Storm-damaged city building pulled down

A building badly damaged by Storm Babet in 2023 is being demolished after the owners said it could no longer be used.

Bulldozers are ripping down the former Capital Hair and Beauty building which sits near the Pentagon Island junction in Derby, on the West Meadows Industrial Estate.

Derby City Council granted planning permission for the building - once a training centre for car firm Motorpoint - to be demolished last year.

In planning documents Motorpoint, which still owns the building, said it would use the land for "vehicle display".

The building's owners told the city council during the planning process it could no longer be used after it sustained significant damage when Storm Babet hit the city in October 2023.

The storm caused havoc across Derby and Derbyshire, with Pentagon Island left underwater.

The flooding was so deep three men were seen kayaking around the island and nearby businesses in Chequers Road closed, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported.

Motorpoint said former occupier Capital Hair and Beauty no longer wished to remain in the building "due to the insurance risk" in case of more floods in the area.

In planning documents, the car firm told the council it had not been able to occupy the building since the flooding.

They said: "The building is beyond economical repair so Motorpoint have decided to demolish the building and use [it] for vehicle display."

The city council finalised further multimillion-pound plans to improve the city's flood defences in February.

This is centred on work for the second phase of the city council's Our City Our River (OCOR) scheme, mainly affecting the city centre and the Silk Mill area of the city, the LDRS said.

Plans for the third phase include improving flood defences around the Chaddesden Sidings area (Chequers Road) as well as around Raynesway.

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