Challenger expands Runcorn resi

The developer and contractor has applied to replace an earlier consent for 32 or 33 apartments on Irwell Lane with a larger affordable housing scheme on the same plot.

Bolton-based Challenger Building Services now wants to build 35 affordable housing units within the three-storey apartment building approved last November, and has re-submitted the application with amends included.

The revised planning application also includes 18 car parking spaces at the rear of the building, including three disabled and two electric vehicle spaces, together with a landscaped residents’ garden and external cycle storage unit.

The £5m scheme in Runcorn has been designed by architecture studio Falconer Chester Hall. If consented, it would provide a mix of one- and two-bed affordable apartments targeting the over-55s, to be built on behalf of social landlord Housing 21.

Challenger’s managing director Richard Hutchinson said: “The local authority has already recognised the scheme’s value in regenerating a prominent brownfield site. We believe we can deliver more social value by re-adjusting our plans and have the full support of Housing 21.

“It’s a thoughtful and welcoming scheme, designed using the Building For Life 12 key and HAPPI principles. We are delighted with the final design and the way it enhances the existing streetscape.”

Falconer Chester Hall director Mike Gore noted that the application is likely to be determined by Cheshire West & Chester Council’s delegated powers, “hopefully within a shortened period to help the delivery of much-needed housing”.

Gore added: “The proposed development is on a prominent corner plot and its design has been influenced by existing contextual features.

“We have incorporated soldier courses above the windows and balconies that offer a rhythm to the elevation, while a carefully considered materials palette ensures the building complements its surroundings.”

Other consultants on the scheme include SATPLAN (planning), Mode (transport planning), DEP Landscape Architecture (landscape design), Surety Fire Solutions (fire engineers) and Philip Wright Associates (structural engineers).

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