Council review into apartments ‘near completion’
ACOUNCIL review into a former office block in South Bristol is “very near completion”. Just under three months ago, Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees announced the council was to put a pause on housing families with children at the controversial Imperial Apartments complex as he admitted there are “some challenges” at the site.
At the time, the mayor wouldn’t say whether the existing families at the site would be moved out, but confirmed that the review would look into that.
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “The review is very near completion and we continue to have a pause on nominating families with children under 18 to the flats.”
In recent months, the Post and its website BristolLive has reported on many concerns from residents at the former Parkview office complex in Hengrove – now known as Imperial Apartments.
Earlier this year, Bristol South MP Karin Smyth asked the council to stop housing families with children at the development, with the Lib Dems then joining the call and one councillor urging the council “to take responsibility”.
More than a hundred children are currently living at Imperial Apartments. There are 465 units of private rented accommodation at Imperial Apartment and Bristol City Council rent out 316 of them, more than two-thirds of the total. With 108 children there in total now, this would mean that up to a third of those have children living in them.
In August 2020, Bristol
City Council revealed it was planning on housing people in the converted office block in South Bristol.
Initially, the council agreed to take on 216 properties at Imperial Apartments and, at the time, housing chiefs at Bristol City Council admitted they had concerns about teaming up with a developer accused of creating “human warehousing” – but said they were “determined to make this development a success and thriving community in which to live”.
The complex was being redeveloped by Caridon, a company which was the subject of a Newsnight investigation as residents in one of their developments in London complained of overcrowding and the mix of people at the property, speaking about violence and substance misuse.
Caridon turned it into homes without the need for planning consent under permitted development rights, which meant the usual regulations stipulating minimum sizes did not apply.
According to the floor plans submitted to Bristol City Council, studios at the development start at 18 square metres – which is smaller than the average 29-square-metre shipping container – while the two bedroom flats at the site start at 38 square metres and go up to 76 square metres.
The law was then changed and it now requires new homes built under permitted development rights to be over 37 square metres, with two-bedrooms units being a minimum of 61 square metres. In March 2021, the council then agreed to make more units at the site and, out of 465 units of private rented accommodation at Imperial Apartments, Bristol City Council now rents out 316 of them – more than two-thirds of the total.