News / trinity road police station
Work to build 104 new homes on police station site set to begin
Work is set to get underway to replace the dilapidated Trinity Road Police Station with 104 new homes designed to meet the critical need for affordable housing.
The plans for the site in St Jude’s have been a long time in the making and were almost jeopardised by spiralling costs last year before a £1.5m bailout was approved by Bristol City Council to revive the scheme.
The Guinness Partnership has been granted permission to bulldoze the existing station and build 104 one, two and three-bedroom apartments in its place, which will be available for social rent. A new police station will also be built on the ground floor of the new building.
Avon & Somerset Police sold the site as, in its current form, it “no longer meets the needs of the local community, police officers and staff”.
Housing association Guinness has secured funds from Homes England to help deliver the development, as well as the £1.5m from the council of Strategic Community Infrastructure Levy money to pay towards the new station, and a further £1.6m through its affordable housing funding policy to go towards providing homes for social rent.
Work is set to get underway to replace the dilapidated Trinity Road Police Station with 104 new homes – image: Alec French Architects
Tom Renhard, Labour’s cabinet member for housing delivery and homelessness welcomed the news, saying: “This shows what can be achieved through joint working to deliver a shared vision for the creation of new social housing.
“This development will make a real difference for the people of Bristol, adding to the 14,500 new homes set to have been built in Bristol between 2016 and 2024 – including 600 new affordable homes expected to be delivered in 2023/24.”
Guinness has appointed The Hill Group to work on the development.
Allan O’Brien, South West regional director at The Hill Group said: “We will be creating high-quality and energy-efficient affordable homes to address the critical housing shortage in the city.
“Additionally, the construction of a new police station which will serve as a valuable new asset, ensuring safety and security for the community.”
The existing Trinity Road Police Station will be demolished to make way for the new development – photo: Betty Woolerton
Chief inspector Vicks Hayward-Melen added: “We are excited to see work start at Trinity. This new station will provide a better service to the community, it will be designed to reflect changes in how our officers and staff work and it will provide a visible base for our Neighbourhood Policing team who we want our community to feel confident engaging with.”
While construction is ongoing, police officers will be based at other sites but the force has said the same number of officers and PCSOs will still be on patrol in the neighbourhood.
Main photo: The Guinness Partnership
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