Two plans would replace the empty Volvo House in Marlow's Globe Park with a factory or a warehouse. Highways back the warehouse but not the factory.

Volvo House, the office block in Marlow’s Globe Park that has stood empty since about 2012, could be knocked down and replaced by either a factory or a warehouse. Two applications have been lodged for the site on Parkway, and the council will decide which, if either, to allow.

Both were lodged by planning consultants Turley for BC BBU Ltd and validated on 29 September. The building is the former Volvo Garage headquarters and was last used as offices in 2012, according to the planning statement.

The two schemes

Factory (B2) Warehouse (B8)
Reference PL/26/07317/FA PL/26/07318/FA
Floor space 4,531 sq m 4,838 sq m
Share that is offices 11% 13%
Car parking 71 spaces 41 spaces
Council highways view Recommends refusal No objection, with conditions

Neither application names a company that would move in. A B2 unit is general industrial use, such as manufacturing. A B8 unit is storage or distribution.

What the consultees say

Parking. The council’s highways officer recommends refusing the factory scheme. The county’s parking guidance would ask for 116 spaces for a unit that size, against 71 proposed. The officer cites “the high degree of parking saturation within and around the Globe Business Park” and says the council would resist anything that pushes more parking onto nearby roads. The same officer agrees the factory would create fewer vehicle trips than the old offices did.

On the warehouse scheme, the highways response raises no objection, subject to conditions and a £6,300 travel plan payment.

Flooding. An Environment Agency response filed on the factory application on 28 October objects “in the absence of an adequate flood risk assessment” and recommends refusal. It says it would want conditions to protect groundwater if that objection is overcome.

Other views.

  • Marlow Town Council has no objection.
  • The council’s economy team supports bringing “a long-term vacant site in a key employment area” back into use. It says Globe and Cressex business parks together hold more than 500 businesses.
  • Environmental health has no objection on noise.
  • The tree officer has asked for more information on tree canopy cover.

No member of the public had commented on either application by 11 November.

How we got here

A 2014 permission to reclad and extend the building was partly carried out, and the planning statement says it is still live. A 2023 plan for small business units and a warehouse, 23/08092/FUL, was withdrawn in November 2024.

What it means for you

Nothing will happen on the site until one scheme is approved. Both applications are still open for comment on the council’s planning register: search for PL/26/07317/FA or PL/26/07318/FA.

Sources

  • Buckinghamshire Council planning register, PL/26/07317/FA and PL/26/07318/FA, checked 11 November 2026.
  • Turley, cover letter and planning statements for both schemes, September 2026.
  • Consultee responses linked above, October 2026.