A plan to convert hundreds of historic buildings in Leicester into student apartments has been shelved. Developer Rumrat Ltd. said that the office complexes were “under-used” when the plan for the Grade II-listed Regent House and the adjoining Waterloo House in the New Walk Conservation Area was first proposed in January 2023.
Later that year, Leicester City Council rejected the design due to worries that it would be “overbearing,” “harmful” to the neighbourhood and historic buildings, and negatively affect the people who live nearby. Later, Rumrat revised its plans to lower the number of rooms and plan height. These included adding an extension to the existing structures and constructing a five-story building on an adjacent parking lot.
In February of this year, it put in its second offer to develop the buildings. This most recent proposal has since been withdrawn, according to the planning portal run by the city council. LeicestershireLive questioned the developer about why the proposal was removed and whether he intended to make any changes and submit it again for a third time, but we never heard back.
According to the most recent plan, 200 student beds—instead of the 268 originally suggested—would have been erected across the office buildings between Regent Road and Princess Road West, as well as in the new block designated for the parking lot. The second round of proposals saw the structure on the over-the-road parking lot lowered from five stories to three.
These would have been a mix of studios, “twodios” – studios set up with kitchens and bathrooms to cater for two people – and cluster flats with ensuites and shared living and kitchen areas, according to planning documents. The plan in the first application to add two storeys to Regent House was reduced to one additional floor in the subsequent, and the original proposal to add an extension to Waterloo House was removed from the plan.
The would-have-been neighbours of historic buildings spoke to LeicestershireLive in February when the new application was submitted. They feared the impact it would have on their lives, views and tight-knit inner-city community.
They said they were “extremely relieved and happy with this result in the short term” and hoped it meant Rumrat would be looking elsewhere to build their student accommodation.
