He’s abseiled down the rock face of both Bristol’s Avon Gorge and Cheddar Gorge but today, climber Alex Matheson was easing his way down the heady heights of a living vine inside one of Bath’s most unusual new buildings – the eight-storey tall Royal View.
This is part of the Crest Nicholson residential development at Bath Riverside – a former industrial site that once housed the city’s gasworks – and now offers every form of accommodation from studios to four bedroomed homes.
The central internal feature of this landmark building is an open atrium soaring all the way to the glass roof.
From it are suspended columns of living foliage which thrive in the natural light.
Alex’s job – every few months – is to come and trim this amazing indoor garden and abseiling up and down each column is the only way to do it.
Alex was shown how to do his green trimming by the gardeners responsible for landscaping the whole Crest Nicholson site.
While he has a head for heights l was grateful for the railings surrounding the penthouse apartment l had come to see.
I don’t happen to have 1.25 million pounds spare at the moment but was taking advantage of the view from its many balconies while it remains one of only three properties in the whole building still for sale.
The view towards the west on the Bristol side is amazing. You can look across the River Avon and admire Royal Victoria Park where a variety of beautiful trees are blooming with fresh May growth.
On this side of the Avon, you look down towards the new park taking shape between the two landmark buildings on this development.
Crest are already selling apartments in the sister block of Sovereign Point.
We’ll be back at Bath Riverside very soon with more stories concerning this new residential city hub.
