Student housing is to be built at a prime location in Bristol city centre. Three buildings along College Green (26-29) are to be turned into 31 studio apartments for students, along with three commercial units on the ground floor.
The buildings were previously occupied by HSBC (26 College Green) while 27-29 College Green was last occupied by a music shop and offices. According to the planning documents, the units belong to Bristol City Council and have been empty since 2019.
The documents show the existing façade would be retained to "respect the unique and sensitive character of the area". They also state that the studio rooms will be between 16 and 26m2 and that cycle storage will be available on the ground floor, but there will be no car parking provided.
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It states: "The application proposes the use of the upper floors as student accommodation, accessed via the ground floor frontage of number 26 College Green, which the ground floor of 27-29 being sub-divided to create two commercial units.
"The ground floor of number 26 (save for the area required to provide access to the student accommodation on the other floors) would also be used as a commercial unit comprising a publicly accessible serviced work/meeting space."
The documents state that 19 written responses were received in response to a public consultation, raising concerns such as an existing over-concentration of student accommodation in the area and loss of retail space. Concerns were also raised of erosion of the residential community in the city centre and increased anti-social behaviour by introducing more students to the area.
The Police Crime Prevention Advisor said it had "significant security concerns" and "strongly suggest audio and visual verification". It said: "I would have liked to have seen the security provisions for the locker room and cycle store and to understand if secure provision for mail/parcels has been considered.
"Theft from cycle stores and of mail are featuring highly in multi occupancy premises in central Bristol, mail often being left in unsecured repositories and parcels getting left in communal foyers."
The site is being developed by Rengen College Green. The original planning application was granted in October 2021, but the applicant is now looking to discharge a condition in relation to noise from plant and equipment.
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