A former auction house in Beccles may be set for a new lease of life. 

Catherine Youngs at Jaguar Properties has submitted an application to East Suffolk Council to convert the former Durants Auction Rooms site in Peddars Lane into eight residential flats. 

The proposal includes four one-bedroom flats and four two-bedroom flats, with 12 car parking spaces and 16 cycle spaces. 

The heritage impact statement describes the property as illustrating "the history of industrial development in Beccles". 

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A historical image of the building as a school, shown in the heritage, design and access statementA historical image of the building as a school, shown in the heritage, design and access statement (Image: East Suffolk Council planning portal)

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In the documents, it states the footprint of the building would not be altered or extended, and the internal areas will be slightly reduced due to "thermal upgrades" to the external walls.

Since Durrants closed the auction house nearly two years ago, the building has been vacant and "derelict". 

The application proposes that by turning it into usable flats, they would be "contributing to the area both visually and ensuring the building is cared for and protected in the longer term."

It adds that they will meet "the needs of the local community" and "offer modern and comfortable accommodation in a character building with original elements retained."

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Durrants auction rooms first moved in to the new premises in Beccles in 2005, with general manager Miles Lamdin.Durrants auction rooms first moved in to the new premises in Beccles in 2005, with general manager Miles Lamdin. (Image: Angela Sharpe)

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The building started as a silk factory, before it became a school twenty years later. 

The school initially accommodated 254 boys, 176 girls and 299 infants, before adding new classrooms to the boys’ and girls’ schools in 1895, each for sixty further children. 

It then closed in the 1960s. 

Durrants Auction Rooms opened in 2005 after moving from its former site at Tesco in Beccles. 

But as it continued to lose money after the pandemic, the auction house closed in January last year.