Work to restore two derelict Victorian buildings at the end of a huge city development has moved a step closer.

A former fish and chip shop and kebab shop in Barrack Street will be transformed as Norwich City Council has approved the schedule and specificities of repairs to the grade II-listed building.

The properties, at 77 to 79 Barrack Street, are at the edge of the St James Quay development and are an eyesore compared to the new buildings behind.

Norwich Evening News: The former shops site next to the huge St James Quay developmentThe former shops site next to the huge St James Quay development (Image: Google)

As part of the work on the former shops, which fell into disrepair around a decade ago, the building will be refurbished and extended as it is turned back into two cottages, as they would have been in the early 19th century.

The head of planning and regulatory services at the city council, Sarah Ashurst, said: "The principle of bringing back into use two listed cottages which are currently on the Building at Risk Register is supported and the proposed residential use is considered to be the optimum viable use for the buildings.

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"The proposed restoration will result in some harm to the listed cottages due to the proposed extension of the cottages and the provision of external insulation and render to the side and rear elevation.

"This will obscure the historic brickwork and patina of age and will blur the lines between the original modest form of the building and the extensions to the rear."

Norwich Evening News: The properties were a fish and chip shop and a kebab shop but closed more than a decade agoThe properties were a fish and chip shop and a kebab shop but closed more than a decade ago (Image: Google)

A spokesman for The Hill Group, the team behind the St James Quay development, said: "The planning permission to renovate these two properties was secured in 2019.

"As part of this application, we have submitted details around the sensitive preservation of the listed cottages, outlining the works to be completed.

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"We have carried out agreed work to structurally stabilise and make the cottages safe to enable the final surveys required for the renovation to progress.

"The works, which facilitate returning the cottages back to their intended use as homes, received the full support of the council's planning, conservation, and design officers."

The timeline for the work has not been disclosed.