Newcastle City Council's planning committee is set to decide on Friday whether to approve the conversion of the upper floors of the LD Mountain Centre, a historic Dean Street building that served as the birthplace of global outdoor fashion brand Berghaus, into 10 apartments.
Proposal Details
The plans, submitted by the shop's owners, would transform the first, second, and third floors of the grade II listed 18th-century building into residential units. The first floor is currently part of the retail space, while the upper floors are used for storage, packing online orders, and offices. Under the proposal, the outdoors shop would continue operating from the ground floor and basement, with storage and office functions moved offsite.
Historical Significance
Dean Street was designed by leading architect David Stephenson and built in the late 1700s. The LD Mountain Centre opened as the first specialist outdoors shop in the area in 1966 and is where Berghaus was founded. Both the shop and the brand are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. The building is part of a group of listed sites that form Newcastle's central conservation area.
Planning Committee Recommendation
A city planners' report ahead of Friday's hearing recommends approval, stating: "The buildings were originally designed as three individual units that were to provide retail premises at ground floor level with residential units above. Over the years the units have been merged into one and the upper floors have been converted to storage and office space to support the business at ground floor level. The proposed development will bring the upper floors back into the use for which they were intended. It will also bring more residents back into the city centre which will support nearby businesses and bring upper floors of a historic building into a productive use."
Impact on Heritage
The planning application argues that the changes would cause only "minor loss of some historic fabric" and "will not fundamentally be detrimental to the historic interest of the buildings, nor will they materially harm their architectural interest." An earlier version of the plans was approved in 2022 but never executed.
