One of Bristol’s biggest city centre urban regeneration projects is to more than double the number of homes and become the city’s biggest build-to-rent scheme.
The number of new homes provided as part of the Redcliff Quarter development scheme is to be drastically increased, but plans for offices, shops and a ‘food hub’ in the style of Borough Market in London will be dropped.
A new developer has taken over the stalled scheme, where no work has taken place since early 2019.
The plans to create an entirely new block of development right in the heart of Redcliffe, between Victoria Street and St Mary Redcliffe Church, was first given planning permission in 2017.
But work stopped a couple of years ago, and only 118 apartments of the original 329 new flats have been built, leaving the bulk of the space still a building site.
Now, a new developer has emerged, CG Developments, with a fresh planning application for the rest of the site, which will drastically change what is planned there.
Instead of the retail units, foodie market, hotel, offices and rest of the 211 as-yet-unbuilt apartments in a 23-storey tower block that already has planning permission, CGD want to fill the site almost entirely with flats that will be part of a build-to-rent scheme.
Residents will only be able to rent the flats, with the developer as landlord - none will be for sale on the open market.
The changed plans will see the 23-storey tower block reduced to 19 storeys, and instead of 211 apartments, CGD want to build a total of 468 new flats - more than twice the number originally with planning permission.
Of those, the number that will be part of an ‘affordable housing scheme’ is to increase from 38 to 94, and all of the new homes built will be part of a build-to-rent scheme where the developers own all the flats they build, manage the building and rent them all out.
“This is a highly-sustainable location for new homes on a city-centre brownfield site,” said a spokesperson for CGD.
“Having reviewed the scheme that already has planning permission, we’ve made some significant changes, to ensure the development best meets the City’s needs, but a scheme that we are also confident can be built as soon as planning permission is granted.
“More than doubling the number of much-needed affordable homes from 38 to 94 is a significant and positive change of direction, notably providing homes that are affordable for key workers.
“The height of the approved tallest building was also seen by many as controversial, so we have responded to this by seeking to reduce its height by about 25 per cent,” he added.
CGD said they had been told the plans for the food hall at the bottom of the original 23-storey building weren’t being viewed favourably by council planners, who were worried about the impact on established existing foodie destinations like St Nick’s Market, Wapping Wharf and Finzels Reach.
CGD said the post-Covid world meant that the foodie destination hub idea ‘simply wouldn’t work’.
“Cafes, restaurants and bars have been badly hit this year, but retail generally was already facing significant challenges,” said a CGD spokesperson.
“So, we’ve dropped the proposal for a food court which we felt simply wouldn’t work - nobody wants more empty retail spaces.
“This will also help address concerns that another ‘foodie’ area would potentially compromise St Nicholas’ Market, Finzels Reach and Wapping Wharf.
“There is such a huge housing need in Bristol, and this is such an obvious and sustainable place for people to live - next to jobs, key services and facilities. So, we feel reshaping this important regeneration to deliver more homes is absolutely the right thing to do.
“Because of COVID restrictions - and simple common sense at the moment - we can’t hold any public exhibitions of our proposals but would really like to hear what the community has to say about our scheme.
“So, we invite everyone to visit our consultation website and give us their feedback, before we submit an application hopefully in March,” he added.
