The planned £300m Temple Meads Enterprise Campus at the University of Bristol will “cement Bristol’s position” as a leader in technology according to the university’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Guy Orpen. 

Speaking at our West of England Development Conference he described their ambition as “to support and enable what is Britain’s most successful technology cluster around Bristol and Bath.”

The University is developing local partnerships with the community, government, SMEs and industry to enable it to develop a campus that is engaged with the local community. [emaillocker id=”71749″]

A £100m Digital Futures Faculty, a state-of-the-art cutting-edge laboratory, forms part of their estate masterplan. The faculty will partner social scientists and technology experts to try to research many of the ramifications of technological change, in what Orpen described as their “biggest ever research grant” which would allow what to think about “what a digital world really is and how we want to live in it.”

 The Temple Meads campus will integrate the university more with the wider city, with projects such as the Twilight Temple Quarter which will create a thriving a new area accessible to the public which will be bustling throughout the evening and late-night. A similar approach to businesses will be taken, with partnership spaces being open to both larger firms and SMEs, as well as the wider community.

Sustainability is a key consideration of the university, which was the first university in the country to declare a climate emergency. The campus will be car-free, utilising the nearby rail connection and as well as being the university’s most sustainable campus.

Network Rail are also intrinsically connected to the University’s plans Kristen Durie, Principal Development Manager of Network Rail Property, said: “We now actually have funding for a new eastern entrance which will help our friends at the university create their new campus.”

Network Rail also plan to work on innovation with the university, which will provide mutual benefits.

One new technology Network Rail are using is digital signalling, which is gradually being adopted across the West of England. Digital signalling helps to make better use of current track capacity, as it will enable trains to run closer together whilst remaining safe.

Iestyn Lewis, Chief Executive of Rengen Developments who are a firm actively focused on redeveloping city brownfield sites, expounded on their recent activity in the region: “We have a £150m pipeline currently, and it’s all privately-funded. We’ve just disposed of £60m in assets in Bath and Bristol, mainly student accommodation but also mixed-use.”

The use of joint ventures is key to Rengen’s business model which often involves working with local authorities. A recent project of Rengen’s is the Scala building in Bath, a former cinema which was regenerated in partnership with the Co-Op and Norland College.

First Base’s Project Director Lucinda Mitchell also shared intel into their schemes, and they’re a more recent entrant to the marketplace in Bristol having only recently completed the second round of consultation on their debut project, the Soapworks. The Grade II listed building, formerly occupied by Gardiner Haskins, dates back to the 1860s.

Mitchell expressed First Base’s enthusiasm to paying respect to this heritage: “Schemes should be respectful of heritage in terms of the existing buildings, like the one we are lucky enough to have on the Soapworks suites.” 

For First Base and Mitchell developing locales with a sense of place is paramount, and the Soapworks are no different. Carrying out extensive community consultation has been a vital aspect of this approach, particularly considering the fact that the developer is not yet established in the area.  

Delivering 20% affordable homes, lots for independent traders, space for creative industries, walking and cycle improvements, sustainability and the addition of publicly accessible areas have all been core aspects of the development that originated through these consultations.

Mitchell described how “placemaking for First Base is not just about buildings, it’s about people and delivering benefits and those benefits which will be relevant not just now but in the future.” 

The West of England’s technological success gives the region a key draw to drive development, and these ambitious development plans are keen to seize on that.

 [/emaillocker]