The Old Telephone Exchange, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2GE

Location

The property is located at the end of Fire Fly Avenue to the north east of the main town centre of Swindon which is reached by an adjacent pedestrian underpass beneath the main railway line. The area was once dominated by the rail industry, however, in the early 2000s plans were passed to redevelop the whole area. Now there is an abundance of residential flats mixed with commercial units. Nearby is the McArthur Glen factory outlet centre and “STEAM” – the railway museum of the Great Western Railway.

The property can be found at What3Words – ready.leaves.oldest

Description

As the name implies, the property was once a telephone exchange and has long since been used in connection with the railway industry in this location. It is of two storey construction. External walls are natural stone, and these are built around a concrete frame which supports the first floor and the roof which is a steel truss covered with natural slate. There is basement beneath which is accessed separately from the adjacent underpass.

Accommodation

The ground and first floor are circa 220 sqm (2,268 sqft) per floor on a Gross Internal basis. The basement is circa 200 sqm (2,153 sqft).

Development Opportunity and Planning

Planning Application S/22/0116 for the conversion of the property to 8no 1 bed flats – 4 per floor – with basement storage, was granted consent 19th April 2022. The consent was subject to conditions – the first being that the development must commence before the expiration of three years from the date of the consent.

This consent was also subject to the payment of a CIL of £46,470.63.

A second application was latterly submitted seeking to vary condition 2 of the first consent – condition 2 is essentially the design of the proposed development. This application is referenced S/23/1381 and received consent 26th April 2024.

The primary variation sought was the inclusion of “mezzanine” floor areas to be created in the 4 first floor flats, but subject to a condition that these areas cannot be used for sleeping purposes.

This second consent increased the CIL payment to £51,964.25.

This second consent also reserved the development commencement date as stipulated in the Decision notice for S/22/0116 and expressly states that the development must commence by 20th April 2025.

At the date of these sale particulars, the property has been stripped of all former interior fittings and all existing internal walls – save for those needed to retain the integrity of the structure. It is not known when these works were undertaken or whether these works constitute an implementation of the original consent to application s/22/0113.

All interested parties are expected to make their own enquiries to Swindon Borough Council. Paarl Property Consultants or the LPA Receiver cannot give any warranty to the current validity of any previous consents.

Vacant Possession

The property will be sold with Vacant Possession.

Services

The property is known to have mains water, electricity and drainage connections. All interested parties are advised to make the own investigations.

Tenure

The property is held freehold in two titles – WT440842 and WT454319.

EPC

The property has an EPC rating D (90).

VAT

As far as can be determined, the property is not registered for VAT.

Price

Offered at a guide price of £375,000.

Legal Costs

Each party will bear their own legal and other professional costs incurred in this connection.

Method of Sale

The vendor’s solicitor will compile a “legal pack” which will contain all the necessary documents for the buyer to make a judgement as to whether or not they wish to proceed. This pack will contain: a draft contract, draft transfers and searches. Given that the Receiver has no knowledge of the site or the property no CPSEs will be issued nor expected to be received from the buyer's solicitor.

The vendor will make their choice of any bids received and they reserve the right to choose any bid irrespective of the monetary value.

The chosen bidder will receive the legal pack and will have 10 working days in which to exchange contracts unconditionally and will then have 28 days (or longer by negotiation) to complete the purchase. The contract will be exchanged at 10% of the value of the accepted bid.