San Francisco look of £35m office scheme

A CONTROVERSIAL £35m redevelopment of Nottingham's former Odeon Cinema has been described as having the "quirky" look of San Francisco about it.

Moore Herbert and Moore want to create an office complex with buildings between four and 11 storeys high stretching from Angel Row to Maid Marian Way.

City planners who met yesterday to discuss the proposal said the scheme was an improvement on previous designs.

Coun Cat Arnold said: "I think it is a very attractive, quirky, funky building. It is the kind of building you would be more likely to find in San Francisco than Nottingham."

The development would overlook Bromley House Library, and in a letter to the council librarian Carol Barstow said it did not enhance the area.

She said: "These proposals will have an irreversible and damaging effect on our property and its garden.

"They are so out of proportion to neighbouring properties that in no sense can the new building be considered appropriate."

Some councillors criticised the scheme for the impact it would have on views of the city centre.

Tory councillor Dick Benson said: "The view which you would have from Long Row looks absolutely awful."

A decision on the application is set to be made later.

The Odeon Cinema closed in 2001 and has been empty ever since. A bid to turn the site into an 18-storey hotel was abandoned last year after it ran into opposition from campaigners at Bromley House.