People to start moving into Portishead's former 'Olditz' apartment block

The huge apartment block has laid vacant since it was completed


A close up of a map showing the location of portishhead

The first residents of Portishead’s former 'Olditz' apartment block will move in early next year - after the building has lain vacant since it was built.

Marina Gardens – dubbed Olditz by locals – was initially built as a multi-million-pound retirement and assisted living scheme and was completed in autumn 2019.

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However, it has lain vacant ever since after its owners Pegasus Life said there was no longer a need for retirement accommodation and applied to change the use of the building to allow it to sell the one and two-bedroom flats on the open market.

Social housing provider Alliance Homes announced earlier this year it had bought the block earlier this year in a deal worth £28 million.

The £27.8 million purchase was supported by grant funding from Homes England and North Somerset Council as part of a shared ambition to deliver quality affordable homes in the district.


Bosses at Alliance Homes have announced that the first residents will start moving in early in the New Year.

There will be three tenure types at Marina Gardens - shared ownership, rent to buy and social rent.


A large white building with a courtyard in front of it.

A spokesman for Alliance Homes said: “We’re hoping the first residents will move in some time in the New Year.

“We’ll be producing documentation in the next few weeks which will better explain how people can obtain a home at Marina Gardens.


The complex has 127 apartments - a mix of one and two-bedroom and studios, and 96 parking spaces.

It also has a number of communal areas as well as a café and restaurant, a wellbeing spa and a hydrotherapy pool.

Portishead has grown massively in size in recent years thanks to developments at the marina and at the Ashlands and Village Quarter and is now the second-largest town in North Somerset.


When all developments are complete the town’s population is expected to swell to around 30,000.

There are currently more than 5,000 people on the council’s housing waiting list.


It took around 6,700 properties onto its books, representing over 77 percent of social housing in the district.

Over the next ten years, Alliance Homes plan to help tackle the national housing crisis by developing at least 2,000 new homes for sale and rent across the West of England.


To read this article on its original source website please click here


This article was originally written by Somerset Live.


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