Bristol City Council is to restart housing families with children at a former office block.
A council review into the controversial Imperial Apartments development has found that the site is "suitable for many families with children". Back in mid-February, Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees announced the council was to pause housing families with children there while a review was carried out as he admitted there are "some challenges" at the site.
This came after BristolLive reported on many concerns from residents at the former Parkview office complex in Hengrove and a request from the Bristol South MP to stop housing families with children at the development, with the Lib Dems then joining the call and one councillor urging the council "to take responsibility".
Read more: Imperial Apartments complaints prompted 'communications plan' from council
There are 465 units of private rented accommodation at Imperial Apartment and Bristol City Council rent out 316 of them, more than two-thirds of the total. With 108 children there in total now, nearly third (101 households) have children living in them.
The review - which is signed by the council's head of housing options Paul Sylvester - concludes: "Although Imperial Apartments may not be our preferred option, this review finds that, in line with legislation considering ‘suitability’, it is suitable for many families with children.
"Nevertheless, there are opportunities to improve the experience of families at Imperial Apartments by implementing the recommendations in this review, and these will be followed up by officers in communication with the Cabinet Member for Housing."
The review - which makes a total of 18 recommendations - assessed suitability on multiple factors including the physical condition of accommodation, affordability, overcrowding and risk of violence from any person. A total of 322 households have moved into Imperial Apartments through the referral agreements, according to the report, including 198 from homelessness prevention teams.
It also states that Caridon's annual gross income from the 466 flats at the site is £4.1m. This is the income prior to any expenditure - such as staff or maintenance - but the report also notes that the flats that Caridon let privately are not capped at LHA rates.
As part of the review, Caridon was asked to give dimensions of the properties. "Concerningly, the dimensions given in the new document indicated that the total flat sizes for all but seven of the properties were smaller than the dimensions given by Caridon originally," the report states.
"On average, the sizes in the spreadsheet are 1.7m2 smaller per flat than in the original information supplied. The largest difference was a 2-bedroom flat which was 6.7m2 smaller in the spreadsheet than in the original information supplied.
"This discrepancy was highlighted to Caridon. Caridon stated that the information was supplied by an external sub-contractor who have not been responding to requests about the information. To date, Caridon have not been able to explain the inconsistency in the dimensions provided."
The review also discusses an officers’ warning back in April 2021 that no child over five should live at the two-bed units created in the first phase. However, the review finds that this suggestion was inconsistent with the approach taken elsewhere in the city - which would allow children over five to be placed in comparably sized accommodation elsewhere - and the maximum occupancy levels which allowed for children over five to be placed in some other flats at the site.
The report also states that maximum occupancy standards were not checked for a number of referrals due to this requirement not being communicated to a new staff member. It then says that 19 households at Imperial Apartments are over-occupying properties if using the HMO Licensing Standards as a guide, but that none none would be assessed as over over-occupying based on the Statutory Overcrowding Standards.
"Under the referral agreements, BCC has a responsibility for nominating suitable households to a total of 93 x 2-bed flats," it states. "It is unlikely that BCC would be able to fill these flats without nominating families with children, which would lead to significant void costs for BCC.
"Each void 2-bed flat within the referral agreement would cost BCC £9,898.80 per annum. If all 93 2-bed flats were void, BCC would be responsible for paying a total of £920,588.40 per annum. If all 93 2-bed flats were let as 1-bed properties, BCC would be responsible for paying a total of £144,945.15 per annum."
Tenants at Imperial Apartments have access to an indoor children’s soft play area, an outdoor children’s playground, gyms, IT suites and landscaped courtyards. However, the report also finds that, given the size of the development, there is a lack of communal spaces for tenants to access.
"Caridon do refer to certain spaces as communal space, however these are not fit for purpose as they are essentially wide corridors on the way to flats," it states. "It is recommended that additional options are explored."
Do you live at Imperial Apartments? What do you think about living there? Our reporter Estel would love to hear from you. You can contact her directly on estel.farellroig@reachplc.com
Other recommendations made in the report include increasing the support for tenants - including providing a confidential meeting space - and that Caridon take on the responsibility for providing security across the night. At present, the council pays for 85 hours of on-site night security a week at an annual cost of £70,000.
It is also recommended that Caridon carries out a "thorough review" into the discrepancies in the data provided on flat sizes, that an agreement is reached on the new maximum occupancy levels for all flats and to review whether to exclude children aged over five years old to any of the properties.
The council also states in the review that it has received complaints from 21 tenants at the site. This has included complaints about anti-social behaviour, drug use and concerns about other tenants, but also lack of response by Caridon staff and/or security and complaints about behaviour of Caridon staff.
"There are reports of incidents including crime and antisocial behaviour, however based on statements made by the police this does not appear to be disproportionately high based on the number of units," it continues. "Robust monitoring is needed to support relevant agencies to work together to tackle and reduce issues affecting tenants."
Police data shows officers are continuing to be called to a former office block in South Bristol pretty much every day. Avon and Somerset Police data shows officers were called to Imperial Apartments in Hengrove 113 times in the space of four months.
This means that, between February and May, officers were on average called 28.25 times to the site each month. The average number of police call-outs from mid-November 2021 to January 31, 2022 was slightly higher (29 times).
In comparison, from October 2020 to mid-November 2021, police were being called to the complex an average of 15 times a month. Since the beginning of the year, police have recorded 26 crimes at the site - including 12 in the month of March.
Among the actions taken by Caridon, the developer has served warnings and acceptable behaviour contracts to deal with ASB. The review states that there are currently three tenants referred by BCC who are under notices and awaiting court proceedings for ASB.
The developer also has a contract with a pest control company and Caridon will be moving the post boxes to a more secure location to stop parcels being left unattended by delivery drivers. The review also states that Caridon pays for 30 hours of cleaning a week, but finds that "seems low for such a large site".
"Which is reflected in a number of complaints made by tenants about the condition of communal areas," it adds. "It is recommended that Caridon increase the amount of cleaning provided to improve standards."
The report concludes that the council had "little opportunity" to get planners involved in the development. Caridon turned it into homes without the need for planning consent under permitted development rights, which also meant the usual regulations stipulating minimum sizes did not apply
It sates: "As it was not possible to prevent the development from going ahead, the decision was made for BCC to actively involve itself with the site to try to mitigate concerns and to use the development to meet local housing need."
The council also defends its decision to house people there, saying it is an option that has supported over 300 households away from homelessness, and admits the property sizes "are not generous, but in most cases do not fall under the sizes for Licensable HMOs".
"However, it is recognised that the flats at Imperial Apartments are not HMOs and it could be contested whether these standards should apply," it continues. "Rents are set at LHA rates and no rent in advance is required, which makes Imperial Apartments more affordable than the majority of private rented accommodation in the city."
The report states that referral agreements to Imperial Apartments are in place until March 2026, but that the earliest date the council could end the agreement for the 216 units in ‘Phase 1’ would be April 2024. The minimum agreement for the rest of units would be September 2024.
Correction: This story was updated on June 12 after Bristol City Council issued a correction to its report. The original report stated Caridon's gross income from the site was £5.6m. This was then corrected by the council to £4.1m
