14 July 2022 · By Merlin Fulcher

Groupwork has won the Bristol Housing Festival’s competition for a mixed-use housing development on a former car park site in Redcliffe Way

Amin Taha’s London-based practice – working with McGregor Coxall & Hydrock – was selected ahead of rival finalists FBM Architects, HTA Design and Levitt Bernstein to win the commission to design and deliver 110 homes, of which at least 40 per cent must be affordable.

Launched in March, the two-stage competition asked for ‘inspiring and inclusive’ proposals for a new housing development targeting net zero carbon.

The project is backed by Bristol City Council housing company Goram Homes and aims to deliver a modular and sustainable exemplar on a 0.32ha plot, currently home to Portwall Lane Car Park on Redcliffe Way. The site is opposite Bristol’s Grade I-listed St Mary Redcliffe Church and a short distance from both Queen Square and Bristol Temple Meads station.

The shortlisted teams each received a £5,000 honorarium to draw up design concepts in response to community engagement and feedback. The winner receives an estimated £60,000-to-£80,000 contract to deliver the project up to RIBA Stage 2.

The appointment comes just four months after Groupwork was selected ahead of BDP and others to win an earlier competition for the same client to design a 190-home modular mixed-use housing development in Castle Park nearby.

Melissa Mean of the Redcliffe Neighbourhood Forum said: ‘Reclaiming Redcliffe Way for homes, nature, and community infrastructure has long been the ambition of the Redcliffe community. The winning design is a really exciting and thoughtful response to this challenge. We look forward to working with the team on what will be an important first step in creating a new heart for our neighbourhood.’

McGregor Coxall said: ‘We are thrilled to be part of the winning team for this exciting competition working alongside two socially and environmentally focussed companies in Groupwork and Hydrock. Our vision reimagined Redcliffe Way as Redcliffe Park, transforming it into an iconic parkland, sensitively intertwined with the fabric of Redcliffe and the wider city.’

The Bristol Housing Festival, launched in 2018, has been promoting innovations such as smart technology and off-site manufacturing as a way to deliver quality, affordable housing. The five-year programme is supported by Bristol City Council, Bristol and Bath Regional Capital, WECA and The Shaftesbury Partnership.

In 2020, Bristol practice O’LearyGoss Architects won a contest organised by the Bristol Housing Festival to design a £1.9 million student housing scheme for the city’s Trinity College theological school.

Contest site: Redcliffe Way housing, Bristol

Tags Bristol Bristol Council Bristol Housing Festival Goram Homes Housing net zero emissions

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