Planning approval for Freestone Road student residential development in central Bristol
Chapman Taylor, working with Savills planning team, has secured planning permission for Purpose Built Student Accommodation on a key Bristol site for specialist student accommodation developer and operator Host Student Housing Ltd.
Chapman Taylor’s proposals for Freestone Road regenerate a disused embankment site bordering the railway approach to Temple Meads station, and adjacent to the forthcoming Bristol University Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus. The proposals will provide sector-leading student accommodation, with 204 bedrooms across four buildings connected by bridge links over open landscape courtyards.
The distinctive architecture of the buildings references the area's industrial past, using simple singular forms featuring pitched roofs and prominent gable-ends with a rusticated base treatment and rich brickwork detailing.
The main entrance will be the focal point at the end of a new pedestrian route proposed to run through the forthcoming University Campus development and has been designed to give a strong identity to the scheme providing attractive communal space with active street frontage and a busy reception area.
Working with Bristol-based landscape architect Churchman Thornhill Finch, the end landscape courtyards have been designed as wild gardens creating private amenity space that is reflective, calm, and informal, while the middle ‘Yard’ provides space for active social and amenity such as table tennis or yoga space.
The buildings will be set back from the site’s boundaries to allow for wider pavements and much improved public realm, while connectivity with the surrounding urban area will be improved.
Freestone Road is one of two schemes in Bristol that Chapman Taylor has designed for Host Student Housing Ltd, the other being Avon Street which is on site and due for completion in 2026.
