It was only 11 months ago that the owner of a four-storey town centre office block obtained planning permission to add an extra floor of offices on the top.

But it seems the bottom has fallen out of the office market in the meantime and now the owner of Lyndean House in Albion Place, Maidstone, wants not only to build that extra floor as living accommodation instead, but also to convert the existing top floor of the offices to flats.

In total eight flats are proposed, four on each floor, with the remaining three storeys staying as offices, with a ground-floor retail unit.

However, the owner does suggest that as his existing commercial tenants give up their leases in the future, there could be further opportunities for residential conversions.

The council’s senior environmental health officer, Lisa Anderson, has warned that there is the potential for the living quarters to be “sub-standard” because of the noise both from the commercial units and from the building’s position “close to an extremely busy road”.

The site is found along A249 Sittingbourne Road, approximately 250m north of the Andrew Broughton Way roundabout.

She said it would be necessary to have tight conditions and testing regarding noise standards, and she also warned that it was possible that the conversion might expose asbestos in the existing building, which would have to be carefully dealt with.

The owner, Parm Rathore, promised acoustic insulation between the commercial and residential floors and he said the commercial use was in any case only between 9am and 6.30pm.

He also pointed out that the council has already allowed the conversion of five other office buildings – at least in part – to residential use within the immediate vicinity of the application site.

They are at 26-28 Albion Place (11 flats), 11 Queen Anne Road (40 flats), 7 Albion Place (seven flats), 13 Ashford Road (one flat) and 91-93 King Street (nine flats).

His property has a total of 14 parking spaces to the rear. However, the application does not specify how many – if any – would be allocated to the residents of the new homes.

KCC, the highways authority, has not objected.

The details of the scheme can be viewed here.

Look for application number 23/503929.