A key development in South Bristol’s ‘high street’ has been saved and will now be built for people on the council house waiting list instead, after the project was rescued by a housing association.
Work to create 50 flats above a new shop on East Street in Bedminster had stalled this year, with developers Firmstone struggling with the soaring costs in the building industry. The firm began work last year to demolish the former Argos store on East Street and build a new development of retail units fronting onto East Street, with flats above and behind.
But now Firmstone has confirmed they have signed a deal with housing association Bromford to take on all the flats, guaranteeing a buyer and securing the future of the build. Bromford said that 30 of the new homes would be let at social rent levels - the most affordable of all the various definitions of ‘affordable housing’ in planning terms, with tenants coming from the council’s HomeChoice housing waiting list.
