Weston Homes has been granted planning permission by Norwich City Council for the redevelopment of the 4.65-hectare (11.5-acre) Anglia Square site in Norwich.
The development will deliver up to 1,100 new homes ranging across buildings from three to eight storeys, which are designed around inner courtyards, a public square and a network of pedestrian streets.
The successful planning application follows seven years of hard work and consultation between Weston Homes and Norwich residents which has resulted in the creation of a local scheme that will reinstate the historic street pattern that existed during the Victorian era, delivering a new high-quality neighbourhood for Norwich.
Weston Homes will now take over ownership of the Anglia Square site from current landowner Columbia Threadneedle, and the housebuilder anticipates that it will start the phased redevelopment of Anglia Square within the next few months.
In addition to the homes, the regenerated Anglia Square will provide up to 8,000 sq m (86,111 sq ft) of non-residential floorspace in addition to a community hub, community hall, new employment floorspace for a range of businesses, public toilets and accessible changing place facility. There will be up to 450 car parking spaces, 1,888 new cycle bays and a cycle path through the site, as well as the planting of around 200 new trees, 1.2km of new hedging and ecological features contributing to an +85% biodiversity net gain.
In 2020, previous plans by Weston Home that were originally given local planning consent were rejected by the secretary of state as they “did not protect and enhance the heritage assets of the city.”
Weston Homes designed a new scheme from scratch, addressing the key issues and undertaking extensive local community and key stakeholder consultation including seven major public exhibitions, a community-led design forum and extensive individual stakeholder meetings.
The design of the new scheme also involved extensive pre-application discussions with Norwich City Council over several years with an extensive range of stakeholders including Norwich County Council, Historic England, The Norwich Society and Save Britain’s Heritage among others.
Weston Homes said that the world has changed dramatically since its original concept for the site, leading the developer to relook at all elements of the commercial viability of the scheme.
The revised plans see a 35% reduction in the overall floorspace of the development, the tallest building in the new scheme is eight storeys tall, 12 less than the original tower, and 52% of the residential dwellings are dual aspect, compared to 30% dual aspect previously.
The residential element will deliver one, two and three-bedroom homes of mixed tenure, the initial phase comprised 279 market sale, 58 social rent and 16 shared ownership properties. A further 747 homes are included in the plans, with the final residential mix to be determined through subsequent Reserved Matters applications.
The new scheme will include 100% electric vehicle charging point provision with other sustainable features including 56% of the new development’s energy needs being met through air source heat pumps and a 58.4% reduction in CO2 emissions over Part L of Building Regulations 2021 requirements. The brown, green and biodiverse roofs to the development and new planting will create a biodiversity net gain of +85%.
Bob Weston, chairman and managing director of Weston Homes, said: “Weston Homes is delighted by the resolution to grant planning which underlines the creation of a local ‘Grounded in Norwich’ scheme, designed by the local community of Norwich. We have learnt so much from this project, through going back to the drawing board, consulting locally and designing a domestic scale scheme with features led by the aspirations of the people of Norwich rather than Weston Homes. We are looking forward to beginning the delivery of this fantastic new development for the people of Norwich.”
