Three tower blocks of student accommodation on Temple Island site recommended for approval

Plans to build three huge tower blocks for almost 1,000 students at Temple Quarter have been recommended for approval.

Bristol University secured outline planning permission for a new £300million campus in 2018 on the site behind Temple Meads and part of Temple Island.

The campus will include both residential and academic buildings, the detailed designs of which are being dealt with in separate planning applications.

Earlier this year a public consultation was held on the detailed design of the student residential accommodation part of the campus, which will be located on the northern end of Temple Island.

The accommodation is proposed to be arranged over three buildings up to 21-storeys high, and be home to up to 953 students.

Bristol City Council planning officers have recommended the development for approval but the final decision lies with members of the development control committee.

Councillors will decide whether to give the scheme, which includes a gym, roof garden, picnic area and riverside walkway, the go-ahead at a meeting on Wednesday (October 16).

There have been a number of objections from local residents as well as Historic England regarding design, parking and the impact of almost 1,000 students on local amenities.

But in their concluding statement council officers said the application represented an important stage in the evolution of the proposals for the new campus.

The report added: “Through a thorough assessment, the detailed design of the student accommodation to be accommodated on Temple Island has been confirmed to be acceptable.

“This application can be supported. It will give rise to high quality student accommodation in close proximity to the campus buildings that will create a high quality development at this important gateway into the city.”

A public consultation on the detailed designs of the academic buildings, which will be built on the site of the former Royal Mail Sorting Office, was launched last month.

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The campus was originally meant to share Temple Island with an arena.

But in September last year Bristol mayor Marvin Rees officially scrapped plans for an arena at the site, agreeing instead to push forward with plans for a ‘mixed use’ development, which may include a conference centre, housing, offices and shops.

The university said it wants the new Temple Quarter campus not to become a student-only environment, but to become a place to go for everyone in Bristol.

If planning permission is granted for both the residential and academic elements, the university is aiming for the first students to be moving in during 2022 – just three years away.

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