UK-based developer Corona Properties has submitted a planning application for a 16-storey residential and office development in the town of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

The tower is planned for construction on Whiteleaf Road and has been designed as the first mixed development of its kind to receive an ECP A+ rating.

Dacorum Borough Council will keep the public consultation for the tower development open until 18 November.

Named The Beacon, the building will include 272 apartments and offer more than 9,000ft² of office spacing in the town, which has been previously labelled ‘the ugliest town in the UK’.

"The building has been designed to reduce energy loss and will comprise an indoor arboretum that generates clean air."

The futuristic building will also include gym and leisure facilities, a coffee shop, roof garden, projector room/party room and offer underground parking space for 313 cars, reports Hemeltoday.

Once developed, it will be the only multi-dwelling EPC A+ energy neutral building in the UK that uses zero carbon and low carbon technologies.

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The building has been designed to reduce energy loss and will comprise an indoor arboretum that generates clean air.

Corona Properties said: "The Beacon will enhance the character of Hemel Hempstead’s town centre and be part of its regeneration as detailed in the Dacorum Core Strategy.

"Iconic developments enhance the character of a town and act to lure inward investment into an area, thereby promoting economic growth."

It will facilitate automatic parking for the cars and use fingerprint technology to allow people access to their homes.

The sustainable development is expected to consume 50% to 60% less energy than a standard development, reports Construction Enquirer.

Planned to be emission-free, it will involve on-site generation of energy for its usage through ground source heat pumps, translucent solar roof panels, solar ledges and vertical axis wind turbines.