181 Co-living Units Planned for Former Debenhams Building

Posted by UK Property Forums on 9th June 2025 -

A building in the centre of Chelmsford could be demolished and replaced by the city’s first co-living development.

Highgate Capital has applied to Chelmsford City Council to demolish the former service and back office building for the former Debenhams store, and build Assembly Place, a scheme of 181 co-living flats to be operated by Loom CoLiving.

The Debenhams building now houses The Range but the service building, which sits alongside the River Chelmer is seen as having little retail future.

The co-living development of up to 10 floors will include shared communal spaces including a lounge, a co-working space, an event space, a gym, a cinema and a podcast studio.

A planning statement produced by Savills states: “The site sits in a primary location within the Chelmsford City Centre, opposite the River Chelmer and within walking distance to Chelmsford High Street, and to both Chelmsford train station and bus station.

“It was formerly in use as the servicing block to the adjacent Debenhams department store.

“However, it is now redundant with limited scope for it to be brought back into use for retail servicing. On this basis, it presents as a highly sustainable brownfield site with substantial scope to enhance and contribute towards the wider strategic goals of Chelmsford.”

As well as Savills on planning the team on the project includes GRID Architecture, Markides on transport planning and community engagement by Shared Voice.