Olympian Homes has submitted plans for what could be the tallest building in Bristol.
The redevelopment will replace the 1970s-built Premier Inn at Bristol’s Haymarket with two towers, one of 28 storeys containing 442 student beds and the other of 18 storeys containing 132 co-living homes. It will also include around 200,000 sq ft of public space.
Olympian Homes chair Mark Slatter said: “We have been working closely with Bristol City Council, the mayor’s office, Design West and other stakeholders to regenerate this really important and high-profile site in this fantastic city. It’s a long overdue redevelopment, and I’m really impressed with our team’s design of both the buildings and the public realm – it will be truly transformative. We hope our application will be supported.”
The existing building was granted planning permission in 1967 as part of Bristol City Council’s plans to regenerate the area after it was bombed during the Blitz, and was repurposed as a hotel by Whitbread in 1999.
Whitbread announced that it was selling the site in April.
Whitbread’s senior development manager, Richard Pearson, said: “Releasing the Bristol Haymarket hotel for redevelopment presents an excellent opportunity to create a new gateway into the city, whilst generating funds to reinvest in our network of modern, well-located and energy efficient Premier Inn hotels in Bristol and elsewhere.”
RIBA Stirling Prize-winning Architect Hodder+Partners has designed the scheme, which will be renamed St James Square.
Oliver d’Erlanger, senior development manager at Olympian Homes, said: “The hotel building – originally built in the 1970s as an office block – has come to the end of its life.”
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