Harlequins to be replaced with 'single bed' rooms

But not just for students

A revised plan to redevelop Exeter’s Harlequins Shopping Centre without a previously-agreed hotel has been given the go-ahead.

Last year the city council’s planning committee granted permission to turn the city centre site on Paul Street, built in the mid-1980s, into co-living accommodation [aimed at single people who will rent rooms with shared facilities] and a hotel.

But developers Curlew submitted a new application saying covid had caused “significant changes to the economy.” The revised scheme replaces the hotel with another co-living block - increasing the scheme’s total number of beds by 132.

Under the co-living design, the accommodation will be made up of self-contained studio apartments with ‘kitchenettes’ along with ‘cluster flats’ that will share amenities such as a kitchen.

Twenty per cent of the units will be classed as affordable, with priority given to key workers. Applicant Chris Dadds said the units would be restricted to single occupancy only and that minimum terms would be three months.

The development will be car-free except for two disabled spaces and two electric vehicle spaces, though 280 cycle bays will be provided. A ‘pocket park’ will be created, along with improvements around Paul Street for pedestrians and cyclists, and a replacement pedestrian bridge over the road.

Both blocks will operate jointly, with one management team, and residents will have access to amenities including lounges, cinemas, a gym, separate yoga studio and spa suite, laundry, co-working area and a games zone.

How Harlequins looks today

Council leader Phil Bialyk (Labour, Exwick) backed the scheme before citing former United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The only fear we have is fear itself – that’s all we’ve got to be frightened of here.”

“Come on guys, look at what it’s doing for our housing supply....the availability of housing for people in Exeter,” Cllr Bialyk said, adding “I think it’s time that that place [Harlequins] was regenerated in this way.”

He continued: "We have firm commitments that we do not want to build on the hills and the surrounding green land around this city, and so therefore we have to redevelop brownfield sites. We have to – in effect – go up if we are to defend those.”

“It’s make your mind up time on which direction we go, and I think we should be going in this direction.”

Cllr Bialyk praised the Passivhaus energy efficiency standard to which the development will be made - the same as the new St Sidwell’s Point leisure complex. He said: “For all those people including me who are concerned about the environment, just think about that impact.”

Also in support was Councillor Ruth Williams (Labour, Mincinglake & Whipton): “For me, the additional 132 bed space is really important. We have 2,200 people on Devon Home Choice [waiting list for housing], so this makes a significant difference to addressing the shortage of accommodation in Exeter.”

However, Councillor Diana Moore (Green, St David’s) voted against. Her concerns included how the proposed rental value of the units was “unclear” and about the restrictions on who could live there: “This development doesn’t provide extra homes, it provides accommodation for single people only.”

After the meeting, Cllr Moore added in a statement: "I am dismayed the planning committee ignored the issues of crime and anti-social behaviour raised in the objection from the police. The development is abysmal.

“Far from meeting local planning requirements to provide mixed developments, vital in an area that already has a high transient population, it will instead provide units of accommodation for single people. Not the homes that our key workers in the city deserve."

Councillor Rob Hannaford (Labour, St Thomas) voted in favour but admitted there was some uncertainty: “I think we are looking at a bit of an experiment here and some unknowns in terms of how it’s going to work and what the market is … but I hope that it will deliver what we want in terms of key workers and affordable housing.”

He also warned: “If, once it’s built, a lot of these units go to students rather than key workers then we’ll see what public opinion says at the time, but let’s hope it does what it says on the tin and we wish it well.”

The project will see the demolition of the Harlequins Centre, apart from a small part of the existing building (Nos 21-22 Queen Street) which pre-dates the more modern centre and to allow for the relocation of hearing centre Chime.

Members of the planning committee approved the application by ten votes to two.