WORK will start in earnest on a £17million redevelopment of Exeter’s Royal Clarence Hotel early in the New Year, developers have revealed.

Local company Nooko has been working to prepare the site since collecting the keys from previous owners Akkeron in April.

Permission was granted in October 2022 for 25 new high-quality apartments on the site, most with views across the green to the cathedral. Prices will be up to £1million.

There will also be some commercial units including ‘high end’ food and drink outlets.

The historic hotel was gutted by a fire in October 2016. More than 1,000 firefighters used 800,000 litres of water to fight the blaze, and some of the burnt timbers left over will be kept as a ‘visible, poignant connection’ between old and new as part of the new development.

NooKo is the third company to own the shell of the Royal Clarence since the fire. Andrew Brownsword Hotels owned it at the time of the blaze, and more recently it has been owned by the Akkeron Group.

Nooko director Max Sayers shared updates on the project at a meeting at the Mint Methodist Church close to the Royal Clarence Hotel site. He said it would be a two-year project, with the accent on preserving as much of the old building as possible.

Even the famous crest at the top of the building’s facade will be re-created using the original moulds.

Mr Sayers said the building’s heritage meant a lot to the company.

“I’ve got a four-year-old daughter, and I want her to be proud that we are building buildings that will still be there in 100 years,” he said. “A lot of new build projects are not built to last. We try to build them to make them liveable in 100 years, not just now.”

He confirmed that work would begin in January and praised Exeter City Council and English Heritage for their support.

“There has been a lot going on behind the scenes and everybody is really pushing to get this up and running,” he said.

“I think there’s some real goodwill to make sure that this gets started.”

He said the sale of the apartments would provide the revenue for the project.

“We’ll look at trying to sell them pretty much the moment we get going,” he added. “We all know at the moment it’s quite a tough time to sell property, but I think the key is to get going and get it built.

“We’re going to create the best flats in Exeter and we will put our hearts and souls into this.”

Despite Nooko’s best efforts to secure the site, he said there had been problems with intruders getting into the property.

“We had quite a spate of people breaking in,” he added. “There was a thing called urban exploring, so kids were breaking in. You could tell they’d been in there because all the fire extinguishers would be taken to the top and thrown off.”

The event at the church was hosted by Exeter historian and writer Dr Todd Gray, who told the audience: “I think all of us just want something good to happen, and we’ve got to trust now that Nooko can work with English Heritage and the council and get on with it.”