PegasusLife has been granted planning permission to renovate Queen Victoria House in Bristol and transform it into a retirement development. In addition to the renovations, PegasusLife will build two contemporary buildings on the site of the current car park to create 65 apartments.
A new arboretum, high-quality landscaping and protection of most of the existing trees will ensure the external gardens – which include a Grade II listed monument to Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Charlotte – are as attractive and functional as the homes themselves.
PegasusLife’s radical approach to retirement living places a strong emphasis on health and wellbeing, which goes much further than ensuring required access to personal care and support services. From enabling social interaction, to creating inviting outdoor spaces, through to the very design of each apartment, every facet of the development will play a part in enhancing the lives of its residents.
PegasusLife’s Director of Public Policy and Planning, Guy Flintoft, says: “We are so pleased to have achieved a positive outcome with the proposal for Queen Victoria House and look forward working in this great City. Bristol urgently needs an adequate supply of good quality homes for its rapidly growing population of older people, as stated in the City Council’s Housing Strategy. Our aim with this site is to help kick-start that supply by providing high quality homes that support independence in older age whilst also meeting all required care needs*”.
The scheme has been designed by the Bristol-based team of Stirling Prize-winning architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and has been praised by civic groups and design experts. PegasusLife plans to make further investments in Bristol and already has a number of sites across the country including a planned development in Portishead. Just over 30 miles away from Queen Victoria House is Steepleton, PegasusLife’s award-winning development in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, which is due to complete in summer 2017.
