Lodders Solicitors is helping to breathe new life into central parts of Cheltenham and Gloucester.
Partner Penny Gladman has advised on a number of conversions of Grade II listed properties into residential.
The news comes on the back of a Government move in January 2013 that allowed several changes to permitted development rights.
Penny Gladman said: “The most significant of these was to allow a change of use from B1 commercial use, to C3 residential usage.
“Previously you needed to apply for planning permission for a change of use such as this.”
In Cheltenham, H&H Developments Ltd has taken on 24 Cambray Place, formerly council owned offices, and turned the property into four residential apartments which are now let.
In Gloucester, the company is currently converting the town’s former register office, Maitland House, 12 Spa Road, into nine apartments and two houses which are expected to go on sale in the autumn.
Penny Gladman said: “These projects show that we do not have to accept that some town centres are dying for want of demand.
“With imagination and innovation, many properties, unloved as commercial or office space, can be brought back to life, bringing people back into town centres to live and hence enhancing the local economy in turn.
“However, it it worth noting that planning and/or listed building consent may still be needed for conversion work.”
Lodders itself is making the move into Cheltenham, having taken 25 Imperial Square as a major new office location for the firm from which to serve clients in Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds.
The new office is to open on Monday, September 30, with locally based partners Robin Beckley, Paul Mourton and Penny Gladman leading the drive to enhance services to the area’s high net worth individuals, whether through their private client, real estate or commercial teams.
