News / KNowle West
Design competition launched to transform former school site
The council’s housing company has launched a design competition to transform a former school site in south Bristol.
Bristol City Council’s Goram Homes is inviting local architects to submit their designs for the development of the former Novers Lane Infant School site in Knowle West.
Goram has earmarked the brownfield site – which is next to the Western Slopes – for 50 new homes, at least 30 per cent of which will be affordable.
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A panel of judges including members of the local community will choose the winning design for the council-owned land later in 2023.
Pictured from above, the former Novers Lane Infant School site is currently occupied by van dwellers – photo: Google
The Friends of the Western Slopes group – who successfully campaigned for the council to drop plans for 360 new homes on the “vital wildlife corridor” in February 2022 – are part of the judging panel.
Julia Victor, who established the group, said: “The community has been rightly protective of our much-loved green space for decades, but we also recognise the need for affordable homes in this area of the city.
“We want to see proposals that are sensitive to the ecological importance of the Western Slopes, and ultimately a development that fits well within its surroundings.”
Currently a temporary site for van dwellers, the former school site has been left undeveloped since the school was closed in 2006 and demolished.
Tom Renhard, the council’s cabinet member for housing, says the design competition for the site is “a brilliant opportunity for local architecture firms in Bristol and the West of England area to create a unique and inspiring development for Knowle West.”
He added: “We got our city building 2,563 homes last year. Here, on another brownfield site, we plan to build more affordable homes in a way that protects important community assets. Working with local residents on a design competition like this is the best way we can do it.”
The former school site is at the top of the Western Slopes, a green space which has been at the centre of controversial housing plans – photo: Charlie Watts
Despite the council dropping plans to build on the Western Slopes, a private developer has not withdrawn a planning application to build on a privately owned part of the green space.
Lovell Homes recently added new documents to the council’s planning portal, reducing the number of homes planned by 13 from 157 to 144.
The design competition for the former school site follows others Goram has run in the past, including for Portwall Lane Car Park in Redcliffe.
The competition is being administered by Bristol Housing Festival. Open to entries until April 12, the winner is set to be selected from a shortlist in the summer of 2023.
To find out more, visit www.bristolhousingfestival.org.uk/projects/novers-hill-design-comp
Charlie Watts is reporting on Knowle West as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media
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