By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
A Nottingham city centre bar is now likely to be demolished and rebuilt after a structural failure meant only fixtures and fittings stopped a wall from collapsing.
Brass Monkey, in High Pavement, closed in November last year after structural problems were found with the building.
Scaffolding has since been put up as a temporary measure to prevent it from collapsing.
According to a planning application submitted to Nottingham City Council, the front section of the building facing High Pavement will be rebuilt and the second floor flat will be converted for bar use to match the rest of the building.
A planning statement, produced on behalf of building owners Flack Investments Ltd, says: “The building at the front adjacent to High Pavement is structurally unsound and requires demolition and rebuilding.
“The approach is to replicate the existing street frontage and rebuild on the same footprint to a similar scale.
“In rebuilding the external wall construction will need to be thicker than
the existing solid wall construction to meet modern building standards.”
Structural and civil engineering firm Tunstall Smith King was hired to investigate the cause of the problems.
Water getting into the structure has been identified as the primary issue causing the building’s foundations to subside.
Only the bar fittings, flooring and shelving are preventing the collapse of the wall.
“That scaffold stopped rotation of building but ongoing water ingress means foundations have continued to subside,” Tunstall Smith King’s inspection report says.
“This has now caused the bottom of the wall to fail structurally, and it is only the secondary effects of floors and finishes that are stopping collapse.
“If left unattended the wall could buckle and cause a building collapse.
“Further CCTV investigation of the [Severn Trent Water] sewer adjacent to the building foundation has confirmed damage to the pipe which will allow surface water to escape, thus being the likely cause of the ground failure.”
The site is made up of two buildings that are linked, with one at the front and one at the back.
They sit within the Lace Market Conservation Area and are locally listed as protected buildings.
However documents say there appears to be no record as to why they were selected to be of particular importance.
The plans will now be considered by Nottingham City Council’s planning officers, who will determine if they should be approved.
