Plans submitted for three new student blocks on site of old Dairy Crest depot in Coventry

[dutchman]

Plans include three blocks of flats that will house 225 students, as well as six new car parking spaces



A former dairy depot in Coventry could be demolished to make way for three student accommodation blocks.

Proposals have been submitted to the city council to turn the old Dairy Crest site in Harper Road, Stoke, into rooms for 225 students.

According to the plans, developers want to create three blocks of flats ranging form four- to seven-storeys tall.

Each building will house four or six bedroom flats, as well as single bedroom studios.

There are currently no car parking spaces on the site, but developers are hoping to create five car parking spaces, one disabled car parking space and 50 cycle spaces.

The plan also includes proposals to create associated communal facilities and landscaping.

The buildings’ architects, Callingham Associates, are proposing the structures are made from “facing brickwork with timber cladding”, plans also suggest the exterior could have “grey cladding” and off white rendered walls.

The existing timber window frames and roller doors would be replaced with “grey aluminium” frames.



As part of the pack submitted to the council’s planning committee, a preliminary unexploded ordnances survey was carried out. It showed there was a “medium probability of UXO encounter”.

The report read: “An analysis of pre and post-war mapping has identified potential bomb damage to a row of semi-detached houses along Harper Road, where two buildings had been removed 10m west and 45m south-west.

“The fact that potential bomb damage was recorded within close proximity would suggest that further action is warranted to address the potential for UXO encounter.”

The public consultation period for the plans began on June 21 and will be closed on July 14. A decision on the plan’s approval will be made on September 16.

According to a report from Callingham Associates, a document was put together explaining the intentions and rationale behind the scheme. It was then distributed around the city.

The report read: “There were approximately 850 signatures of support for the development.”

[dutchman]

First look at student flats planned for Coventry site of former Dairy Crest depot



Here is the first look at student flats planned to be built on the site of the former Dairy Crest depot in Stoke.

Developers have submitted the proposals to Coventry City Council’s planning committee for a 225-room accommodation block in Harper Road.

As part of the plans, the developer is hoping to open up the River Sherbourne to the public by creating a pedestrian route along the river bank.

The local developers are hoping that the £15million investment will “kickstart the wider development of this underused area”.

The aim of the project was laid out in a design and access statement prepared by Callingham Architects.

It read: “The overarching aim of the application is to propose a privately funded development which provides much needed purpose-built student accommodation on a disused brownfield site close to the university.”

According to the statement, around 38,000 full-time students need accommodation in Coventry, so accommodation is being offered as a way of reducing the number of privately rented home students occupy.

Developers have also been quick to assure the plans comply with the council’s local plan to improve the link between Charterhouse and Far Gosford Street by creating the walkway along the River Sherbourne passed the three blocks of flats.



The access statement said: “This scheme fully complies with Policy HE3 by creating a riverside walkway within the site, along the River Sherbourne, allowing for the future development of the riverside link from the historical Far Gosford Street to the new Charterhouse Heritage Park.”

A report from Callingham Associates, a document was put together explaining the intentions and rationale behind the scheme. It was then distributed around the city.

The report read: “There were approximately 850 signatures of support for the development.”

In April, plans were approved to turn the Victorian buildings of the old Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital in Stoney Stanton Road, Foleshill, into accommodation for 291 students.

According to plans, the listen nurses’ home and outpatients clinic will be refurbished and a five-storey block will be built on the site.

[dutchman]

£15million student complex approved for Old Dairy Crest site in Coventry



A former Dairy Crest depot in Coventry is to be demolished to make way for a £15million riverside student accommodation complex.

Coventry City Council has approved plans to redevelop the site in Harper Road, Stoke, to create 200 bedrooms spread across three buildings ranging from three to six storeys tall.

An original application, submitted in July, was scrapped by developers who changed their plans dramatically following talks with the council.

The approved buildings will be made up of three, four, five, six, and seven bedroom clusters and studios.

Unlike in the original plans, the buildings will have no front facing balconies and will be made of bronze metal and brick.

Planners felt that the new materials would reflect the site’s “industrial heritage” and keep the development in line with existing residential properties. Three car parking spaces and 100 cycle parking spaces were also approved.

As part of the approved plans, the developer will open up the River Sherbourne to the public by creating a pedestrian route along the river bank.

According to the council, the project takes into account the Local Plan which aims to create a ‘Heritage Park’ in the grounds of the Charterhouse and improve the link between Charterhouse and Far Gosford Street.

