Major housing plans revealed for former Exeter police station site

A project to knock down a former Devon police station and magistrates’ court to build more than 800 homes for university students and local people has moved a step closer.

The plans for Exeter’s former police station in Heavitree Road would mean the demolition of the existing buildings and the construction of blocks of ‘mixed-use’ homes, some of them purpose-built student accommodation and others co-living spaces.

The blocks of housing units would be up to six storeys high on a site which has not been used since October 2020.

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Applicant NCO (Seven) Ltd, based in York, has now lodged a full planning application with the city council, having filed its initial plans earlier this year. The drawings have been revised and redesigned since the city council rejected a previous application in February 2023.

The development will have 414 co-living units and 399 units for students. Co-living refers to a development of small, affordable apartments with some shared facilities.

Building heights have been reduced, among other changes. Instead of the previously proposed two large buildings, the new design features seven smaller ones, which are lower and take up less space.

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The blocks would now be between four and six storeys high, with the tallest ones on “less sensitive” parts of the site.

It is the latest in a series of applications for tall buildings in Exeter. Recent applications include an eight-storey block of student flats on the site of the former King Billy pub in Northbrook Street and a 10-storey development at Clarendon House.

The full planning application for the former police station will be considered by the city council in the coming months.