Plans to redevelop a derelict former social club site in the centre of Hartlepool have taken a key step forward.

An application to the Hartlepool Development Corporation has set out plans for the future of the old Engineers Club site, in Raby Road.

Group First, a Lancashire-based property investment company, have previously cleared the site and revealed multi-million pound plans to redevelop it with new business units and storage facilities.

The company has now applied for planning permission to make the scheme a reality and is proposing new buildings housing a business centre and self-storage facility, including a coffee shop and retail units, along with associated car parking, cycle and bin stores and landscaping.

A previously released artist's impression of how the new business hub and Black Sheep Coffee shop would look.

placeholder image — A previously released artist's impression of how the new business hub and Black Sheep Coffee shop would look.

An accompanying planning, design and access statement argued the development would “provide an effective and desirable solution to the existing vacant site, taking into account the site’s history and surrounding wider context” and would also align with local and national planning policies.

Although the buildings are large, developers said they would “be of a scale in keeping with those in the immediate area and characteristic of a town centre environment”.

The supporting statement goes on: “The development will bring the vacant site back into a use that futureproofs the site for the local community.

“The overall site layout improves the current environmental rating of the site through introducing soft green landscape between the key spaces and neighbouring boundaries.