A BLUEPRINT has been lodged for a 394-bed student housing complex near Chester Railway Station.
Watkin Jones is seeking planning consent for accommodation on the former Chester City Transport depot site, with a design incorporating the historic tram tracks and their supporting granite setts.
The ‘Tramways’ scheme includes nine individual studios and 385 bedrooms located within ‘cluster flats’. Every room has en-suite facilities.
Aimed at students from both the University of Chester and the College of Law in Christleton, the complex would be managed by the company’s Fresh Student Living arm which already runs a 128-room site in Victoria Road, Chester.
Iain Smith, Watkin Jones’ planning director, said the public consultation in March showed support for the project, with 85% of respondents considering there is a need to redevelop the site, 80% believing the location is suitable for managed student accommodation and 75% agreeing the proposed design is of a high quality.
The site was originally developed by London & North Western Railway in the early 1840s as Chester’s first temporary railway passenger terminal and subsequently became a wagon repair depot on completion of the station building in 1848.
In 1878 the Chester Tramways Company was established on the site with horse-drawn trams following a circuit that ran from the depot to Saltney via City Road. Chester Corporation acquired the tram company and developed the site to accommodate the larger electric tramcars.
In 1930 the trams gave way to motorised transport and in 1938 the site was acquired to facilitate the expansion of the Chester Corporation Transport depot. It remained in operation as a bus depot until July 2005.
