The tallest building in South Bristol won't be seeing new residents until at least the end of next year after the completion date was postponed. Work on the Boat Yard development on the Bath Road next to Totterdown Bridge is set to restart by the end of this year after a new building company took on the project.
But the housing association that will manage and market the shared ownership apartments has told Bristol Live that the development is unlikely to be completed in a few months and could be at least the end of 2023 before anyone gets to move in to the building. That's despite the main construction appearing to be finished on the building, which steps up to 17-storeys high from the south bank of the River Avon, and 15-storeys from the main A4 road level.
Bristol Live revealed in July that the firm building the Boat Yard development had gone into administration, leaving the site empty with no work to finish off the development being done. Then, finally, late last month, Bristol Live revealed that a new contractor had been found, with housing association Clarion entering talks to get The Hill Group to finish the development.
Read more: Building up or building out? Do we solve Bristol's housing crisis with skyscrapers or new suburbs?
But Bristol Live understands while the exterior of the building appears almost complete, there is still a lot of work to do on the interior to create the 152 flats which will be a combination of 112 sold in a shared ownership scheme, and the other 40 as 'affordable rent' for people on the council's HomeChoice housing waiting list scheme, with Clarion Housing the landlords.
Hopes from local councillors that the controversial development would be finished soon have been dashed, with Clarion telling Bristol Live the project is still nowhere near close to being finished. The modern methods of construction mean that the exterior shell of the building is almost complete, but there is still a lot of work to do inside.
Clarion is yet to agree the programme of works with The Hill Group, but Bristol Live understands one of the first tasks is to remove the two cranes that have become a landmark of the skyline from Totterdown, Brislington and St Phillips for the past couple of years.
The building became a symbol of the race to get ever-taller blocks of flats built in the past few years in Bristol. It was the location that the Mayor of Bristol chose to take Labour leader Kier Starmer to when he visited as part of the last May's local election campaign.
Eighteen months on and the building is still not completed. Clarion's marketing of the shared ownership properties continues, but there is still no word on the website about how much the flats will be for sale for.
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