A FORMER office block is on the market for £1.9 million ahead of plans to convert the building into 86 new homes in Basildon town centre.

Plans were approved back in October 2023 to transform the former Eastgate Business Centre, on Southernhay, into new homes and build an additional six storeys on top of the building.

However, no work has taken place and the building is now being marketed by Blue Alpine estate agents for a whopping £1.9 million.

The office block, which has sat empty for about six years, currently stands at five storeys.

Once complete, the building will be 11 storeys tall.

Sonia Hurndell, from Basildon, said she was concerned the new flats could be yet another “eyesore,” but said it represents the future.

She said: “This is the future, I’m sitting on the fence with it. There are hundreds of flats going up across the county, it is becoming so common.

“I don’t like it. It’s an eyesore. We were knocking them all down, and now we are building them all again.

“There is no space any more, it’s not an England thing, it’s a worldwide issue.

“The country is overpopulated. There is a problem with houses and I have just accepted that. It’s just life now.”

Eastgate Business Centre is located within close proximity of the Grade II listed Brooke House, though this has been ruled to pose “less than substantial harm” to the historical building by the planning committee.

Under the plans, the building will become a car free development, with a total of 112 cycle parking spaces and the exception of six blue badge-holder bays.

The plans contain no provision of affordable housing, of which Basildon Borough Council generally asks for a minimum of 31 per cent.

Councillors voted unanimously to grant planning permission for the development in October last year.