Galliford Try Secures Canal-Side Flats Contract in Chester, Clarion Finally Moves on Long-Delayed City Place Scheme
- Michael Ghobrial
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Clarion Housing Group has appointed Galliford Try as the main contractor for a long-awaited canal-side apartment scheme in Chester city centre. The project, part of the wider City Place masterplan next to Chester railway station and the Shropshire Union Canal, will deliver more than 120 affordable homes on a prominent brownfield site overlooked by the Grade II* listed Shot Tower. Work is due to start on site in March 2026, three years after Cheshire West and Chester Council first granted planning approval for the development.
Project Overview
The scheme sits at the heart of Chester’s City Place regeneration area, a mixed-use masterplan combining offices, residential accommodation and commercial uses adjacent to the mainline rail station.
Client / Developer: Clarion Housing Group (through its development arm, Latimer)
Main contractor: Galliford Try
Location: City Place, canal-side site next to the Shropshire Union Canal and Chester Shot Tower, Chester city centre
Tenure mix: 100% affordable housing (mix of affordable rent and shared ownership)
Number of homes: 126 apartments (revised from an earlier 133-home consent)
Building height: Single six-storey block
Contract value: £32.8 million
Programme: Start on site March 2026, completion targeted for February 2028
Access and connectivity: Vehicular access from Charterhall Drive; new pedestrian bridge linking to the canal towpath and city centre
The latest design simplifies a previous multi-block arrangement into a single six-storey building, while slightly reducing the total number of units to improve layout efficiency and respond to planning feedback.
Delivery Partners and Key Stakeholders
The Chester canal-side scheme brings together one of the UK’s largest housing associations, an experienced national contractor and a local authority keen to unlock stalled brownfield sites close to its main railway station.
Clarion Housing Group / Latimer: Client and long-term owner/operator of the homes, with Latimer leading development activities
Galliford Try: Main contractor appointed under a £32.8 million build contract, adding to its growing portfolio of affordable and mixed-tenure housing schemes across Cheshire and the wider North West
Cheshire West and Chester Council: Local planning authority and key public sector stakeholder behind the City Place masterplan
Homes England: Funding partner, with support that has enabled the scheme to move to a confirmed start-on-site date in March 2026
Progressive Living Developments (historic role): Worked with Latimer on earlier iterations of the scheme and the original 133-home planning approval
Local ward councillors (Chester City, Garden Quarter and Hoole wards): Vocal supporters of the scheme, positioning it as essential affordable housing in a sustainable, central location
The scheme sits within the broader City Place masterplan, which already includes Grade A office buildings and is intended to act as a major commercial and residential gateway into Chester from the rail station.
Construction and Technical Details
Bounded on one side by the Shropshire Union Canal and overlooked by heritage assets including the Shot Tower and former Steam Flour Mill, the site presents both opportunity and constraint.
Key technical and urban design elements include:
A single six-storey apartment block arranged around a podium-level amenity deck for residents, providing shared external space elevated above street level
126 apartments in total, predominantly one and two-bedroom units, all delivered as affordable homes, reflecting Clarion’s core social housing mission
Enhanced canal-side public realm, with improved access, landscaping and a new pedestrian bridge linking residents and the wider public directly to the towpath and into the historic city core
Vehicular access via Charterhall Drive, separating service and parking circulation from the canal edge and improving pedestrian safety
Building massing and façade treatment designed to respect the setting of the Grade II listed Shot Tower* and other designated heritage assets, following detailed discussions with the council’s conservation officers
The scheme’s design is explicitly referenced in planning documents as respecting local character and avoiding harm to nearby heritage assets, crucial in a city as historically sensitive as Chester
Construction will be delivered on a tight, urban, water-adjacent site, with logistics, tower crane positioning and materials storage all constrained by the canal and neighbouring development. For Galliford Try, it is a classic example of complex city-centre residential delivery rather than a straightforward greenfield scheme.
Timeline
2021: Latimer (Clarion’s development arm) acquires the 1.24‑acre brownfield site at City Place as its first major acquisition in Chester
February 2023: Planning approval granted under delegated powers for a 133-home canal-side scheme next to the Shot Tower
2023–2025: Design refinement period; scheme reworked into a single six-storey block, unit numbers reduced from 133 to 126 to address planning and design considerations
Early 2026: Revised proposals endorsed; councillors and officers publicly welcome the updated affordable housing offer and canal-side public realm improvements
March 2026: Start on site confirmed, supported by Homes England funding; Galliford Try mobilises as main contractor under a £32.8 million build contract
February 2028: Target completion date for the development, subject to programme performance and construction risk management
This timeline illustrates the now-familiar pattern for complex urban housing schemes: multi-year gestation from land acquisition to site start, even where planning approval was secured relatively early.
Strategic Importance
For Chester, this project is about more than one new block of flats next to a canal.
It unlocks a prominent brownfield site within walking distance of both the city centre and the mainline rail station, turning underused land into 126 much-needed affordable homes in a highly accessible location. In a planning officer’s own words, the scheme has been assessed as respecting local character and avoiding harm to nearby heritage assets, which is no small achievement given the sensitivity of the setting.
For Clarion, the development is part of a broader strategy to push deeper into high-demand regional cities where affordable housing supply lags significantly behind need. Delivering 100% affordable tenure in such a central location is a strong statement of intent, particularly at a time when many city-centre schemes are pivoting towards higher-value build-to-rent or private sale models to make viability stacks work.
For Galliford Try, the contract builds on an existing relationship with Cheshire West and Chester Council and consolidates the contractor’s presence in the North West social and affordable housing market. It places the business at the centre of a high-profile, design-sensitive scheme that will be highly visible to both residents and visitors arriving in Chester by rail.
Strategically, the scheme also contributes to the wider City Place masterplan narrative: a mixed-use gateway district combining offices, homes and commercial uses in a walkable, transit-connected urban quarter. The canal-side apartments add the residential density needed to make that wider vision economically and socially coherent.
Writer's Opinion
There is a temptation to see canal-side city apartments as interchangeable, another block of flats overlooking water, another glossy CGI. That would be a mistake in this case.
The City Place scheme does two things that are unusually valuable in the current UK housing market. First, it delivers 100% affordable homes in a location private developers would typically target for premium build-to-rent. Second, it does so in a way that has satisfied conservation concerns in one of England’s most heritage-sensitive cities. That combination is not easy to achieve.
The three-year lag between planning approval and start on site is a reminder of how fragile viability can be for even apparently straightforward housing schemes. Rising interest rates, construction cost inflation and shifting grant regimes all had to be navigated before Galliford Try could put a spade in the ground. Homes England’s involvement is not a footnote. Without that funding, it is entirely plausible that this site remains a stalled, fenced-off gap in the city fabric.
From an industry perspective, this project is a useful corrective to the idea that only mega‑schemes and high-rise towers matter. A six-storey block delivering 126 affordable homes next to a canal might not grab national headlines. But for the households who will live there, within walking distance of work, education and transport, it is precisely the kind of well-located, well-designed housing the UK claims it wants more of. The real test will be whether projects like this become normal, rather than newsworthy.
