Chelmsford's new urban neighbourhood gets go-ahead

A project for the £100 million redevelopment of a site in Chelmsford town centre in which Beacon Planning acted as heritage adviser to The Genesis Housing Group, got the go-ahead at the Essex town's Borough Council at the end of January.

Genesis Housing Group's plans - which provide for 500 brand new homes across a 13-storey tower and a series of smaller buildings and houses and a supermarket and include a 13-storey – will see the development of the former Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) central campus in the heart of Chelmsford town centre.

The site on Victoria Road South borders Parkway and Duke Street where the town's railway station is situated and is home to three of Chelmsford's historic buildings, including the Grade II Listed Anne Knight Building which is a former Quaker Meeting House.

Working with award-winning architects, Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTEa) for he Genesis Housing Group, Beacon Planning was engaged to undertake a specialist planning assessment of the site and the proposed new urban neighbourhood which will see community uses of existing buildings and public open space in addition to the commercial and residential elements.

Beacon produced appraisals of the three historic buildings which will be brought back into use, and contributed the heritage statement to support the planning application. In addition, an assessment of the townscape and visual impact of the scheme was undertaken as part of the mandatory environmental impact assessment for the planning application.