A landmark former community building in South Bristol could be converted into seven apartments, after the charity that owned it had to turn down offers to keep it for community use, and sold it to a property developer instead.
A planning application to turn the red brick Salvation Army building on Dean Lane in Bedminster into new homes has been submitted to council planners, but the prospective new owners have already begun clearing out the inside of the building.
And the application has revealed the Salvation Army’s attempts to sell its hall in Dean Lane were hit by the covid pandemic, with the first deal with a developer and a second deal with an education organisation both falling through because of the uncertain climate caused by coronavirus.
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In the end, because charity law forces the Salvation Army to get the most money it can from the sale of the building, a deal has gone through with Bristol-based Mase Construction, and now planners will determine whether the new application should go ahead, later this summer.
Documents submitted as part of the application indicate that there were at least 11 offers to buy the building, which includes a large auditorium with seating and a stage area, as well as other large community rooms.
The planning application is to convert the hall into seven apartments, but keep the outside of the building largely the same, as well as a change of use from community hall to residential. As part of that change, the applicants had to explain how the building went from being owned by a charity who did youth work and other community uses there, to be sold to a developer. One of the documents submitted is an email from a surveyor from property agents Savills, who were tasked by the Salvation Army with selling the property.
In the email, to the developers Mase Construction, Savills agent explains how the sale of the building was impacted by the covid pandemic, but that she and her colleagues at Savills assessed the building as being suitable to continue in community use.
The letter explains how the Salvation Army left the building in 2019 and moved to a new base in Knowle West, and then instructed Savills to sell the building in the summer of 2020.
By September 30, 2020, Savills had received nine offers for the building.
“The highest value offers came from residential developers but credible offers were also received from community centres, and church and education groups,” said Savills. “Following a review of the offers submitted the Salvation Army decided to proceed with a residential developer. Unfortunately, the developer had to withdraw from the process as they had secured a larger development opportunity elsewhere in Bristol and no longer had the funding in place to purchase the former Salvation Army Building,” they added.
A second round of offers were invited, and in November, the Salvation Army struck a deal with an education group to buy the Bedminster hall, but then the second lockdown in the winter of 2020 scuppered that deal.
Finally, in the spring of 2021, Savills went back to everyone who had offered to buy the hall before, and all the new inquiries. “On March 11, 2021, the Salvation Army decided to proceed with Mase Construction’s offer for the property,” the Savills agent said.
“The property received interest from a range of different users including residential developers, mixed-use occupiers, education and community groups. The building is now under offer to Mase
Construction who plan to undertake a residential development. The Salvation Army elected to proceed with the highest value offer in order to meet their obligations to achieve best value under the Charities Act and maximise proceeds for wider charity use,” they added.
“Prior to marketing, we believed the property would attract a range of different occupiers. Therefore, we marketed the site on a flexible basis. Based on the level of interest and offers received the market would deem the building suitable for a range of uses including, education, community space, religious building and residential development. Based on the offers received, residential development proved the most viable, with residential development offers achieving the highest land value,” they added.
In the three years since the Salvation Army left the building, it has been squatted several times - the most high profile squat came in around a year ago in 2021, when a major police and bailiff operation was undertaken twice to arrest some of the squatters, in early June, and then retake possession of the building at the end of June.
Planners will decide on the application in the coming months.
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