Castle Park: Planned office blocks resemble ‘large, monolithic entities’, say Historic England

Historic England and the Georgian Society have joined local groups in opposing plans to redevelop part of Castle Park in Bristol.

The plans are for the demolition of buildings in the Castle Park area, including Bank of England House, Bank House and Norwich Union House, to make way for three new office buildings with independent shops and restaurants.

Two of the office blocks would be eight stories high, around 85ft high, while the third would be nine stories high, almost 100ft high.

A planning application outlining the full details has been submitted to Bristol City Council by developers MEPC, and is currently open to comments until November 17.

There have been objections to the proposal made from Bristol Civic Society and the city’s Christmas Steps Art Quarter, as well as support from people and groups who want the ‘eyesore’ redeveloped.

Now national groups Historic England and the Georgian Society have responded.

In a letter to the city council, Historic England said while it strongly supported the principle of the redevelopment, it objected to scale and design of buildings which is said did not fit in with the area.

The group said: “We think there is much to admire in the detail of the proposals, which will see restoration of the surviving heritage assets and a vibrant new city quarter created.

“However, we are concerned at the scale and massing of the proposed replacement buildings.

“The proposed buildings would be large, monolithic entities, which would fail to respond to the fine grain of the Old City.

“Their scale and massing would challenge the visual primacy of the various Grade II listed church spires in close proximity to the site.”

The Georgian Group also objected on the grounds of the development’s scale.

In a letter to the city council, it said: “The Georgian Group believes the development of this area on the scale proposed will constitute substantial harm to the conservation area and to the setting of a large number of listed buildings.

“Given the huge impact of this proposal on both the setting of the heritage assets and to the conservation area it is imperative that the applicant demonstrate that this is necessary to achieve substantial public benefit.

“The proposed buildings are to be used as offices, and we do not believe that there has been an adequate argument that there is a need for this in the centre of Bristol, particularly given the changes to working practices following the pandemic.”

The developer MEPC lodged its planning application in May which also includes repairing the historic tower of St Mary le Port, damaged during bombing in the Second World War.

A spokesperson for the developers said: “The development of the site will complement the council’s strategic economic growth and regeneration aspirations for this part of the city and through the provision of commercial offices will play a key role in supporting the wider business ecosystem and will transform a currently unused site and long-standing vacancy of Bank of England and Bank House for an employment generating use.”

The application can be viewed on Bristol City Council’s website using application number 21/03020/F here.