Plans to turn offices in Stevenage town centre into eight flats have been rejected by council planning officers.
Gemstone Estates Ltd want to turn offices on the first and second floor of 31A Queensway - on the corner of Queensway and Market Place - into flats.
The ground floor, currently occupied by TUI travel agents, would not have been altered.
Both the first and second floors would have been converted into flats, with four one-bedroom properties on each floor.
However, following advice from Environmental Health, planning officers refused the application as they deemed "the impact of the proposed development would be unacceptable".
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They said that the decision had been reached due to a lack of information on the potential impact of noise on nearby properties, and a lack of information on the natural light that would reach each room in the converted flats.
In their application, Gemstone Estates had written: "There is no noise impact from any commercial premises as the area has similar buildings with commercial premises on the ground floor and a mixture of offices and residential accommodations on the upper floors."
More than 3,000 properties are being built in the town centre as part of the ongoing regeneration project.
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