Bristol flats on stilts scheme to get cash boost

The one and two-bedroom flats will sit over some of the parking bays in the car park

Plans to build an apartment block on stilts above a Bristol car park have received a cash injection from the local authority.

Bristol City Council has agreed to spend up to £1.43m on the the project, including the cost of buying the prefabricated homes.

Eleven flats, called ZedPods, would be created on a raised steel deck at Chalks Road car park in St George.

The development is part of a scheme to help disadvantaged people find homes.

The apartment block would act as transitional accommodation for 13 young people, aged 18 to 25, who are on low incomes or making their first steps into independent living.

The one and two-bedroom flats, developed by Zed PODS Ltd, will sit over some of the parking bays in the car park next to St George's Park.

The bays would remain public as none of the people living above would be allowed to own a car under their tenancy agreement.

Concerns have been expressed about the effect of the scheme on parking, and air pollution levels for future occupants.

But deputy mayor for finance Craig Cheney said the ZedPods were not intended as long-term housing.

The ZedPods have a 30-year lease to use the Chalks Road car park, which is owned and operated by the council.

The development is one of the first two being trialled under the Bristol Housing Festival banner, a five-year programme spearheaded by the city council, looking at new ways of providing homes to people who could not otherwise afford them.