Galliford Try Chester canal-side flats: low‑carbon design notes for project teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Galliford Try has secured a £28m contract from Clarion Housing Group to build 126 canal-side social rent flats at the City Place site on Charterhall Drive in Chester, adjacent to the Shropshire Union Canal and the grade-II-listed Chester Shot Tower. The scheme comprises 23 one-bed and 103 two-bed units, with Latimer, Clarion’s development arm, overseeing delivery as part of the wider City Place masterplan. All homes are designed to be fossil-fuel-free, achieve at least EPC B, and provide 100% electric vehicle charging provision.
Technical Brief
- Construction start is scheduled “this month”, implying immediate mobilisation, prelims and site establishment on a constrained brownfield plot.
- Proximity to the Shropshire Union Canal will drive temporary works for edge stability, access and flood-resilient detailing.
- Working adjacent to the grade-II-listed Chester Shot Tower introduces heritage constraints on vibration, settlement and façade protection.
- All units being fully electric requires upgraded site electrical infrastructure and coordinated EV charging load management.
- Fossil-fuel-free brief rules out gas boilers, pushing heat-pump or direct-electric solutions and enhanced building fabric performance.
- 100% EV charging provision necessitates dedicated parking layouts, ducting routes and allowance for future capacity expansion.
Our Take
Within our 726 Infrastructure stories, relatively few schemes in the United Kingdom offer 100% electric vehicle charging provision, so this Chester City Place site positions Galliford Try and Clarion Housing Group at the leading edge of residential electrification standards.
The 126 social-rent units at the City Place project are large by the standards of our recent UK ‘Projects’ and ‘Contract Award’ coverage, signalling that Cheshire West & Chester Council is backing sizeable affordable blocks rather than dispersing smaller infill schemes around the city.
Delivering a canal-side scheme next to the Chester Shot Tower gives Galliford Try Building North West a high-visibility reference project in a heritage-sensitive urban setting, which is likely to strengthen its bid credentials for similar waterfront regeneration work elsewhere in the region.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
