A proposal to install fifteen shipping containers to create a “boxpark” beside a Water Lane industrial unit has been submitted to Exeter City Council for approval.
The containers would be located in a car park beside a micro-brewery operated by applicant Crossed Anchors Brewery, housed in a Vulcan Estate warehouse that was previously occupied by CDF Limited, a fabricator and welder.
Seven of the containers, six at ground level and one above, would be refitted for use as a bar, store, toilets and an office for the brewery. Outdoor seating would also be provided.
Eight of the containers, two at ground level and six above, would be offered for rent as “small start-up units”. The applicant says that “the actual tenants are not known at this stage”.
Vulcan Estate “boxpark” illustrative view. Image: James Pearce Architects.
Crossed Anchors Brewery has been operating at the rear of The Grapevine in Exmouth since 2015 and in The Old Firestation in Topsham since last year. It says it has outgrown these facilities.
Its planning application says that the Vulcan Estate car park in which it intends to install the shipping containers provides 90 spaces, six of which would be retained, and adds that there is “good provision for parking on the street”.
However the section of Water Lane beside the car park is intended for reconfiguration as part of the redevelopment of the wider area, following a city council decision to use its compulsory purchase powers for its acquisition last year.
The Vulcan Estate is allocated as an “employment opportunity area” in the regulating plan adopted by the city council in July that describes the 90 acre Water Lane development site, which now also includes Grace Road Fields at its southernmost end.
A revised outline application for up to 980 dwellings and 320 student bedspaces with 40,000m2 of other uses on the ex-industrial site was submitted to the city council in June.
Comments on the Vulcan Estate proposals can be submitted via the city council website until 27 October.
