference hall on the lower ground floor; provide for a coffee bar and two ancillary, flexible commercial retail/food/drink units (Class E) on lower ground floor; carry out external alterations and public realm works; and create a 95 space car park on the…”

“Supporting documents have been amended during the course of assessment to provide further information/clarification on the draft Travel Plan, Sustainable Drainage Strategy and Biodiversity report.”

Officer report

The site and surroundings

The site is an office complex in Central Milton Keynes, beside commercial uses, a hotel and a proposed residential redevelopment.

“The application site is located at 201 Grafton Gate, located within the Central Business District (CBD) of Central Milton Keynes (CMK) and previously occupied by Santander before they relocated to Unity Place.”

“The site is bordered by commercial uses to the east and south of the site. To the north of the site is ‘Travelodge Milton Keynes Central’. Immediately to the north-east is ‘Bank House’ at 171 Midsummer Boulevard, which is a former office building granted consent for demolition and the construction of up to 355 residential units along with flexible ground floor uses.”

Officer report

Planning history

Earlier advice covered demolition, refurbishment, external works and parking, while nearby redevelopment permission was granted subject to a legal agreement.

“24/00725/PREM Demolition of the existing Deed Store and refurbishment of the existing office Use Class E(g)(i) space, including associated external works to the…”

“19/00841/FUL Full planning permission for the redevelopment of land for office (Use Class B1a) with ancillary facilities including retail (Use Classes A1-A5), community and leisure facilities (Use Classes D1 and D2), formation of a basement car park, new vehicular access, surface level car parking, public realm works, landscaping and associated works. Approved subject to s106 agreement 6/12/2022”

Officer report

Consultation and objections

The town council supported the scheme with queries, highways raised no objection subject to matters being addressed, and one comment concerned parking.

“PLN/2025/0193 The areas of public highway around the site are not impacted by the proposals and the existing footways and parking areas will remain in their current layout. The only change to the highways around the site appears to be the addition of a service layby between the two existing accesses. This service layby would significantly impact on the visibility at the access to the new 95-space car park.”

“No objection subject to a detailed surface water drainage scheme based on the agreed sustainable drainage strategy. An updated drainage strategy has been provided and the layout has been assessed for all storm events up to the 1 in 100-year storm event plus 40% climate change discharging via the public surface water sewer.”

Officer report

Parking and other effects

The proposal would provide fewer spaces than standards require, but nearby public parking capacity, sustainable transport links and other mitigation were considered sufficient.

“The existing site benefits from 8 spaces located within the service yard. It formerly benefitted from a 296-space private car park located on Elder Gate (now Unity Place), and access to 284 publicly available spaces on Grafton Gate, along with other public car parking in the vicinity. Therefore, the existing lawful use has a parking shortfall of 154 spaces when assessed against the standards, meaning the existing offices already relied on public surface level parking.”

“The submitted Transport Assessment surveys the demand for car parking in the area, with reference to both existing and proposed levels of car parking for the office use. A parking beat survey of the 3,519 parking spaces within a 5-minute walk of the site in June 2024 shows that only 60% of the parking spaces are used on weekdays and 9% on weekends, leaving 1,410 and 3,211, respectively, spaces available for use.”

Officer report

Who spoke

No speakers were registered for the application.

The committee debate

Members supported reusing the office building and considered the site’s location capable of mitigating parking concerns.

“PLN/2025/0193 - Santander House, 201 Grafton Gate, Central Milton Keynes At this stage Councillor Clarke was welcomed back to the meeting. The report was introduced by officers with a presentation. The following points were highlighted: • That it would bring a vacant building back into use as office space. • That there was a shortfall of parking but that there was capacity within CMK. There were no speakers registered on this application.”

Minutes