Consent due for £38m Chester office-to-resi
Cheshire West and Chester Council has been recommended to approve the proposed change of use of the 60,000 sq ft Charterhall House and 45,000 sq ft Tower House into a 176-apartment complex.
Developer Blueoak Estates’ £38m investment would see the 105,000 sq ft office building transformed into a one- and two-bedroom flats.
The four-acre site sits off Charterhall Drive within walking distance to Chester city centre. It would be the city’s first build-to-rent development brought to market, according to the developer.
Units will be fully furnished and are expected to be let from Q1 2026 should the 20-month build programme go as planned.
Both buildings would be retained in full rather than be demolished and rebuilt. All the properties would have an EPC B rating. Car parking, and EV charging points, would be provided for up to 122 vehicles.
Amenities on offer include a residents’ gym, a shared workspace area, and a cinema room.
Iain MacLean, managing director at Blueoak Estates, said: “As a business whose roots lie in Chester, it’s wonderful to be able to continue to make a positive impact on the city, once again taking an unloved and abandoned building and breathing new life into it for a generation.”
He added the development was important for the local economy, and would create opportunities for investors and those keen to take advantage of Chester’s “far-reaching city centre renaissance”.
The previous occupant Lloyds Bank vacated the premises in 2019, relocating to Chester Business Park, after appointing agency CBRE to market the site.
PAD is the architect for the project and Asteer Planning is advising on planning matters.
The wider project team includes GIA, PDA Acoustic Consultants, and CBO Transport.
To view the application, use the planning reference number 24/02755/PMA on Cheshire West and Chester Council’s planning portal.
I certainly get the logic, but it’s such a strategic site next to the railway station if you have an ambition to build an office cluster within Chester city itself.
I’m maybe not the only person that thinks Chester Business Park out by the A55, while impressive, is a model that’s bound to decline over time. Feels like a fork in the road where Chester becomes even more of a leisure destination and bedroom community for Liverpool and Manchester rather than a commercial hub in its own right.
By Rich X
Interesting idea, just hope the one bedroom flats are used by unemployed youngsters intent on living on the dole and only emerging to cause mayhem in town. Alternatively I also hope the lack of parking for everyone will
not impact on the local area, as it did when the bank got rid of a lot of parking space. To me it seems like overdevelopment of the area, but what would I know, I’m not a politician, nor a planner. Let’s hope the managers of the flats keeps the residents in order, whoever they are!
By Anonymous
I do despair of office to resi conversions. Most are done on the cheap to buildings that really aren’t suited, providing poor space and amenity and then they become impossible to unravel and redevelop.Placemaking,amenity and community are ignored and no affordable housing is required, yet they are permitted, whilst other resi schemes are delayed and subjected to an increasing list of policy requirements, scrutiny and more often pushed to appeal by an over zealous and politicised system.If only CWAC gave positive decisions this quickly to those schemes.
By Justin A Thought