Developers wanting to build apartments in front of the iconic coloured houses of Totterdown said they want to protect the famous views despite plans to build a 22-storey tower block.
The plans have been unveiled for up to 900 new homes to be created on a strip of land in front of the famous cliff-edge of Pylle Hill, which has Totterdown’s coloured houses on top.
But developers said they are trying to protect that view, by putting the tallest apartment block on the Bath Road end of the development, closest to Temple Meads station.
READ MORE: Big plans for affordable homes on banks of River Avon in the heart of Bristol
The plans have been unveiled for a long strip of land that starts behind Fowlers motorcycle dealership and runs from the Bath Road Bridge and Temple Meads Station to St Luke’s Road and the entrance to Victoria Park.
Last November, Bristol City Council announced it was beginning an early stage of consultation on the transformation of the entire section of land between the railway line and the River Avon, but it appears the developers have jumped ahead of the council planners with a consultation on their own plans for half the Mead Street project area.
The 900 homes would be in addition to 244 new affordable apartments that were announced for the Barts Ingredients site that overlooks the River Avon, which were also announced last November by a different developer, and the 400 or so apartments that are being planned for the now empty Robins & Day Peugeot dealership on the north bank of the river.
The proposals form part of the Temple Quarter regeneration scheme, which could see thousands of new homes built between around Temple Meads in the coming years.
The land is owned by a pension fund, and managed by DTZ Investors, who have put forward the scheme on the brownfield site.
DTZ said they want to create a new ‘highly-sustainable and vibrant community of 850-900 new homes and workspaces with green public space at its heart’ on the 8.5 acres it controls.
The land there once had tightly-packed terraced homes, which were cleared by a combination of the Luftwaffe and the council in the 1950s, to make way for industrial estates built in the 1970s.
DTZ has set up a website - a different one to the council’s consultation website - and are also holding an online briefing next week, at 6pm on January 27.
“Our highly-acclaimed, award-winning architect and landscape architect have developed a proposal with green, public space at its heart,” said a spokesperson for the developers.
“The team has given very careful consideration to the scale, massing and positioning of the buildings to maintain views through the site,” he added.
The view of Totterdown’s coloured houses is one of the iconic views of Bristol, and the developers said they were mindful of that.
“This location has some important views to protect, notably towards and from Totterdown,” the spokesperson said.
“Our scheme proposes several separate buildings of varying heights, positioned to best protect those key views with lower buildings placed in sensitive locations and gaps between buildings.
“While all heights are draft and could change, the proposed new buildings closest to Totterdown are currently six storeys (plus ground floor), with seven (plus ground floor) along Mead Street. “Two taller buildings are located as bookends where the views are less sensitive, with an 11 storey (plus ground floor) located towards St Luke’s Road, and 21 storey (plus ground floor) adjacent to Bath Road,” they added.
“The scheme prioritises walking and cycling in what is currently an environment dominated by vehicles. It also seeks to ensure that the new and existing residents are fully integrated, to create a vibrant, healthy and beautiful place for the whole community.
“In returning this to the residential area it was before the 1950s ‘slum’ clearances, we will also be creating hundreds of new jobs in what we believe will be a highly-desirable and highly-sustainable new neighbourhood.
“The application is outline. This means we are principally applying to change the site from industrial to new mixed-use community. The application will seek to agree certain key ‘parameters’, including maximum heights, positioning of the buildings and green spaces, number of homes, amount of commercial floorspace and location of the access. The council’s policies on biodiversity, sustainability, affordable homes etc would, of course, all apply to the development too,” they added.
What do you think? Sign in and join the conversations in the comments below
Bristol City Council’s policies are that 30 per cent of homes in developments of this size should be affordable - which means the DTZ plans could include as many as 300 homes for people currently on the HomeChoice register. But DTZ said the details of how that would happen will be worked out later.
“The actual detail for each phase of this development would come later, giving the community further input into each of those ‘reserved matters’ applications. We are doing this because it is such a large site and likely to be developed in phases. But it is our vision that will set the important broad principles for the scheme,” the developer added.
“The proposal would see 40 per cent of the site used for green space. A large central green would be the public heart of the proposal, with the buildings overlooking the green. This central area would include lawns, play areas, outdoor gym, community gardens and market spaces. An open, hard landscaped area would also provide an entrance point from Mead Street, with mature trees and an amphitheatre.
“Existing trees on Mead Street would be retained, with a biodiverse woodland-edge ‘buffer’ between the site and railway line.
“Significant biodiversity net gain is anticipated through green & brown roofs, ecological planting, edible landscapes and sustainable drainage to create species-rich habitats. We are targeting zero-net-carbon including through connecting to the district heating network, onsite renewable energy, and low-energy design.
“Good cycle and pedestrian connections already exist to the city centre, Bedminster, Temple Quarter & Victoria Park. But we would seek to improve this, including through widening pavements to at least 2.5 metres and introducing a segregated 2-metre-wide cycle lane. We are also looking at measures to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians, particularly where Mead Street joins Bath Road,” he added.
Want our best stories with fewer ads and alerts when the biggest news stories drop? Download our app on iPhone or Android
