Developer Zinc Real Estate has revised its proposals to replace Clarendon House, on the corner of Western Way and Heavitree Road, with a three-block student accommodation complex by removing six storeys from one of the proposed blocks.
A single storey has been added to each of the other two blocks, resulting in proposals for a ten-storey block beside the Leonardo Hotel, a seven-storey central block and a nine-storey block at the foot of Heavitree Road.
A height comparison diagram provided by the developer shows the top of the tallest 34 metre block six metres below the spires of Exeter Cathedral’s towers and level with the gable peaks on The Depot, a 700-bed student accommodation block in Cheeke Street.
As the cathedral towers are 43 metres tall and the cathedral sits on higher ground the diagram is apparently more illustrative than representational.
Height comparison of Clarendon House proposal to other Exeter buildings. Source: Zinc Real Estate.
The scheme has been revised following an informal consultation held last December.
It would require the demolition of Clarendon House, a five-storey 1960’s office block that faces St Sidwell’s Point leisure centre across the Paris Street roundabout that is currently part-occupied by Exeter Jobcentre Plus.
It would provide up to 310 student bedrooms, reduced from 350 in the previous version of the scheme, arranged as 123 studio flats and 26 cluster flats. Shared amenity space has also been reduced, to a total of 450 square metres.
The developer says that Exeter needs more purpose built student accommodation blocks because university student numbers have been rising year on year and the city’s existing blocks are “failing to meet rising demand in Exeter with only 42% of students catered for by existing PBSA schemes”.
Clarendon House proposals illustrative view. Source: Zinc Real Estate.
The developer also says that the new building would make a “positive contribution to the character and architecture of Exeter”.
New Western Way and Cheeke Street pedestrian crossings are proposed, which the developer says will have “negligible impact on congestion”, and a new pedestrian access to the city council’s Triangle car park would be opened up between the complex and the adjacent Leonardo Hotel.
The developer also says it is “engaging with community partners to explore possible uses for a large and lofty space with a shop window on to Heavitree Road” which it says might be used for “co-working and spaces for small business start-ups to grow”.
Comments on the proposals can be submitted via an online survey until Friday 10 January 2025. Questions and comments can also be addressed to Avril Baker Consultancy on 0117 977 2002 or via email to info@abc-pr.co.uk.
A formal planning application for the scheme is expected next year, when the city council will hold a statutory public consultation on the proposals.
Earlier this month the council decided that the development would not require an Environmental Impact Assessment, a statutory requirement for projects likely to have a significant effect on the environment, in response to a request for a screening opinion.
