ONE of the most prominent buildings in Southampton’s skyline is set to become student accommodation.

The Richmond House tower block in the city centre is set to be converted into 40 flats after the city council approved the plans.

The 6,048sq m building, which has two blocks and was built for use as offices in the early 1970s, underwent a £400,000 refurbishment recently, but is now largely empty.

Now a developer has won permission to transform both of the blocks, one of which is 12 storeys high, into a student flat complex.

A total of 207 bedrooms will be created throughout the two buildings, including two which will be specially designed to accommodate wheelchair users.

There will be 13 five-bedroom flats, 11 six-bedroom flats, ten seven-bedroom flats and six studio bedrooms.

The development will also feature parking, a laundry room, a common room, a mail room and a reception.

A new commercial unit will also be created on the ground floor of the larger block, while the surgery on the ground floor of the smaller block will remain in place as part of the plans, with its own dedicated car parking area, bin storage and cycle parking facilities.

The exterior of Richmond House will remain largely the same, apart from a single storey extension on the seventh floor of the smaller block.

Now city council planners have approved the plans, work to convert the building may begin later this year.