Plans have been approved for the construction of 12 three bedroom townhouses, a space for a new shop or restaurant and student flats at Old Market.
The properties are described as being similar to the recent Charterhouse Yard development on Whitehall Road. The nine family homes with open plan living and private parking on Whitehall Road have all now been sold with prices ranging from £375,000 and £485,000.
Details of the current development have yet to be released but will involve the conversion of three of the existing buildings for commercial use, with the demolition of all other buildings on the site. The student flats are currently under construction, metres away from the University of Bristol Print Hall.
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The family homes are likely to be up for sale soon but in the meantime potential buyers can express an interest on the Hawkfield Homes website.
The new student accommodation currently being built on Jacob Street will be in addition to the growing number of student halls in the Old Market area of Bristol. The Print Hall, which takes its name from the former Bristol Post print-press building, was completed in 2017 with 270 en-suite student rooms.
The new student flats will be well placed, situated in an area with a growing number of buildings catering to Bristol University and UWE students. These include Market Quarter studios which opened its doors to students this September 2021 and Zinc Quarter on Unity street.
The Old Market area is part of the Old Market Quarter Neighbourhood Development Plan, which means that developers need to tailor their development around the existing plan set up by members of the local community. The development that was approved at the end of March is part of a wider scheme, some of which has already been completed, including a public park at Temple Way.
The Old Market Quarter has been a popular area for students for over a decade, with them accounting for over 20 percent of the local population according to the 2011 Census. The Old Market Community Association welcomes family homes, identifying a need in the area.
However, the large townhouses are unlikely to cater to those with the greatest housing need, many of whom already live in overcrowded flats in the Lawrence Hill Ward; one of the most deprived in the city. A Housing Needs and Requirements Study, referred to in the neighbourhood plan, identifies the need for 35 percent social rented housing.
Paul Bradburn, from Old Market Community Association, told Bristol Live: "The group generally supported the scheme as it provided a good mix of housing types, reinstated Jacob Street and didn’t ask for some ridiculous tower to be attached to it. The inclusion of some houses will possibly allow the provision for family-type housing, something which all the one bed developments in the area cannot deliver.”
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