It will be two storeys bigger than Castle Park View – currently the highest building in the city
St. James Square, Bristol(Image: Olympian Homes)
Work to construct Bristol’s tallest building is set to begin imminently. Developer Olympian Homes was granted planning permission from Bristol City Council in March 2024 to demolish and redevelop the former Haymarket Premier Inn and NCP car park on Rupert Street.
Olympian is now preparing to build a 150-bed, 18-storey co-living tower and a 442-bed, 28-storey purpose built student accommodation block, which will become the highest building in the city.
The Premier Inn, next to the Bearpit, was torn down in May last year. Before the building’s demolition, World War II ordnance experts were brought in to oversee the process after council planners warned there was an “elevated medium risk” of encountering unexploded German bombs, according to our sister site Bristol Live.
The scheme has now received approval from the government’s Building Safety Regulator, which means construction is able to start. It is understood the development is expected to be completed by mid-2028.
“This outcome has been achieved through a highly collaborative approach, underpinned by the expertise of the project’s design team,” a spokesperson for Olympian said.
Once finished, the student block – named St James House – will be two storeys higher than the current tallest building in Bristol – Castle Park View.
The co-living tower will have amenity space inside and outside totalling more than 1,000 sq metres, while the student block will have nearly 850 sq metres of internal and external amenity space. Both buildings will include communal roof terraces, lounges, gyms, cinema rooms and co-working areas.
Improvements will also be made to the surrounding area, according to Olympian, with the addition of 2,150 sq metres of public realm space. This will include a kiosk, a public café, a new park and plaza connecting through to St James’ Park and offers a direct access route to Bristol bus station.
The scheme is being delivered in partnership with Cain, with contractor RG Group responsible for the construction of the buildings.
“Having run this application through the newly formed innovation unit, BSR performance was greatly improved and the whole process was achieved in 14 weeks. This is testament to the working relationship of the whole team,” said Richard Goodwin, construction director of Olympian.
“Olympian Homes continues to advance it’s growth strategy despite a challenging market, remaining focused on the acquisition and redevelopment of high quality urban sites that deliver long term value and support meaningful regeneration,” added chair Mark Slatter.
