Three fixed constraints on one building: a listed group with rare surviving fabric, a primary elevation on the most sensitive street in the town, and two floors that could not be reached safely.
The full story
The heritage test came first. 82A sits within the Cheltenham central conservation area, in the Montpellier character area, and its primary elevation faces the Promenade, where any change to a frontage is closely watched. The group retains a mid nineteenth century frieze to numbers 80 and 82 that is a rare survival. Every proposed move had to be weighed against that fabric, and the weighing had to be written down and defended.
The practical problem sat alongside it. The existing stairs to the first and second floors were not suitable for customer use, which is exactly why those floors had been left behind. Replacing them, and adding a second stair, meant structural alterations inside a protected building. The work had to be coordinated so that the historic external walls were left alone entirely, with new steelwork carried inside and fire protected.
The strategy that resolved both was restraint, because restraint was the heritage argument. Externally we proposed one change: a new fascia in individual opal acrylic letters on slim brushed stainless steel bars, softly lit, set within the established rhythm of the Promenade's shopfronts. Nothing else on the frontage moved. Our heritage statement then made the case plainly: the alterations were minor and largely internal, the one visible change was in keeping with the street, and keeping a listed building in active, well maintained commercial use was a public benefit that clearly outweighed the limited harm. Cheltenham Borough Council agreed, and both consents were granted in January 2020.
