St Christopher Square proposes 100 new homes for older people in an £85 million project that aims to be Bristol’s first net zero integrated retirement community. Meanwhile use has been arranged to support urgent needs with the refurbished Hampton lodge, converted into 15 apartments for refugees requiring interim housing.

 

 

Who is on the project team? 

 

Ashley Community and Housing (ACH)

Regional Partnerships Manager.

 

- Community Engagement: MPC

 

- Architects: PRP

 

- Planning Consultant: Pegasus

 

- Civil and Structural Engineer: Ramboll

 

- Mechanical and Electrical Engineer: Waterman

 

- Traffic and Transport Engineer: Key Transport Consultancy

 

- Arboriculturist: Barton Hyett

 

- Ecologist: Ethos

 

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and people?

 

The St Christopher’s five-acre site is located in the Westbury Park area of Bristol and bordering the Downs.

 

Plans to create Bristol’s first net zero integrated retirement community with residential and community facilities have been submitted to Bristol City Council. 

 

Developed after extensive community consultation, the £85 million proposals will create over 100 new homes for older people 

 

The development will be transformed into a centre for local residents and the wider Westbury Park community, offering the highest levels of sustainability, health and wellbeing. 

 

Designed to complement the local community it will include a café, an urban village hall, a wellness centre featuring a hydrotherapy pool and gym, plus activity rooms.

 

While the Westbury Park site awaits the outcome of its planning application Socius, FORE Partnership and Amicala have joined forces with social enterprise ACH to provide temporary housing for refugees in the city, for at least a year.

 

This is the first project of its kind in the city.

 

ACH through its work in social housing provision and tailored integration services, aims to redefine, recentre and rebuild this process of integration, providing refugee and migrant communities across the UK the means to lead self-sufficient, ambitious, and happy lives

 

Tell us what you did and how the project, event or installation enlivened the place in a creative way?

 

Socius, FORE Partnership and Amicala transformed a vacant building on the site and refurbished Hampton Lodge into a number of apartments for refugees in urgent need of interim housing.

 

This is the first project of its kind in the city and is now providing homes for a small community of refugees from several countries including Afghanistan, Sudan, Russia, and Ukraine who have been granted refugee status in the UK. 

 

The building is providing one-bedroom properties which are fully furnished and fitted with white goods, so residents have a place to call home while they receive support from ACH. 

 

To ensure a level of stability, the residents will have a minimum lease of 12 months and be offered at least 3 months’ notice ahead of any future development works commencing. 

 

Hampton Lodge underwent a refurbishment, which included some building works to ensure the building could offer a really high standard of rented accommodation. The works also included redecorating and fully furnishing the apartments - installing white goods, soft furnishings, furniture, kitting out kitchens, as well as some light landscaping and gardening to improve the outside space.

 

How did you engage the community?

 

Hampton Lodge is currently home to 10 refugees, with 5 more due to be settled at the end of February, when the building will be at full occupancy, with 15 apartments provided in total.

 

The 15 refugees will be accommodated for up to a year

 

The development team were able to refurbish Hampton Loge and bring it into use, providing homes for refugees at a critical time. The refugees are able to feel safe and comfortable and through the collaboration with ACH, they are supported every step of the way as they rebuild their lives in the UK

 

The collaboration with ACH, the award-winning social enterprise specialising in integrating refugee & migrant communities has been able to provide accommodation at Hampton Lodge, along with support, and community-based training. 

 

ACH will focus on building individuals’ resilience in the labour market, upskilling and supporting refugees into sustainable, higher-level employment or self-employment in order to develop their independence and ease their integration into the UK life.

 

Fuad Mahamed CEO at ACH adds: “This partnership is most welcome and much needed. The refugee clients we support desperately need safe, comfortable, and affordable housing to begin the process of rebuilding their lives in this country. This project is an important contribution to this journey”

 

As well as working with ACH, the development team also provided housing to 90 Guardians, and rent-free space to local groups such as Redland Scouts, and open outdoor space to the neighbouring School.

 

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution?

 

In Q3 2022 the refugees had all been granted asylum. When an asylum seeker is granted refugee status, they have to leave their current accommodation within 28 days and find permanent accommodation, income, education etc to demonstrate they are setting up their lives in the UK. Hampton Lodge is effectively providing them with the temporary housing they need while they set up their lives, with the vital support of ACH.

 

Hampton Lodge is helping refugees start a new life, with the support of ACH 

 

ACH is an organisation dedicated to breaking down the barriers of entry to work and housing which refugee and migrant communities face. 

 

Over the course of the next year ACH anticipate many more will benefit from Hampton Lodge, as they move onto permanent homes and employment. 

 

While it will be entirely down to when each individual is ready to move on from their temporary home (up to a year), it is anticipated that more than 30 refugees could be supported at Hampton Lodge over the course of the next year or so as they set up their lives in the UK

 

The importance of temporary and supported accommodation for refugees is already having a positive impact. One of the refugees, having only moved into the premises in December, has already secured a full-time job as a direct consequence of moving into Hampton Lodge.