Nottingham City Council plans a £5 million redevelopment of the Colston Road garage site in Bulwell.
The project will see the demolition of 54 underused garages and the construction of 32 new one-bedroom flats, offering affordable homes for residents on the city’s ever-growing housing waiting list.
The matter will be discussed at an Executive Board meeting on 20 May.
The Colston Road garage compound, located behind flats at Colston Road and Austin Street and adjacent to a railway line, is set to be transformed into a modern housing development. The decision was confirmed at the Council’s Executive Board on 20 May 2025.
Key details of the project include:
Demolition of 54 garage units
Construction of 32 one-bedroom flats
Total cost: £5.095 million
Funding source: Primarily from Right to Buy Replacement Fund (RTB RF), with potential support from Housing Revenue Account (HRA) reserves
Forecast completion: Autumn/Winter 2027
Expected payback period: 30 years
This project will be delivered entirely under the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and forms part of the council’s broader effort to use in-house assets to meet social housing needs.
Nottingham’s housing register currently lists over 10,000 households.
The cost of nightly emergency accommodation per household is approximately £36,500 annually.
Only 21 of the 54 garages are occupied, and just one is being used for a vehicle, suggesting low practical use and high redevelopment potential.
This site was one of six identified as viable for residential development by consultants David Locke Associates in a 2023 study funded by the Local Government Association. With strong potential for flatted development and proximity to existing social housing, it was earmarked for fast-tracked delivery.
Initial design concepts included a mix of houses and flats. However, the flat-based approach was chosen to maximise housing numbers and align with the surrounding residential landscape. The proposed development will likely feature four-storey blocks — tall enough to optimise space without being classified as high-rise or high-risk.
A full planning application will be submitted in due course, and the council intends to consult nearby residents during the process. The Council will also work to align this scheme with improvement works to existing adjacent housing blocks to minimise disruption and maintain housing quality parity.
A critical enabler for this project is the recent temporary national policy shift allowing councils to fund 100% of new social housing costs using RTB receipts (until March 2026). Previously capped at 50%, this provision allows the Council to proceed without borrowing — a move expected to result in long-term savings and improved value-for-money outcomes.
The project is expected to deliver a positive Net Present Value (NPV) over a 50-year term, despite being a short-term cost to the HRA. This supports a strong business case for proceeding now, while full RTB RF funding is still available.
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