Former Bristol hospital could be turned into houses

A former hospital in Bristol could be turned into hundreds of new houses, shops and offices as part of a regeneration project.

Blackberry Hill Hospital iin Fishponds has been sold to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Government’s regeneration scheme.

There are no definite plans for the site yet, as the organisation will consult with the public before it applies for planning permission, but it is expected that work could start within two years.

It is anticipated the project could lead to future regeneration in the Fishponds and Eastville area.

Some Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP) adult services will remain alongside the site in the long-term while other health provision will remain at Blackberry Hill until 2010.

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT), which previously ran the hospital, formally declared the site surplus to its requirements back in 2007, after transferring most services to Frenchay and Southmead in 2005.

AWP moved some of its older people services to Callington Road and Southmead hospitals in 2007.

The trust owned 90 per cent of the site and to make the sale easier, the remaining land, owned by Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP) was transferred to the trust.

Although AWP will still receive its share of the proceeds from the sale.

NBT will use its share of the money to help pay back part of a historic of up to £50 million discovered back in 2003.

The project will involve converting the buildings that date back to the 1770s and building new structures on parts of the 21-acre site.

Blackberry Hill Hospital started life as a prison, before becoming an ordnance store, a workhouse and then Stapleton Hospital.

By 1953 the hospital met the basic needs of more than 800 people but by 1956 the Manor Park Hospital emerged.

The hospital entered another phase in 1992 when the decision was made to merge Glenside Hospital and Manor Park. Blackberry Hill Hospital came into being and new facilities were built to provide mental health services.

Regional director of the HCA in the South West, Colin Molton, said: “The Blackberry Hill hospital site provides an excellent opportunity to create a vibrant and sustainable new community in the heart of Bristol.

“We will ensure that the scheme delivers significant benefits not only to those who will come to live there but to the wider local community in terms of employment, community facilities and the ripple effect it will have on other potential development sites in the area.”

The hospital, located in the Fishponds area of Bristol, has seen many changes over the last few years.

The HCA has identified the site as suitable for mixed-use development which, when plans are finally brought forward, might include shops, commercial space, community facilities and open space, as well as up to 350 new homes.

NBT will lease the site until the end of November 2009 when its education and training department will transfer over to new buildings being constructed at Southmead.

The trust will also continue to lease the premises for BRACE, the charity for research into Alzheimer’s disease and the Regional Quality Control Laboratories until July 2010.

Sonia Mills, chief executive of NBT, said: “The sale of North Bristol NHS Trust’s land at the Blackberry Hill site is a significant step.

“The money raised from the sale will be used to help repay the historic debt and forms part of our agreed debt repayment plan.”