McGregor Coxall in collaboration with Hodder + Partners, celebrates a significant milestone as planning approval is granted for the redevelopment of Bristol’s City Centre (Haymarket) Premier Inn site.

Olympian Homes appointed Bristol based interdisciplinary design firm McGregor Coxall as landscape architects for the scheme, with Manchester-based architects Hodder + Partners as lead consultant.

Plans approved by Bristol City Council will see the twenty-storey 1970’s building redeveloped to create two new buildings. The site will provide 132 co-living homes, of which 20% earmarked as affordable, as well as 442 purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) beds.

Central to the redevelopment is the commitment to public space. The footprint of the buildings would occupy one third of the current site, with the remaining two-thirds of the site’s 20,500 sq ft ground floor being offered to the public as open space. This space, which will be extensively landscaped, will also create a pedestrian route connecting Bristol bus and coach station and Broadmead.

McGregor Coxall’s proposed public realm and landscape design will transform the site, with clear pedestrian routes, accessibility for all, expansive public open spaces, and naturalistic planting schemes aimed at fostering biodiversity and maximising climate resilience.

Úna Breathnach-Hifearnáin, Associate at McGregor Coxall commented, “it is extremely rare for any major city centre regeneration to see two-thirds of a site handed over for public realm. Instead of the building footprint using the whole site – as it currently does – 63% would become fully-publicly accessible open space.”

“Our proposals would see forty-four new trees planted across the site and a biodiversity net gain of more than 5,000%. This is most unusual for a major urban regeneration. It is enormously rewarding to be part of a scheme that will have such a positive and transformative impact on Bristol city centre.”

Oliver d’Erlanger, Associate Director at Olympian Homes, added that, “the location is suited for city centre living in Bristol city centre and the development will replace a very tired building with the most elegant, tall building in Bristol, and would transform the public realm.”