REVISED plans to convert the former Odeon cinema in Bournemouth town centre have been submitted. 

The derelict building’s third proposal in four years could see a host of new apartments, shops and restaurants. 

Charminster-based Bournemouth Building and Construction Ltd is looking to convert the Westover Road building's lower ground and upper ground levels into 936 sq m of “commercial floorspace”. 

This would comprise three units of either restaurants, shops or 86 apartments coupled with 26 car parking spaces. 

Previous granted proposals by Libra Homes sought the conversion of the same floors to either a restaurant, shops or 64 apartments with 67 car parking spaces. 

(Image: Daily Echo)

Planners at BCP Council gave permission for this scheme back in October last year, but so far no work has started. 

Although Bournemouth Building and Construction Ltd’s proposal would see a small loss of commercial space of just 157 sq m, it would allow for an extra 22 flats. 

Developers, if allowed, are also looking to build an extra floor on top of the six storey former cinema for a communal roof garden. 

Planning consultant Pure Town Planning, on behalf of the applicant, said: “To ensure that the development provides a high standard of living for future occupants, all of units have been laid in an efficient manner with the internal layout of the units featuring minimal amounts of ‘dead space’ such as corridors and poorly shaped rooms. 

“In addition, the fenestration layout proposed ensures habitable rooms are provided with adequate amounts of daylight and outlook, whilst avoiding harm to neighbours through detrimental overlooking.” 

While the plans don’t come with enough parking spaces for all residents, there will be enough space to store 172 bicycles. 

Pure Town Planning said the reason for fewer parking spaces for cars is because of BCP Council’s parking requirements, which aims to “minimise onsite parking” to create a “sustainable town centre”. 

BCP Council will decide on the proposal in due course. 

The site, along with the ABC cinema building in the same road, was bought by Libra Homes for more than £6m in 2017, following the construction of the BH2 complex where the cinema is now located. 

In 2017, two planning applications were submitted for the plot, the first for 101 flats and the second for 84, but both were refused by Bournemouth Council due to concerns about their scale. 

First built in 1929, the former Odeon Cinema building was initially called The Regent Cinema and could seat 2,300 people and an additional 300 people in its restaurant.   

In 1949 the cinema was renamed the Gaumont before becoming an Odeon Cinema in the 1980s.  

The screens showed their final film in February 2017 when the Odeon moved into the brand new BH2 multiplex, which was billed as Odeon’s most “innovative cinema in the UK.”