UK: Bristol is set to be the latest UK city to draw up a development guide for coliving as a result of a rise in coliving planning applications.
Bristol City Council will produce the guide for developers, setting standards for any new coliving proposals, after concerns were expressed about the unit size in some recent planning applications.
Several hundred coliving studios are already planned for Bristol city centre in two separate developments, and more plans are expected to come forward in both the city centre and Bedminster. Councillors on the economy and skills policy committee were updated on July 29.
Abigail Stratford, head of regeneration at the council, said: “We’ve had a number of applications and because of current market conditions, we envisage that there will be more applications, particularly in the city centre. We want to learn the lessons from where co-living has been delivered elsewhere in the country, to make sure that we get the very best quality homes for our residents.”
In March, councillors voted to grant planning permission for two new coliving schemes in the city centre. Developers will knock down both the Premier Inn by the Bearpit and the nearby NCP car park on Rupert Street, and build hundreds of student rooms and co-living studios.
The council’s regeneration service will draw up a coliving design guide to ensure “appropriate standards” are delivered by developers.
In March this year the Greater London Authority drafted a new planning guidance on coliving, which it terms as Large-scale Purpose-built Shared Living (LSPBSL).
