Community Hub Works Expected To Be Approved

Plans to refurbish a quayside building in Haverfordwest’s conservation area with works including an outdoor terrace, as well as works to the existing Haverhub community hub are expected to be approved next week.

The application, by Gitti Coats, for the refurbishment and extension of Haverfordwest’s Quayside Building to form multi-functional community spaces, along with an extension to the bar building to create a first-floor terrace at Quay Street is recommended for conditional approval at the November 5 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s planning committee.

A report for planners says: “The application site comprises of two existing buildings and associated outdoor area located within the Quayside area of Haverfordwest.  One of the buildings is known as the Quayside Building, which fronts the quayside and is currently vacant.  The second building, which currently addresses Quay Street to the west, is known as the ‘Haverhub’ community hub.”

The Grade-II-listed Haverhub building, is a former post office, described as “a finely designed neoGeorgian Post Office in Bath stone,” built in 1934-6 for the General Post Office (GPO), and “is an example of the high quality neo-Georgian post offices of the inter-war period”.

A report for planners says the Quayside building would increase in height from approximately 7.9 metres to 11.7 metres with the creation of a second floor and accommodation within the roof space, the ground floor utilised for space in connection with a performance space within the Haverhub building.

To the first floor would be a multi-function room, which would also connect to a proposed bar area and associated first floor terrace which includes outdoor seating.  The second floor of the Quayside building would include a second multi-function and meeting room.

The main Haverhub building would be extended to provide a gallery and entrance lobby.  The existing bar and kitchen would also be extended.

“The proposed development would still allow the Haverhub building, including its ornate features, to be viewed within the context of the wider conservation area, whilst protecting the setting of the listed building and the surrounding conservation area,” the report says, adding: “It is considered that the scheme creates an important and attractive enhancement to this part of the Conservation Area.”

The Haverhub building was granted a change of use to a community hub in 2018, with the use and building benefiting from a ground floor internal outdoor courtyard area, which is located below the proposed first floor terrace.

The report says that, as there is already an outside space for the community hub to utilise “the addition of the first-floor seating area would not create a significantly greater impact in terms of noise generation or impact on amenity than the existing outdoor area to the ground floor”.

The proposal is recommended for conditional approval.