Plans have been submitted to knock down Exeter’s former police station and build more than 800 homes for university students and local people.
It would see the demolition of the existing buildings replaced with a ‘mixed-use’ development of purpose-built student accommodation and co-living spaces.
Co-living normally refers to a development of small, affordable apartments with some shared facilities.
The buildings to be knocked down also include the former magistrates court on the site.
If passed by the city council, the development would have 414 co-living units and 399 for students. The latest application is a revised and re-designed version of one previously rejected by the council.
It has more co-living and less student accommodation than the last one.
Would-be developers say it addresses and resolves the key concerns raised while the previous application was going through council. Its overall impact has been reduced, they say, creating ‘a high-quality development that better aligns with the character of the area’.
Instead of the previously proposed two large buildings, the new design features seven smaller ones which are lower and take up less space. The blocks will now be between four and six storeys high, with the tallest ones on ‘less sensitive’ parts of the site.
The new plans include a new public route through the site as well as measures to minimise disruption to the environment. More than 150 new trees will be planted.
An earlier application was refused in February 2023 after nearly three years of wrangling, and although the would-be developers appealed, a planning inspector dismissed the case, saying the buildings proposed at that time would have been ‘overly assertive and incongruous’.
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