Campbell House BRI flats named for nurse who fought for equality
NEW student accommodation in Bristol will be named after a nurse who helped to lead the city’s fight against racial discrimination.
The old Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) site will be renamed Campbell House, in tribute to campaigner Princess Campbell, who was one of the city’s first Black hospital ward sisters.
Unite Students is building the 431-bed halls on the former hospital site along Marlborough Street, with facilities including a cinema, karaoke room and private gym.
The £45m development is due to open in time for the start of 2022/23 academic year, and will become Unite’s 15th property in the city.
Unite yesterday shared drone footage showing how the development is progressing behind the hoardings, and confirmed the development’s name and opening date.
Matthew Loughlin, group development director at Unite Students, said: “Once complete, Campbell House will be the jewel in the crown of our properties in Bristol.
“The mixed-use development will create unique space, sensitively combining new with old, in a prime city centre location.
“We hope it will become a real asset for both the city of Bristol more widely, and for the local community.” Work on the property was paused during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, after planning permission was granted in February 2020.
However, work resumed in November that year and Unite has now confirmed it is still on track to open in 2022.
The new site is situated in the heart of Bristol city centre, which is within walking distance of the University of Bristol campus and close to the city’s main hospital, bus station, and central shopping area.
Part of the old BRI hospital, including the Georgian frontage, will be maintained and converted into 62 residential apartments, of which 20 per cent will be reserved for essential workers at a discounted price.
A small chapel on the site,
known as Fripps Chapel, will be refurbished and repurposed for community use.
The other buildings on site have been demolished, and a new student apartment block is being built in their place.
Princess Campbell was a pioneer who challenged prejudice in nursing and housing in Bristol, after she arrived in the city from Jamaica in 1962.
She was born in 1939 in Kingston, and was the first black employee at the Wills Factory in Bedminster.
She then trained as a nurse and became the city’s first black ward sister, working at Glenside Hospital in Fishponds.
She received an MBE for services to the community in 2011, having campaigned tirelessly for Black people and disadvantaged communities.
Princess was also a founding member of the Bristol Black Archives Partnership.
She died in 2015 at the age of 76, and hundreds of people lined the streets for her funeral.
In October, North Bristol NHS Trust also named a building in her memory.