A SOUTHAMPTON office block could be transformed into 20 new flats should plans be approved by civic chiefs.

Plans have been submitted to Southampton City Council to turn the former Tetcom office block on London Road into 20 flats.

The proposals, submitted by Mr Murphy of Knightspur Homes Ltd., detail plans for 15 one-bedroom flats and five two-bedroom flats as well as associated parking.

So far, there are no proposals on how the building will look, or whether the flats will be private or rented.

The building, which has been empty since April 2019, was previously offices for Hampshire telecom firm Tetcom which opened in Southampton in June 2018.

Tetcom, which supplies telephone systems to businesses, was set up in a garage in 2012 by father-son duo John and Charles Tett.

As previously reported, after three years in Nursling the firm outgrew its premises and in June 2018 moved to offices formerly occupied by law firm Moore Blatch.

In February 2019, 40 staff members at Tetcom were made redundant as part of a restructuring process.

In April 2019, the offices moved from London Road to Church Street, Blackpool.

At the time, Tetcom director Charles Tett said: “The telecoms industry is going through some major changes and with the current global economic climate, the uncertainty posed by Brexit and a general decline in fixed telephone systems sales, funders have slowly been withdrawing finance facilities within the soft asset sector.

"After many months of reorganisation and restructure, the directors sought the advice of professional advisers and reluctantly took the decision to downsize the business.

“This regrettably led to the redundancy of some staff, but a HR company has been brought in at the expense of the directors to help with the redundancy process.”

A decision on whether the offices will be turned into flats is yet to be made by Southampton City Council.