Redcliffe Skyline

Planning permission has been granted to Change Real Estate’s proposals for land bounded by Redcliff Street, St Thomas Street and Three Queens Lane. The redevelopment is to provide 274 residential dwellings, a 186-bed hotel, cafés and restaurants, a food hall and office space. Included as part of the development is a 22-floor tower block (as in the montage on the right), which will dominate the Redcliffe skyline.

Planning permission was granted for the tower on the 30th November 2016. The development will yield £5m to the Council in Community Infrastructure Levy. Two councillors abstained from the vote, none voted against.

According to John Frenkel of the Bristol Civic Society, ‘The decision is contrary to the Council’s own planning advice in “The future of Redcliffe” and in its “Tall Buildings Policy Advice”.’ But it is very much in accord with the views of Bristol mayor Marvin Rees who is quoted as saying: ‘I want Bristol’s skyline to grow. Years of low level buildings and a reluctance to build up in an already congested city is a policy I am keen to change. Tall buildings built in the right way, in the right places and for the right reasons, communicate ambition and energy.’ According to the Bristol Civic Society ‘the tower and the buttressing blocks would dominate and harm the area’s character’. The tower will certainly change the skyline from Merchants Quay and Trin Mills.