Torquay’s Roebuck House with dark history set for fresh start as 49 flats with gym

A derelict ‘brutalist’ office block in the centre of Torquay where a gunman killed three people before taking his own life 50 years ago could finally be turned into flats.

The former Torbay Council offices and Job Centre in the seven-storey Roebuck House in Abbey Road are to be converted into 49 flats, with a gym and cycle store on the ground floor.

Conservationists say the tall, narrow building on the junction of Abbey Road and Warren Road building is a prime example of 1960s brutalist architecture, where buildings were designed to stand out from their surroundings.

Permitted development rights already exist for the conversion of the building into homes.

Read next: Brampton House opens as Torbay Council launches first ‘Hotels to Homes’ social rent apartments

The developer says the building has been vacant for some time and would benefit from regeneration. Its form and scale would remain the same, and the application from Halcyon (Torquay) Limited says: “The re-use and conversion of the building would result in an

improvement to its appearance, resulting in betterment to the setting of the neighbouring listed buildings and the conservation area as a whole.”

An application to turn it into flats was lodged, but then withdrawn, as long ago as 2013. In 2021 approval was given to a different proposal to convert it.

Roebuck House made national news headlines on October 3 1974 when gunman Michael Anthony Brown ran amok in the stairwell and offices.

Less than 5ft tall, Brown had become paranoid about his height and became wrongly convinced that the Job Centre staff were mocking him and laughing behind his back. He shot dead three staff before turning the gun on himself.

Torbay Council has given its blessing to the proposed change of use.