Part of a listed building could be demolished to make way for a new 36-bed HMO.

The former grade II listed offices in West Bromwich High Street, opposite the newly restored Town Hall and Central Library, would be converted into a house of multiple occupation (HMO) as part of plans submitted to Sandwell Council. 

The rear wing of the listed Georgian building would be demolished to make way for a new two-storey extension.

The 36-bed HMO would come with shared kitchens and living rooms and a four-space car park.

The £7.5m year-long restoration and renovation of West Bromwich Town Hall and Central Library was completed last month. 

Sandwell Council approved plans to turn the former offices into a 35-bed HMO in 2020 but the work was never carried out. The three-year planning permission has now lapsed resulting in a new application.

A statement included with the application by Rachpal Takkhar said: “The building has been vacant from last few years and the proposed use will bring the building in in use and would create more activities to the street. 

“The proposed will provide additional 36 accommodations to the locals and will uplift the area in general. The proposal will create jobs for the locals and would support the local economy.”

A planning separate planning application to build 26 ‘affordable’ flats on the corner of Lombard Street West and West Bromwich High Street, next to the town’s library, was revealed in the summer.

The land was home to a crumbling former gas showroom before it was demolished in 2017 with parts of the building, which had been a fixture of the town’s high street for more than 75 years but later described as a ‘blight’ after years of neglect, relocated to the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley.

The application said the new flats would have a “distinctive modern and contemporary aesthetic” and would be a “striking new addition” to West Bromwich High Street.

The land that housed the former gas showroom was bought by the Black Country Housing Group in 2022.