New details revealed about Carrow House plans in Norwich

A licensing application lodged with Norwich City Council has revealed new details about the plans for Carrow House.

The Victorian property forms part of the wider Carrow Works site and sat empty for many years before being taken on by Norwich Unity Hub, a group of charities. 

The organisation recently unveiled its partnership with wedding planners Smoke and Wildwood as part of a bid to generate more income at the site. 

In the new licensing application, it has emerged that larger events, such as craft fairs, could attract up to 1,000 attendees to Carrow House and its grounds. 

Carrow House is owned by Norwich City Council (Image: Antony Kelly) Norwich City Council bought the historic site from Norfolk County Council for more than £2m in 2021 with a view to refurbishing it and letting out office space.

However, it was discovered following the works that finding an occupier for part of the building would leave the council liable for more than £100,000 of void business rates on the remainder of the property. 

Therefore, it decided to cease marketing the site.

Carrow House in Norwich (Image: Supplied) Officers at City Hall said they were forced to consider "alternative meanwhile uses" for the building as it would continue to incur costs of up to £70,000 even if kept vacant due to insurance, security, utility and repair and maintenance charges.

Norwich Unity Hub subsequently signed an agreement to occupy the space for three years at a very low rate of rent.

The organisation has applied to the council for a premises licence starting from October to generate income by hosting internal and external events at the house. 

It currently provides hot-desking and permanent office space to local organisations and Norwich Unity Hub plans to open the doors of the venue for a select number of events.

These could include weddings, with viewings already available to book, as well as public and corporate gatherings.

It is expected around 100 people will attend such events. 

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The house is set to become a wedding venue (Image: Supplied) The licence seeks permission to host performances of plays, dance, live music and film screenings.

It also seeks permission to serve alcohol between midday and midnight throughout the week. 

The application will be considered by Norwich City Council in due course.

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Carrow House (Image: Supplied) CARROW WORKS COMPLICATIONS

Carrow House is a combination of a Grade-II listed former home of the Colman family, including an ornate Victorian conservatory, and a post-Second World War office building, known as New Carrow House.

It forms part of former Colman's Mustard factory site Carrow Works, which was expected to see almost 2,000 new homes built under plans lodged by Fuel Properties in 2022.

The largely vacant site contains several listed structures, which the council was keen to preserve, including Carrow House.

The Carrow Works site in Norwich (Image: Mike Page) However, the plans to redevelop it were scrapped last year following a breakdown in communications with the developer which had resulted in delays to the application. 

Councillors refused the plans due to concerns about the lack of affordable homes within the housing development, along with insufficient detail about its impact on the surrounding environment and road networks. 

The site had formed part of the council's flagship East Norwich Masterplan, under which 3,000 homes and 4,000 jobs are planned to be created at Carrow and neighbouring sites in Trowse.

But City Hall has failed to secure planning permission or start works on any of the land forming part of the scheme, which was first devised in 2021. 

The agreement with Norwich Unity Hub has been set out so as not to prevent any potential works at the site, should redevelopment move forward.