People living in the ‘affordable housing’ part of the landmark Castle Park View development in Bristol city centre are being denied access to the development’s communal facilities, despite the project winning planning permission with a promise it would be ‘tenure blind’, with no differences between those renting through a housing association or through the building’s owners.
Renters in the development, as well as people who have paid more than £200,000 to buy a share of their apartment, have been told that Castle Park View’s amenities, which include a rooftop terrace, concierge service, workspace area and dining room, are not for them.
But people who have either rented or bought a shared ownership apartment from housing association Abri say they were promised that it would be, and are now complaining to both Abri and to CityLink, the build-to-rent developers that are managing the site.
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One resident of Block C, the ‘affordable block’, said they were ‘badly misled’ by Abri’s sales pitch when they were considering moving to the development.
The resident, who declined to be named, said: “The sales agent had all sorts of promises and things that were included, none of which turned out to be the case. Since moving in, it’s been clear the facilities are for everyone in all the other blocks and not for the people living in the ‘affordable block’.
“It’s frustrating, you pay all this money for what is supposed to be a luxury development, but it turns out not to be,” they added. “We’ve been told we can use the free gym that is in the main block, but it’ll be £35 a month. I may as well go and join a gym somewhere else in the city centre for half that amount.”
The Castle Park View development has five different buildings, with the main tower being the tallest residential building in Bristol, at 98m and 26 storeys. Overall, the development contains 375 individual homes, with 75 of them designated as ‘affordable’ when the development gained planning permission back in 2017.
That ‘affordable’ housing element is just 20 per cent of the total number of flats - exactly half the council’s policy which stipulates developments in the city centre have to be 40 per cent affordable.
When he visited the tower block while it was still being finished in 2021, Mayor Marvin Rees defended the council decision to award planning permission despite the failure to meet that 40 per cent target, by saying doing so meant that the development - on which had been an empty publicly-owned former ambulance service headquarters - was able to happen, and at least there were 75 affordable homes, rather than none.
Those 75 are all in one, separate block on the development site, and is managed by housing association Abri. Of the 75, the top two floors contain 23 flats that have been part-sold under a shared ownership scheme, while the first four floors are let as ‘affordable rent’ under the council’s HomeChoice social housing programme.
The rest of the 300 flats, including those in the main Castle Park View tower block were ‘build to rent’, with studio apartments rented out from a starting price of £1,070 a month, one-bed apartments starting from £1,310 a month and two-bed apartments starting from £1,650 a month. Anyone applying to privately rent one of those 300 homes had to show the management company their annual salary was at least 30 times the monthly rent.
Castle Park View’s website states that all 300 apartments are now let, and the development is fully-occupied. The website also outlines all the ‘amenities’ which are described as ‘show-stopping ones’.
They include a five-storey climbing wall, a ‘large modern gym’, a residents’ lounge and private dining area on the 26th floor with ‘breath-taking views across the city’ that residents can hire to host private dinner parties. There is also a ‘Wellbeing Studio’, workspaces, private meeting room and a 24-hour concierge service that takes in parcels. There is also a rooftop terrace overlooking Castle Park and a communal central courtyard with a ‘river of lights tracing the path of an underground river’.
Of those amenities, only the climbing wall - which is yet to actually open - the communal central courtyard and the gym are accessible to residents of Block C, albeit they have to pay £35 a month to access the gym.
One resident of Block C told Bristol Live that they asked to hire out the dining room, but were told they weren’t allowed, while others said they were promised car parking spaces but later told they weren’t for the ‘affordable’ block tenants.
When LinkCity and its construction firm Bougyes applied for planning permission, the application details submitted to Bristol City Council described the development as ‘tenure blind’ - a phrase used in planning and development to indicate that it would not be possible to work out whether someone was living in a privately rented property or in an affordable one.
And when LinkCity and Castle Park View’s architects hosted a preview visit for media and dignitaries - including the Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees - back in September 2021, those behind the project were keen to emphasise that the apartments in the affordable block were pretty much the same as the ones in the rest of the development.
The only differences visible on those visits to a show flat in each block were items like the fittings in the bathroom.
One resident of Block C told Bristol Live said: “They raised it up in that visit and got good press, but the reality is we are very much not allowed in to the nice parts of the development. We don’t even have the means to get in there. All those things they list, they are in the tall block. They get a 24 hour concierge service to collect parcels, we just get parcel thieves. It’s frustrating.
“I’m not one to complain usually, but we’ve paid so much money to not get access to the things that the development markets itself as having,” they added.
Bristol Live contacted Linkcity to ask why residents of Block C were excluded from the facilities, and are awaiting a response.
Stuart Hensby, the associate director for sales and marketing at Abri, the housing association managing Block C said they were clear with their residents about what they can and can’t use.
“At Abri we believe everyone should have access to a safe, warm and quality home,” he said. “We’re proud that our affordable homes at Castle Park View are tenure-blind, meaning their space, quality and finish is comparable to those for private rent.
“Abri customers live in their own separate block and are unable to access all facilities in the adjacent main tower block due to a stipulation set out in the development agreement. This has been the case since we began selling and letting the properties.
“Abri customers do have access to the courtyard garden, and for a monthly fee they can use the on-site gym which also includes use of the climbing wall. As an affordable housing provider, the gym facility is offered as a separate fee to provide customers with the choice of using the facilities, not as an additional unnecessary cost to all residents. For convenience, Abri customers have their own bike store located within their block, and access to external bike racks in the communal courtyard which are available for use by all blocks on the scheme. We have worked with our customers to ensure that they are clear what facilities are available and how to access these,” he added.
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