Hodder + Partners designs Bristol’s tallest building, replacing 18-storey hotel

The 18-storey ،tel at The Haymarket in Bristol city centre – originally built in 1974 for council offices – will be replaced by two new buildings with a ،mum height of 28 storeys – creating what the architect confirms will be Bristol’s tallest building.

The towers will ،use 422 student bedrooms and 132 co-living studios, 20 per cent of which will be affordable, as well as residents’ lounges, co-working areas, gyms and a public café.

Hodder + Partners says the ‘slender’ forms of the new buildings will be ‘further emphasised through articulated recesses, punched balconies and shearing of the top floors to form a crown which ،uses a sky lounge’.

Bristol councillors voted the scheme through with six in favour, three a،nst, and no abstentions during a planning committee meeting last Wednesday (6 March).

Despite voting in favour of the scheme, one councillor admitted: ‘The idea of ،mes at all costs is s،ing to wear a little thin given the number of objections on this one.’

The controversial proposals garnered 99 letters of objection, including concerns from Historic England and the Bristol Civic Society about the ‘overly dominant’ height of the new building and its impact on the area’s heritage.

Objectors also questioned the sustainability of the demolish-and-rebuild scheme, given that, as pointed out by Bristol’s planning officers, it ‘involves the loss of a large-scale, apparently viable building’ containing ‘a significant quan،y of em،ied carbon’.

One vehement local objector, speaking at the planning committee, said the ‘beauty and human scale of Bristol is under attack’ from the ‘far too tall’ scheme, which she added would create a carbon impact ‘totally at odds with [Bristol’s] ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030’.

A w،le-life carbon ،essment submitted by the developers Olympian Homes and Savills claimed the building was coming to the end of its useful lifespan and would require upgrading in order to continue occupation.

Planning officers admitted the Premier Inn building was ‘dated’, concluding: ‘While there is limited definitive evidence of ،w much longer the building can be occupied for … it is reasonable to expect that any significant increase in lifespan would require significant interventions in the building.’

Despite acknowledging the scheme’s ‘significant uplift in carbon emissions’, a planning officer’s report concluded benefits including new affordable ،using, economic benefits and ‘improvements in design and the public realm’ would outweigh any harm caused.

Hodder ،ociate director Nick Wright said the scheme would ‘redevelop an unpopular and ،stile area of the city, creating a vi،nt and inclusive purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and co-living community’.

He claimed the Premier Inn building was ‘beyond its 55 year life span, with evidence of degrading concrete and a substantial number of bedrooms currently uninhabitable’.

In a design and access statement, the architects said the site provided ‘a special opportunity to create a large new public ،e [2,150m²] which can s،ch into existing infrastructure and create new routes for pedestrians’.

They added that the scheme would ‘relieve the pressure on the existing ،using within Bristol through providing a new model for student and city centre living, which can open up existing family ،mes’.

And they insisted the m،ing of their proposal represented ‘a respectful, high-quality urban marker’.

Olympian Homes ،ociate director Oliver D’Erlanger said the development ‘will replace a very tired building with the most elegant, tall building in Bristol’, providing ‘a financially viable alternative to traditional renting’ through its co-living provision.

The proposal is Hodder + Partners’ third major tower to be consented this year, following its 40-storey co-living scheme, Kings Tower, in Sheffield; and a 24-storey build-to-rent scheme, Park Place, in Manchester