Homes Plans unveiled for 468 flats with a gym and co-working space
ONE of Bristol’s biggest residential developments will be completed next year, developers have confirmed.
The Redcliff Quarter development was originally proposed before the Covid pandemic, and was originally going to create a Borough Market-style giant food hall with a hotel, eight restaurants, flats, offices and shops. When it was first announced almost eight years ago, it was at the time the biggest single development site in Bristol – but a lot has changed since then.
That development stalled even before the Covid pandemic, and in 2021 new plans were drawn up to build flats in two stages on the large site between Bristol Bridge and St Mary Redcliffe Church.
The first has already been completed, and now developer Grainger has announced it will complete the second in 2025.
Grainger said the second stage of the Redcliff Quarter development will create 468 ‘build-to-rent’ flats, including 94 that will be classed as ‘affordable housing,’ and let through a housing association to people on the housing waiting list. As well as the 468 new homes, the development will include a residents’ lounge, gym, games room
and co-working space, plus roof terraces and a ‘podium garden.’ On the ground floor, there will be four commercial spaces for businesses to rent.
The second half of the Redcliff Quarter development will be called ‘Glasshouse Square’ – the site where the flats are being built was once a huge glassmaking area during the 1600s, and one of the biggest of its kind in England at the time.
“When naming any Grainger development we carefully consider the history and heritage of the surrounding area to inspire our thinking,” said Leesa Ingham, Grainger’s head of marketing. “Glasshouse Square celebrates the heritage of the glasshouses which operated in Redcliffe during the 17th century, once the largest production of glass outside of London,” she added.
It will be the third major buildto-rent development in Redcliffe that Grainger plc has built in the last ten years – the firm started with the residential development part of Finzel’s Reach, and most recently finished the Millwright’s Place development just across the road on the former Avon Fire Brigade headquarters building.
“We’re delighted to be announcing our third build-to-rent development in Bristol, strengthening our city cluster,” added Leesa.