Project Summary:
A residential-led, mixed use development over 8-11 storeys in the heart of Temple Quay, comprising 255 residential units designed specifically for the private rented sector (PRS) with ground floor commercial and community space and enhanced public realm.
Alder King was appointed by Legal and General in February 2016 to manage the application process and an application was submitted in August 2016. A resolution to approve planning permission was subsequently received in February 2017; permission was eventually secured in early 2018, which demonstrates how complex the S106 negotiations were for this new form of tenure in Bristol.
The development is one of Bristol’s first purpose built PRS schemes to secure planning committee support and will help to meet the City’s urgent need for good quality city centre rental accommodation. The scheme is located on a brownfield site within the Temple Quay Enterprise Zone and is ideally located for PRS housing, being close to Temple Meads Station, Cabot Circus and several of the city’s major employers.
Project Challenges:
Particular challenges encountered as part of the application process centred around the height of the building and affordable housing. Bristol City Council has a design framework for the Temple Quay area which sets preferred building heights for each of the various plots. However the proposed development exceeded this by a number of storeys.
Working with planning officers and their urban design colleagues, an agreement was reached whereby relatively minor amendments to the design of the building were made which allowed the overall height of the building to remain as originally submitted while still achieving the quantum of development required to make the scheme viable.
In relation to affordable housing, as a brownfield, city centre regeneration site it was not possible to provide a policy compliant percentage of affordable housing within the development, meaning that a viability assessment was required to justify a lower percentage. The fact that PRS schemes do not generally fit with the usual viability assessment model for open market housing also presented an additional challenge. With assistance from viability specialist colleagues though a mutually agreeable affordable housing percentage was successfully negotiated. There were also extended section 106 negotiations, including around how the affordable housing units would be managed and the inclusion of a viability review mechanism.
