Secretary of state green lights £375m Bristol scheme

Plans for a £375m redevelopment next to Bristol’s main station have been approved by the secretary of state after a two-year delay.

Square Bay’s outline plans for Silverthorne Lane include 250,000 sq ft of offices and R&D space, 367 homes, 693 student flats and a 1,600-pupil school among the canals and Victorian industrial buildings, close to Bristol Temple Meads station.

Most of the student accommodation will be housed in a 17-storey tower at one end of the site, close to St Philip’s Causeway.

The London-based developer bought the site in 2018, forming the Feeder Estates partnership to deliver the scheme. The 10.66-acre brownfield site accounts for much of the Silverthorne Lane industrial zone, which forms part of the Bristol’s Temple Quarter enterprise zone.

Outline plans, featuring both new development and the restoration of a number of listed industrial buildings, were lodged with the council in 2019 and approved in 2020. However, the Environment Agency objected over flooding concerns, prompting the secretary for housing, communities and local government to call in the application. A public inquiry was held in May 2021.

Tom Vaughan-Jones, director of Square Bay, said “It is a huge relief to receive a positive decision from the secretary of state, and a sense that justice is finally being served.

“It is incredibly frustrating that we have had to endure the delays and costs of a public inquiry, despite a unanimous resolution to grant planning permission by Bristol City Council back in August 2020. However, we are absolutely delighted that our approach has been validated, with both the planning inspector and the secretary of state concluding that our measures to deal with flood risk are robust and thorough.”

The letter from the DLUHC said the secretary of state agreed with the conclusions of the planning inspector, Zoё Hill, that Square Bay’s approach to the flood risk had been “cautious, thorough and proper”.

It did, however, acknowledge that “the application is in conflict with development plan policy in terms of heritage assets and is not in strict accordance in relation to BCS16 with regards to flood risk, and is not in accordance with the development plan overall.”

But it said “material considerations” needed to be taken into account. It then went on to say “the delivery of homes and affordable units”, as well as a school and workspace in a rundown area, outweighed those concerns.

Vaughan-Jones added: “A huge amount of work has gone into this landmark development for Bristol over a period of almost five years. It is regrettable that such a significant investment delivering so many public benefits and enjoying such cross-city support has been subject to such a costly delay, having had such a question mark placed over it by the Environment Agency.

“The sense of relief we feel at the housing minister’s decision is matched by the feeling of excitement as we look forward to finally getting on with delivering what will be a vibrant new canalside community at the gateway to central Bristol, creating new homes and employment opportunities, and providing fantastic educational facilities for young people in this part of the city.

“Hopefully this decision will help free up many other applications in the Temple Quarter that are stuck in abeyance with the same Environment Agency objections.”

Square Bay’s previous projects in Bristol include the award-winning regeneration of Brandon Yard in Bristol’s Harbourside, as well as the city’s first build-to-rent scheme, ND7.

The commercial space will be delivered by Studio HIVE in partnership with Atlas Land, a new research and learning building delivered by the University of Bristol as part of its emerging Temple Quarter Campus and 693 student beds delivered by Singaporean based Woh Hup in partnership with Atlas Land.

The scheme will also see the delivery of a new 1,600 pupil secondary school and sixth form delivered by the Department for Education.