An architecture watchdog has objected to plans to build a new block of student flats in Inverness – saying the designs are not ambitious enough for the city centre.
Inverness Properties has lodged a proposal to build a four-floor block at Rose Street which would accommodate up to 100 students.
The development would also include shops and a restaurant on the ground floor.
However, Inverness Civic Trust has objected to the plans, branding the design “unsophisticated and repetitive”.
Trust chairman, James Maxwell, said they support the principle of student accommodation on the site, but are concerned the plans do not match their ambition “to improve the architecture and environment of Inverness”.
He added: “It is crucially important that the council upholds its stated objective for a fine architectural solution to this site.
“The trust considers that the design fails to adequately address the opportunities of plan form and variety. The design is unsophisticated and repetitive.”
A previous application by Inverness Properties to build three blocks of flats on the same site was refused by councillors last year because of concerns that one building would be eight stories high.
The developer appealed the decision but a Scottish Government reporter rejected the plans.
The same developer recently started work on another six-storey block which was granted permission in 2012.
It is being built on land at the back of the Panasonic store and will house 105 students from the new student year.
The new plans also include the demolition of the former Rose Street Hall and car deck, where the building would be built.
Inverness Properties has said that the design of the new building is contemporary, describing the facade as “visually dynamic so as not to present a monolithic form”.
The Inverness Properties plan is one of a number of proposed developments targeting students in the Highland capital.
The University of the Highlands and Islands has also started work on a 150-bed accommodation block near the new Inverness College UHI building on the outskirts of the city.