Work to build hundreds of new homes in south Bristol is set to start in October.
Housebuilder KeepMoat is working with LiveWest to build 350 homes on part of the former Hartcliffe College Campus.
The land is owned by Bristol City Council, which has secured detailed planning consent for the new homes and public open space.
The authority selected LiveWest and Keepmoat as development partners to work up the detailed scheme for the site.
The development will include at least 30 per cent affordable housing made up of 80 homes for social rent, 25 for shared ownership, and the remaining 245 homes will be for open market sale.
It has also been designed to include a variety of ecological initiatives to support the local wildlife, including a wildflower “pollinator park”, a wildlife corridor and 450 new trees.
In addition to this, a swarm of blue butterflies and its sole food source, the kidney vetch plant, have been relocated to another area on the site, ensuring they are preserved and able to thrive.
Work is now expected to start on site in October this year, with the first homes ready to be occupied in Spring 2020.
Richard Young, technical director at Keepmoat Homes, said: “We’re delighted to bring forward this transformational development in Hartcliffe and to be creating much needed new homes for the people of Bristol.
“Working in partnership with Live West and Bristol City Council, we are seeking to build a contemporary housing development that will be set in attractive landscaping and feature a number of ecological measures such as wildlife corridors and ‘living streets’, ensuring that this new community offers something special to its residents.”
And Russell Baldwinson, LiveWest’s executive director of development, said: “This new development will provide a wide range of homes, including much needed family housing in an attractive, exciting and vibrant new setting.”
Plans for the site have been in the offing since at least 2010, when the council laid down the principle “for the development of the Hartcliffe Community Campus site to include a new educational campus on Hartcliffe School Playing Fields and up to 14 acres of residential land”.
The council owns the land, having bought part of it from City of Bristol College, and was granted outline planning permission from councillors last September.
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said: “I am pleased to see that we have reached the next stage of this project and by doing so we are addressing one of our city’s most urgent priorities – building more housing, particularly affordable homes.
“We want to make Bristol a city where everyone has a safe roof over their heads, and we cannot do that without developments like this.”
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