Despite fierce council objections, plans to convert IBM's former Basingstoke HQ into more than 100 flats are back on track after a judge's ruling.

Normandy House, a 76,000 square foot 1980s megalith close to the station, has stood empty since the computer giant's departure in 2013.

IBMs 150-year lease was in 2015 bought up by private equity investment company, Shaviram Normandy Ltd, for £5.25 million.

The vandalised building is now in a sad state of disrepair, but Shaviram has plans to convert it into 114 flats, said Judge Paul Francis.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council was, however, determined to see Normandy House refurbished and kept as office space.

The council, which owns the building's freehold, pointed to a clause in the original 1985 lease which restricted its use to offices only.

But now, at Shaviram's behest, Judge Francis has lifted the restriction, opening the way for the flats conversion.

He ruled at the Upper Tribunal that keeping the building as offices would bring no "substantial practical benefit" to the council.

The value of the council's freehold, he said, would be about £3 million if the building were refurbished to provide high class offices.

But its conversion to residential use would boost that value to £3,125,000, whilst only marginally decreasing the council's rental income.

The council said Denmark House is in a prime, strategic, location and pointed to the need to promote employment in the town.

It claimed that turning the building into flats would be "the thin end of the wedge", encouraging further loss of office space.

But Judge Francis said that, whilst there is demand for high-spec offices in Basingstoke, there is currently "no shortage" of such space.

And he rejected the council's argument that retaining Normandy House as offices was vital to the "economic wellbeing of Basingstoke."

The judge modified the clause in the lease, enabling the conversion of the building into flats.