Your say / Housing
‘Co-living offers a solution to Bristol’s housing crisis’
As councils and developers grapple with a rising demand for housing, the public debate around new co-living schemes has become increasingly heated.
Co-living is sometimes wrongly dismissed as glorified student accommodation when in reality it has much in common with entry-level housing stock.
We welcome new planning guidance that will help support the development of high-quality communal living schemes in Bristol and inject some balance into the debate.
City councillors recently approved a new supplementary planning document (SPD) for developers which sets out minimum standards for co-living projects in the city centre, including the size of dwellings.
Co-living offers a solution to Bristol’s housing crisis by providing affordable apartments and high-quality, shared facilities for young professionals and key workers in convenient city centre locations.
But the benefits of co-living can get lost in the debate about this type of accommodation. A frequent criticism is that co-living apartments are too small which is an issue that the new co-living SPD aims to address.
We recently submitted revised plans for a co-living development at St John’s Gate in Southville, which will provide 100 one-bedroom studio apartments and high-end living facilities.
The single person studios will range from 20 to 27sq m per resident, with around 4sq m per bed of internal shared amenity space provided elsewhere in the scheme alongside external terraces and garden spaces.
This is well above the minimum room size set out in the new co-living SPD for Bristol.
The attraction of the co-living model lies in the superior shared facilities and the central location. This is what distinguishes it from traditional student accommodation.
The St John’s Gate scheme offers a variety of shared spaces including communal kitchen and dining areas, lounges, a gym and a co-working space for residents.
The plans, submitted on behalf of the developer Land & Buildings, also include communal gardens, courtyard spaces, and rooftop terraces. A planning decision on the application is expected soon.
Other approved co-living schemes designed by Alec French include a mixed-use scheme on Rupert Street which will provide co-living accommodation for 249 people alongside much-needed commercial and community spaces.
The proposed development between Rupert Street and Lewins Mead will contain 328 student beds and 249 co-living studio flats, as well as a new car park and shops on the ground floor- image: Alec French
These developments will help to relieve some of the pressure on Bristol’s severely overstretched housing stock.
Other factors driving the co-living boom are high land values and increased development costs which have made brownfield sites in our urban centres unviable for traditional housing development.
Co-living schemes make challenging, undeveloped sites viable for construction while also offering a cost-effective solution to the housing crisis in our city centres.
Of course, co-living can’t solve all the housing challenges that Bristol faces.
But with the current pressures on the provision of new homes – both in terms of delivery and availability at affordable costs – adding co-living to the mix of accommodation on offer will provide homes for young people entering the workforce while easing the pressure on the conversion of private homes and stem the rise of houses in multiple occupation.
This developing new accommodation model will help to ensure that we can meet the future housing needs of young professionals who wish to remain in Bristol while freeing up more properties for local families.
This is an opinion piece by Robin Gray, a director at Alec French Architects
Main image: Alec French
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
