New apartment block plan for old Exmouth gas works

Plans have been submitted for 26 homes

A pair of apartment blocks are being planned for an old gas works in an East Devon town.

The proposal, by Heritage Homes, shows drawings for two separate apartment blocks on the previously developed site of the former gas works on Exmouth’s Albion Hill.

Together, the two buildings would boast 26 homes alongside parking and open space.

The site has been vacant for more than a decade after decommissioning and demolition, according to the agent Black Box Planning.

One building does remain on the site, but it is otherwise clear of any other existing structures, with the bulk “densely vegetated”.

“The site sits entirely outside of but in close proximity to and within the setting of the Albion Street and Windsor Square Character Area of the Exmouth Conservation Area,” the agent said in a planning document.

“There are a number of Grade II listed and locally listed properties located on Albion Street, Montpellier Road and Windsor Square, however, intervisibility between these and the site is limited due to intervening built form and vegetation located on Albion Hill.”

All the homes will be two bedrooms, while one building will house 12 apartments and the other 14.

“Block one will be set over two and a half storeys with the top half-storey being a mansard roof,” planning documents state.

“This is a scale considered entirely in keeping with the character of surrounding development on Albion Hill, Montpellier Road and Windsor Square.

“Block two will be set back some distance from the street frontage and will be set across a mixture of two and a half- and four-storeys. “

The application notes the local style on Albion Hill predominantly comprises 2- and 3-storey detached and semi-detached dwellings in brick or white render with pitched slate roofs a common feature.

“A bespoke materials palette has been carefully selected to respond to and compliment the character of surrounding built form and integrate well with design seen in the Conservation Area and wider Exmouth,” the plans state.