One of three very distinctive office buildings in a trading estate in Swindon could become flats if a new application is approved.

Timeless Land Ltd is the company behind a proposal to return one of the buildings – Unit B – of the three blocks which make up the Dorcan Complex in the Faraday Road trading area into 15 apartments.

The block of three rectangular two-storey buildings - joined  at the corners so they form a diagonal line - is the most northerly block of the Dorcan Complex, which consists of seven buildings in three separate blocks, and sits just yards from the houses behind Dorcan Academy

Currently used as open-plan offices, the plans submitted show the three blocks, named Crane House, Dunnock House4 and Eagle House, would be divided into 15 flats, with seven apartments on the ground floor and eight on the first floor.

Crane House would have two one-bed flats and a two-bed flat on the ground floor, and two two-bed apartments and one one-bed flat on the upper storey.

Dunnock House would have three one-bed flats on the ground floor and one single-bed and two two-bed flats upstairs.

The smallest building and most northerly, Eagle House would have a three-bed flat on the lower floor, and two one-bed flats on the first floor.

Twenty-two of the existing office car parking spaces will be allocated to the flats along with three visitor spaces and a covered cycle storage building and separate bin store will also be put up nearby.

The applicant says the continued use of the buildings as offices is not viable: “The application site is surrounded by residential development, therefore the conversion will not be uncharacteristic within its context.

“The majority of office and commercial provision within Swindon is located more centrally and on the edges of the town centre. The application site sits to the east of this area and is separated from the town centre by dense residential development.

“While the site is within the Dorcan Industrial Estate Key Employment Area, the applicant has made every effort to market the site for a continued commercial use with no uptake, demonstrating a lack of commercial demand in this area.

“An increase in home working post Covid-19 is likely to be a major contributing factor in this lack of interest.”

The application says the conversion would make little or no difference to the rest of the site.