Fresh plans for more than 500 student beds in industrial Bristol area

Fresh plans for hundreds of student beds in an industrial part of Bristol have been submitted to the city council. A planning committee refused previous proposals to redevelop Premier Business Park, opposite The Dings in St Philips, last June, which would have housed 705 students, so these have now been scaled back to 549 beds in a block rising from three to nine storeys.

Councillors rejected the scheme amid concerns about students living on an industrial estate and that there would be too much commercial land lost. Local businesses opposed the project and Bristol City Council was inundated with objections from around the world because it would have meant the departure of globally-renowned Invisible Circus.

The new proposals have not only reduced the amount of university accommodation but more than doubled employment space in a separate building, as opposed to more than halving it in the original plans. But documents submitted as part of the planning application suggest the circus company will still have to vacate and there is no longer a plan to create a supermarket, which had been welcomed by residents.

The development, called New Henry Yard, would include demolishing the existing buildings and creating a new community hub on the corner of Kingsland Road and Sussex Street. Just over half of the student beds would be in cluster units and the rest in townhouses and studio flats, plus a community garden, cafe, cinema room and gym.

Family-owned developers Dominus said on their consultation website: “We are proposing to transform Premier Business Park, an underused industrial site on Kingsland Road, opposite the Dings, into a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood that would provide flexible employment workspace to support local businesses,a new community hub, landscaping improvements, a new pedestrian crossing for Kingsland Road, a new cycle connection into the Bristol-Bath Railway Path, and professionally managed student accommodation. When we first met with local community groups, one of the things they asked for was light industrial ‘maker spaces’ as part of the scheme.

“Originally these were to be located on the ground floor, accessed directly off Alfred Street. Student accommodation was proposed above these workspaces.

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“Given the site’s location between The Dings and St Philips Marsh industrial area, Bristol City Council is seeking a greater amount of employment space than we had proposed in our original scheme. So, now we are proposing a new building along Alfred Street that is solely commercial in nature.

“This will provide high quality flexible employment workspace, creating new jobs and roughly doubling the existing amount of commercial floorspace currently on the site.” The council’s development control committee is expected to make a decision on the plans, although no date has yet been set.