A report to the planning committee said: “The scheme complies with policy by creating a riverside walkway within the site boundary, along the River Sherbourne, allowing for future development of the riverside link from the historical Far Gosford Street to the new Charterhouse Heritage Park.”

Residents’ concerns about the increased number of students in the area were addressed in the council’s final planning report, however officers felt that “given the design of the building, it is not considered that the proposed development will significantly impact upon the amenity of existing residents within the immediate area”.

Certain conditions were imposed on the project, such as using local workers in the construction of the buildings.

In the final report recommending to approve the scheme, planners said that the scheme was “well designed” and was a “high quality development” that would “kick-start the wider development of this run down area”.

Its appearance seems to have changed dramatically since the plans were first submitted?

[dutchman]

I believe the developers were asked to redesign it so it reflected the red brick, industrial nature of the area.

Okay, thanks for that.

[dutchman]

This run-down Coventry suburb could soon get a Hoxton hipster-style makeover



Developers have unveiled plans to give a stretch of disused land next the River Sherbourne in Coventry a ‘Hoxton-style’ makeover.

Complex Development Projects (CDP) have submitted a planning application to the city council to transform the former Dairy Crest site at Stoke into quirky offices catering for digital and creative businesses.

And the company says the proposals form part of wider plans to develop the area along the river as a digital and creative quarter similar to trendy Hoxton and Old Street in east London.

The former Dairy Crest depot was set to make way for a £15million riverside student accommodation complex but those plans now appear in doubt.

CDP wants to build "colourful" offices which reflect the nature of the businesses inside.

The building would have “large open plan industrial space ideal for open plan studio offices”.

Developers want to create a modern space, which unlike traditional offices, would have high ceilings, concrete floors, ‘chill out areas’ and even basketball hoops.

There would be around 20 on site parking spaces, as well as cycle spaces.

According to plans, the developer’s aim is to “deliver a high quality scheme designed to create a strong, vibrant, high quality and visually stimulating environment”.

In the long term, this would mean redeveloping former industrial sites and creating open spaces for walking and cycling along the River Sherbourne between Gosford Gate and Charterhouse.

Ian Harabin, managing director of CDP, told the Telegraph that the proposal for office space near to FarGo Village, which is already attracting dozens of creative businesses, would help regenerate the area.

Developers CDP hope that creating more business space using existing warehouses will capitalise on the potential for job creation in the area, especially in the creative fields.

The site has already been earmarked for a 225 student room accommodation project after planning permission was granted in 2016.

An extract from the design and access statement attached to CDP’s application said that the previous proposal was “incapable of implementation as approved”.

Mr Harabin explained to the Telegraph that he hoped securing planning approval for the site in Harper Road in Stoke would aid the purchasing of the site from the current owners.

[dutchman]

Council U-turn on plans for River Sherbourne student accommodation

Planning officers have backtracked over a recommendation to allow student accommodation to be built near to the bank of Coventry’s River Sherbourne.

The redevelopment of the Dairy Crest site, in Harper Road, Stoke, was due for discussion by the council’s Planning Committee tomorrow after officers had recommended in a report that proposals fot 266 student flats on the land were given the green light.

But, in the face of opposition from The Historic Coventry Trust and others, officers have called back the report and the planning application will no longer be on the agenda.

A statement from Coventry City Council read: “The planning application will be withdrawn from the agenda. This will be notified in the late representations notification later today.

“It’s been withdrawn to allow planning officers extra time on the detail in the report.”

The proposed building, which would vary from three to six storeys, would be go up at the site which has sat empty for around five years.

However, there are concerns the student accommodation would end plans for a two-mile walk connecting Charterhouse to the city centre, as well as an off-road cycle route along the river from Gosford Street to Jaguar Land Rover.

Those plans are already moving and are part of the key capital project for the City of Culture bid.

The Historic Coventry Trust has submitted an official objection to Coventry City Council which is quoted in the agenda for Thursday’s planning committee meeting.

The report states that the Trust believe a 55-metre stretch of the nearby river would be placed “almost perpetually in shadow” by the new buildings and also takes away a site that could be used for employment.

Letters of objection have been sent to the city council voicing concerns over issues such as the “noise and general disturbance” that would be created by 266 students and stating that a six-storey block was not “in keeping with the houses on the opposite side of Harper Road”.

The Trust also claim that the students flats proposals by applicant Crosslane Group do not leave enough space between the edge of the buildings and the river bank, as required by The Environment Agency and Warwickshire Wildlife.

They also say that an eight-metre route is also required by Sustrans for a combined footpath and cycle route.