Chester Renaissance.
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This is a major opportunity in the city centre to create a vibrant and distinctive new Business Quarter located immediately east and south of the railway station. Through a series of development proposals, the area has the potential to be transformed with high quality proposals to drive economic growth and transform Chester City Centre’s commercial offer. The site has the capacity to deliver 500,000 square feet of new office space and create over 1,100 new jobs. This will bring economic benefit for the city, borough and across the Cheshire and Warrington sub region.
The primary ambition for the area is to create a sustainable commercial new quarter of the city with high quality office space alongside complementary active uses, residential use and new public spaces. Being located immediately adjacent to Chester Railway Station provides strong sustainable connectivity with all major national cities. The historic character of the area and its close proximity to the city centre adds greatly to its attractiveness, as does the Shropshire Union Canal which runs east to west through the centre of the Quarter. The site already has a major employer in Lloyds Banking Group located in it as their Chester headquarters.
The Development Framework and Vision for the area was approved by Cheshire West and Chester Council Executive in September 2010. This document sets the standards and guiding principles for development within the proposed Quarter and will be a material consideration in any planning decisions within the area. It is available to download here.
Delivery will be private sector led, but in strong partnership with the Council and its partners. There are three key developments within the Quarter, each brought forward by separate developers. These are being jointly co-ordinated through Chester Renaissance and the Council. They are:
Shot Tower and Former Leadworks - a residential led re-development of one of Chester's key historical sites led by Neptune Developments in partnership with Chester & District Housing Trust (CDHT).
Waitrose Scheme - The supermarket chain plans to create a new store and hotel on the site of the former Boughton Retail Centre. There will also be improved public realm and a new bridge over the canal, connecting with the Shot Tower area and CBD.
Commercial Business District - Muse Developments are progressing with the outline Masterplan and detail for Phase 1, to include the first office building (c. 70,000 sq ft) and public realm linking it with the station.
Details for each of the schemes have progressed well over the last 18 months and subject to permissions, the first phases are expected to be completed by 2015. The whole Quarter is a major development and the proposals for the full development will take up to 15 years to achieve.