Plans have been submitted for what is hoped to be Bristol's first net-zero retirement community and new leisure and activity hub for Westbury Park.
Bristol City Council have received the £85 million proposal, which is said to have been developed after an extensive community consultation and will create more than 100 new homes for older people on a five-acre site which borders the Downs.
Access to the site has been shut off for a number of years, but will reopen to the community, allowing them to enjoy a range of activities on the grounds, in North Lodge and in the refurbished Grade II listed Grace House. The development will become a centre for local residents and the wider Westbury Park community, and will include a cafe, urban village hall and a wellness centre equipped with a hydrotherapy pool, gym and activity rooms.
Read more: Former Westbury Park school set to become zero-carbon retirement community
Bristol Live reported the prospective ideas to transform the former St Christopher’s School site in Bristol’s Westbury Park into an £80 million retirement community almost a year ago. Ethical investor, FORE Partnership, purchased the grounds of the former St Christopher’s School which closed in 2020.
Basil Demeroutis, managing partner at FORE, said: "We are committed to delivering stand-out projects that uphold the highest standards of environmental sustainability, whilst driving significant positive social value. As the first net zero carbon later living development for Bristol and one of the first in the UK, St Christopher's Square will pave the way for a new generation of ultra-sustainable, later living communities for older people across the country."
The plans submitted detail a new collection of two storey cottages and four three-to-six-storey buildings which are said to provide 122 much-needed extra care homes. The extra care, or integrated retirement model, is defined as combining lifestyle amenities, care, and community activities, enabling older people to live independently for as long as possible.
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These homes will help address the acute shortage of specialist accommodation for older people in Bristol and at the same time, free up homes for families in the city while reducing pressure on the NHS and social services. The proposals will also see the sustainable refurbishment of the existing heritage buildings on the site, including the villas fronting Westbury Park.
Henry Lumby, Chief Development Officer of integrated retirement community operator Amicala, said: We're excited about our plans for St Christopher's Square, which will not only help meet the acute need for specialist extra care homes in Bristol but also provide a new social and leisure hub for Westbury Park, opening up the site and offering a wide range of facilities for residents and local people to enjoy. It will provide older people with high quality and sustainable housing, with the option for wraparound care on hand as needed, reducing the burden on healthcare and social services."
The grounds are set to include sensory gardens and community food growing spaces to boost sustainable living, biodiversity and resident wellbeing and the landscaping has been designed by Bristol-based Stride Treglown and will involve planting 50 extra trees on site.
St Christopher's Square will be net-zero carbon in operation, as well as using low carbon construction techniques and materials. It will also be fossil fuel free, generating up to 25 per cent of its energy needs on-site through solar panels.
Extensive consultation was undertaken over several months to inform the designs, and plans have been changed in response to local feedback. The comprehensive community consultation included direct meetings with neighbours, guided site walkaround events, community workshops and drop in events with the project team, as well as a dynamic digital online survey to gather feedback on the proposals.
In response to feedback received through the consultation, the team has made significant changes to the plans, including reducing heights of some of the buildings, moving the tallest element of the proposals to the centre of the site, and pulling other buildings away from the site boundary to minimise the impact of the development on existing neighbouring properties.
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Lucinda Mitchell, Project Director, Socius, said: "Having engaged early and listened carefully to the local community, we have revised elements of our plans to respond to their feedback and are pleased to present a highly sustainable and inclusive scheme which will address the need for high-quality specialist later living housing for Bristol."
St Christopher's Square is believed to be the first development in Bristol to actively align with the city's new Social Value Policy, incorporating the council's TOMs (Themes, Outcomes and Measures) Measurement Framework. The framework has been designed to provide a reporting standard for measuring social value in Bristol.
The project also supports the Bristol One City Plan. Social value initiatives so far include enabling the use of the St Christopher's site as a Covid-19 booster vaccination clinic, offering rent-free space for local groups such as Redland Scouts, and providing temporary affordable accommodation for 90 people whilst the site is vacant.
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