£25m development to start after planners approve scheme
A £25m student housing scheme in Coventry city centre has been approved, allowing work to start later this month.
Developers Complex Development Projects (CDP) and Unite Group have been granted planning consent for the scheme on Hales Street.
The project will be the first phase of the plans for the regeneration of The Burges area of the city. The later phases include the restoration of historic properties and the creation of a riverside square, with bars and restaurants, that will open up the river.
Ian Harrabin, managing director of CDP, said: “The development of this leftover site is the key to the successful regeneration of The Burges area and the creation of activity in the proposed riverside square.
“The Burges area has been in decline for decades but deserves to be much better cared for. It is one of the few intact parts of the pre-war city that we have left and has a lot of potential to create an attractive riverside quarter. This planning decision will help enable that to happen.”
Construction of the three buildings is scheduled to be completed in time for the start of the 2017-18 academic year.
He added: ““The success of our universities and the growth in student housing demand has allowed us to bring forward a development which had previously stalled for economic reasons and that will have a very positive knock-on effect for the city.”
The developers of Phase 1 will contribute £280,000 towards the regeneration of the wider Burges area which will act as match funding for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant application of £2m.
