PARTS of the former Treehouse restaurant on La Marquanderie hill in St Brelade will be demolished and the site converted to accommodation for hotel staff, after the project received planning permission recently.
The conservatory and a section at the back of the building will be demolished and a two-storey extension to the south, into the existing car park, will be built.
The L-shaped building housing the former restaurant and bar will also be converted to create 11 one-bed, two two-bed and nine bedsit units of staff accommodation, a communal room and laundry.
The maximum anticipated occupancy is 44 people. This is limited to employees of the Golden Sands, Sommerville, Cristina and L’Horizon hotels, who cannot live there for more than 12 continuous months.
The permission comes with a legal ‘planning obligation agreement’ which includes the requirement for the applicant to build and maintain a bus shelter at the front of the site, and install EV charging points.
This approved proposal is a reduced and revised version of an application submitted in 2023, which sought to provide 25 units of accommodation and was refused in September last year.
Previous attempts to find a new use for the site include changing part of the car park into a car dealership, turning the former restaurant into a horticultural laboratory, and putting shipping containers in the car park for storage have been either refused, withdrawn or not taken forward.
In approving the latest application, planning documents state: “This development has been approved to meet an essential need for staff accommodation serving the hospitality industry, not as permanent residences.
“Units hereby approved are below minimum space standards required for permanent residences are set out in the Residential Space Standards Supplementary Planning Guidance. Furthermore, it is necessary to restrict occupancy to ensure that the units remain available to meet the need of staff working in the industry on an ongoing basis.”
The once-popular Treehouse restaurant closed during the Covid pandemic and did not reopen.
