PLANS have been submitted for the redevelopment of the former Treehouse restaurant and La Marquanderie Inn to create staff accommodation to support hotel and hospitality businesses in the St Brelade’s Bay area.
The once-popular eatery and bar on the hill down to the bay from Red Houses closed its doors in 2020 and was sold by the Liberation Group. Since then, various plans have been submitted, including opening a car dealership on the lower part of the car park and turning the existing buildings into a horticultural laboratory.
Now, the owner is proposing staff accommodation, which includes building extensions to the north and south of the existing footprint.
In a release, the owner, who is not named, said that following conversations with local hoteliers, plans were now being proposed for lodging houses to support local hospitality businesses. The submitted planning application is for 25 units: two two-bedroom, 19 one-bedroom and four studio apartments.
The redevelopment plans include refurbishing the existing building and, in place of the removed modern extensions, adding two new extensions to the north and south of the main building.
Ian Marett, of Morris Architects, said: ‘The Marquanderie has been a part of Jersey life for decades but, like so many other businesses, it was no longer viable as a hospitality venue and, following years of struggle, was forced to close during the pandemic.
‘It is widely known that there is an islandwide crisis for this type of staff accommodation. This lodging house application proposes to provide much-needed accommodation for staff of the hotels and venues in the immediate vicinity, with whom we have already spoken.
‘We will be directly supporting those St Brelade businesses to thrive and we are looking forward to a successful planning application process.’
The plans include laying a 1.5m-wide public footpath along the site, which would involve removing the roadside wall to the south and connecting to the existing footpaths to the north and south.
The buildings would include granite, timber cladding and slate, and a ‘green roof’. There is a ten-year landscaping planting plan for the côtil behind the site, which would see indigenous species of trees and shrubs planted and dead wood removed.
The developer said it had ‘consulted widely with the community’, through leaflet drops to residents and businesses in the area as far as Red Houses, as well as an exhibition in St Brelade’s Parish Hall.
Deputy Moz Scott, who chairs the St Brelade’s Bay Association, said that it was generally supportive of staff accommodation for hospitality businesses in the bay and it would look at the plans with interest.
