A £50m 17 storey residential development, which has been built on the iconic site of Elliott’s Car Accessories in Coventry city centre, has been topped out by leading building and civil engineering contractor Farrans Construction for NSG Developments.
The luxury development, which consists of two separate buildings and 200 apartments, has been named ‘Elliott’s Yard’ as a tribute to the automotive business and the family that has had a legacy on the site since 1908. It has been designed to create a community in the heart of the city centre that demands the very best in design, spacious quality accommodation, high speed connectivity and amenity space, all managed with a 24 hour concierge provision, while utilising Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and focusing on sustainability and environmentally friendly approach to zero carbon aspirations. It is ideally located on the corner of London Road and Gulson Road, providing a gateway to the ring road and the city centre.
The Elliott’s Yard build has used the most modern methods of construction available, including modular, precast concrete sandwich panels manufactured and installed by Creagh Concrete, to deliver a bespoke residential experience with enhanced levels of quality control and a faster build time.
The concrete wall panels have been delivered to site with windows including glass already pre-installed, sealed and protected.
Cathal Montague, regional director for Farrans Construction, said: “This has been a very exciting project for us and we are pleased to be adding another tall building to our extensive portfolio in England. It is a testament to our growing presence in the region that we were selected to deliver such a high-profile project in Coventry.
“All of the building techniques have been chosen in order to drive sustainable living without compromising on a high-spec, luxury finish. The modular solution is something that Farrans worked with the client on from the start, and NSG bought into the solution. The initial tender was for a steel frame approach and Farrans put forward the precast option. This is a more sustainable method of construction which results in less lorries to site to cut down the carbon footprint. It is also a robust solution from an acoustic and fire safety perspective.
“Social value is very important on all of our sites and also with NSG Developments. We have been engaging with local schools and providing learning opportunities both virtually and on site while active on Gulson Road. We employed over 50 local people on the project including a number of long term unemployed. We have worked with a wide range of stakeholder groups including those from areas of high deprivation. We recognised quickly the impact that COVID-19 would have on engagement with these stakeholder groups and on physical work placements and this has resulted in the development of bespoke programmes and the most well-rounded virtual work experience Farrans has offered to date – Step Towards Employment. Overall, we expect to achieve over 4000 hours of virtual activity and work experience.”
Francis Cole, UK President of NSG Developments, said: “When we first looked at Coventry in October 2018 we could see the potential in this city for developing and creating a sustainable, high quality, well connected build to rent community. This community will be the first BTR community in the current City of Culture. While the city has numerous purpose-built student residences, it has nothing to offer the post graduate demographic and hence Elliott’s Yard was created. It is key for any city to retain the graduates it creates and to also provide high quality accommodation for the local communities who prefer to rent than buy. This then creates a multi-layered demographic living within the city that becomes a true community. The resident’s life experiences in Coventry or further afield will be enhanced by the arrival of Elliott’s Yard as a safe, secure, highly connected, luxury, fully furnished bespoke BTR development.
“Our focus with this development was to promote ESG focused aims and push the carbon neutral target as much as practical at Elliott’s Yard, in partnership with Farrans Construction. We have regenerated this site from a contaminated brown field site to a clean site for the benefit of the new community and the surrounding community with a highly focused design led solution. The new community will take up residence from October 2021 onwards. We know there is a pent-up demand for this rental community as nothing else exists and by creating this professionally managed community the residents have the peace of mind knowing the building is built to the latest specifications, fire compliance, security and safety and any issues the community member may face, be it big or small, will be addressed in a quick turnaround by the on-site team from Urban Bubble who will manage Elliott’s Yard for us.”
He added: “We are proud of what has been achieved while we have been on site and that we have marked the significance of this with a topping out milestone. We had the privilege of having Joe and Grace Elliott from the Elliott family join us and also Martin Reeves, CEO, of Coventry City Council and Councillor Jim O’Boyle, responsible for new homes and regeneration in the ward, attend. Local Coventry Councillor Allan Andrews, who first sent us to Coventry to see the potential of this great city, was also in attendance. Farrans has worked with us to maximise the social value of this project by creating local jobs and apprenticeships and interacted and supported the local community. We will soon be bringing this new community to market on social media and via other marketing events.”
Seamus McKeague, CEO of Creagh Concrete, said: “We’re delighted to be involved in this prestigious project with Farrans. Creagh has been actively investing in Modern Methods of Construction for some time now with the development of our ‘Rapidres’ system and delivering real programme savings projects. ‘Rapidres’ is a proven method that we know will deliver project certainty, better quality and improved whole life cost benefits for our clients.”
