Principle appointed to manage 31 apartments in Bristol City Centre for a National Housing Association

A creative development of 31 affordable homes on the site of an historic public swimming baths in Bristol is to be looked after by Principle Estate Management.

Speedwell Baths on Whitefield Road, to the north-east of the city centre, first opened in 1937 and were a favourite leisure destination for tens of thousands of city residents for nearly 70 years.

They were then closed in 2005 by Bristol City Council and lay derelict for years before they were demolished in 2019.

Abri Housing Association has now developed a mixture of one and two-bedroomed apartments in a new, five-storey complex and has awarded the contract to manage the 31 residences to Principle.

It is the second management project that Principle has won from Abri, following a contract to manage affordable homes in Dean Street, in the St Paul’s area of Bristol, last summer.

Joe Jobson, joint managing director of Principle, said: “We are delighted to be expanding our relationship with Abri and this continues our growth in the great city of Bristol.

“We have worked with Abri throughout the design and build process and ensured all maintenance and service contracts have been set up and were ready on resident occupancy.

“Abri have a lot of exciting schemes in the pipeline and we are really pleased to be part of this journey with them, and this is a business relationship I look forward to building on for the long term.”

Mr Jobson added: “We are very serious about providing a professional service and we now have six chartered surveyors in our business.

“I have worked very closely with Abri’s project managers on both schemes and our vision of ensuring a quality of service is the same for all residents.”

Sean Gill, management company manager at Abri, one of the largest housing providers in the south, said: “Our new development on the Speedwell Swimming Baths sites will provide further much-needed affordable housing in the city.

“We felt it was important that we have a managing agent with the right experience to look after such a development, making sure our customers have the best experience and support in their new homes.

“We’re already very pleased with Principle’s quality input at our Dean Street development and we are confident they will provide our new customers with a great service and help them to thrive in their new homes.”

Principle looks after over 8,000 units in more than 300 developments across the UK, as well as rented commercial and residential properties.