The new building will complete the redevelopment of the former Fry’s chocolate factory site, and provide additional independent living at the retirement village, including affordable housing units.
The works, which will be carried out by Red Construction South West and are due to complete in September 2025, include removal of an existing basement, construction of a five-storey block of 44 extra-care apartments, a café, a basement plant room, cycle store, and associated external works.
Bristol-based charity the St Monica Trust opened The Chocolate Quarter six years ago as a retirement complex.
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The external façade will preserve the heritage style of the old chocolate factory, with an SFS and Y-Wall inner skin enveloped by a traditional brick outer façade treatment and glazing, leading out onto a balcony terrace for each flat. The building will also feature flat roofing with extensive photovoltaic panels. Technical specifications include continuous flight auger (CFA) piled foundations with reinforced concrete pile caps and ground beams, a steel frame to roof level, beam and block concrete flooring systems to the ground floor, and composite floor slabs from the ground to the fourth level.
St Monica Trust chief executive David Williams said: “The building of Block D not only marks the completion of the Trust’s redevelopment of the former Fry’s chocolate factory but it also fulfils our original commitment to provide affordable housing for the local community. We are thrilled to have appointed Red Construction South West to deliver the final phase of the project, not only because of the team’s exceptional technical capabilities but because they share that same spirit of community and their expertise in the local area is unparalleled.”
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