Former Bristol Royal Infirmary site to be turned into student flats

The Georgian frontage of the old Bristol Royal Infirmary will remain under the approved proposals

Plans to transform an old hospital building into more than 400 student flats have been given the go-ahead.

The project will see the Georgian frontage of the old Bristol Royal Infirmary remain and the listed chapel turned into a community space.

The proposals also include 62 private rental flats.

Bristol City Council planners were told a number of proposals for the site had been turned down as the authority was "unable to support them".

The building, on Marlborough Street opposite the hospital's current site, was one of the first hospitals outside London when building work first began in 1780.

The site was bought by Unite in 2015 but hundreds of people signed petitions against plans to turn it into student accommodation and the council rejected two applications.

In 2017, Historic England gave the hospital's former chapel Grade ll listing, which led Unite to go back to the drawing board.

Under the developer's revamped plans the existing building will be used for private flats and the student accommodation will be housed in new tower blocks.

The number of flats has also been scaled back from more than 700 to 421, and the height of the new blocks has been reduced.

The ground floors will be designated for commercial use and a new landscaped public route will run through the site.