Demolition work has started to pave the way for a managed city centre student accommodation scheme opening in September 2016.

A government inspector last year gave the go-ahead for two blocks for a total of about 120 students, in Upper Northgate Street, close to Fountains roundabout, after overturning Cheshire West and Chester Council’s decision to refuse planning consent.

Now Chester-based student accommodation specialists Cityheart Ltd have bought the site from William Fishwick and Son Ltd and begun demolition work ahead of building an almost identical scheme for 117 students.

Mark McNamee, managing director of Cityheart, said the mix of accommodation in the scheme would be two-thirds studio apartments, aimed at post-graduates, and one third cluster flats with en suite facilities but shared kitchen and communal living areas which appeal more to undergraduates.

He said: ‘We are specialists in student accommodation and work all over the country but it’s nice to have one in the city where I live and work.’

Transforming a 'scruffy' site

The Upper Northgate Street site in Chester where the 117-bed student scheme will be constructed once the existing buildings have been demolished

Mr McNamee the site in question had been ‘scruffy’ during the whole 30 years he had lived in Chester which the new project would transform for the better. Minor alterations had been made to design of the rear of the building to improve the outlook for neighbours. Given its proximity to the University of Chester, he added that the location ‘couldn’t be any better’.

Praising Vice Chancellor Professor Tim Wheeler, he commented: “Tim Wheeler has done a fantastic job for Chester University. It’s been one of the fastest climbers in the Times in terms of student experience by some way.’

Explaining that the market-place was more competitive than ever since then advent of tuition fees, Mr McNamee said modern students were hardworking and discerning. ‘If you’ve not got the student accommodation offer it’s unlikely you will get the students,’ he explained.

Strict tenancy conditions

While sympathetic to complaints of traditional residents in the Garden Lane area, he said the development of large managed schemes should help alleviate some of those issues. He said students were subject to ‘pretty strict’ tenancy conditions, commenting: ‘It’s a case of three strikes and you’re out.”

Founded in 2005 by MD Mark McNamee, Cityheart is involved with other student projects at Bangor University, Glasgow School of Art and Napier University in Edinburgh. Cityheart won the competition to deliver the new £17m Caernarfon Criminal Justice Centre. Locally the company developed a state-of-the-art health facility in the form of Frodsham and Helsby Integrated Resource Centre with its joint venture partner Community Solutions for Primary Care on behalf of NHS Western Cheshire.