A FORMER York store has been reduced to a pile of rubble to make way for new student accommodation.

The demolished ex-Plumbase building in Fawcett Street is located just 100 metres from the site of the former Mecca bingo hall in Fishergate, which has also been demolished recently to allow for new student housing.

Just a five-minute walk away is another new student accommodation development on the site of Frederick House, the former Shepherd Construction HQ in Fulford Road, which opened to students last month.

Plans for student housing at Waterloo House - which was a Plumbase plumbers merchants until it closed down in 2019 - met with objections from local residents who feared increased noise from students coming and going, increased traffic and litter, disturbance to residents of Barbican Court, and overlooking and loss of sunlight at surrounding dwellings.

Developers KMRE Group originally wanted to build a five storey block with 105 bedrooms but City of York Council officers objected to this, concerned about the building’s scale and bulk and how its five storeys with a flat roof would appear ‘alien’ in views from the city walls. 

Revised plans were produced for a 3 and 3.5 storey block with 85 bedrooms, and officers said this scheme 'better respected the urban grain' and was suitably reduced in scale, with a more varied and traditional pitched roof form.

The scheme was subsequently likened to a “student battery farm” by Cllr Pete Kilbane and turned down by the planning committee because members felt there was too little space for students to socialise and feared this would lead to mental health problems.

They also had worries about arrangements for students moving in and out of the flats, the impact of demolition and construction traffic on neighbours including Fishergate Primary School and the loss of an employment site.

KMRE then lowered the number of studio flats planned for the block from 86 to 83 and the scheme was eventually approved.

The developer has said its scheme will offer an 'exciting opportunity for students to join an exclusive, creative and highly social community at the heart of the city.'

It said: "The mission of the scheme will be to provide a contemporary approach to creating vibrant new student communities with a true sense of place. The development will be characterised by the high quality design, superior services, lifestyle focused accommodation, and safe, secure, and welcoming management and operation."

During the demolition, an estimated 2800 tonnes of waste will be produced from the removal of the structure, excluding excavation spoil, but all of the waste will be for re-use on site, recycling or energy recovery, with the exception of 'cementitious' roof cladding with asbestos which will be sent to landfill.