Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone is an enterprise zone in Bristol, England, focused on creative, high-tech and low-carbon industries. Covering an area of 70 hectares (170 acres), it is based around Bristol Temple Meads railway station, which is being redeveloped by Network Rail. It also contains the area around the existing Temple Quay development, and the Silverthorne Lane and Avon Riverside areas. It includes the site of the planned Bristol Arena, [1] and the site of the University of Bristol's Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus.
The creation of the zone was announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the Budget of March 2011, [2] and it was launched in 2012. [1] The zone offers streamlined planning controls and reduced business rates. Rates generated by the zone are channelled to five other areas in the region, [3] designated Enterprise Areas. These are Avonmouth (focusing on manufacturing and distribution), Bath (media and publishing), Emersons Green including Bristol and Bath Science Park, Filton (high-tech) and Weston-super-Mare (business services). Development of the enterprise zone is coordinated by West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, Bristol City Council, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Network Rail. [1]
Network Rail is redeveloping the station, [1] in conjunction with its electrification of the Great Western line which will cut the journey time from Temple Meads to London Paddington station to 80 minutes. [2] Station Approach Road will be turned into a public square and the station's main entrance moved to the north side of the station. [4] In January 2015, the council announced changes to the layout of the roads around the station, with the removal of Temple Circus roundabout and provision of better routes for pedestrians and cyclists. [5]
Across Station Approach from the station, [2] the Temple Gate redevelopment by TCN UK is a creative and digital campus for small and medium-sized enterprises. Redeveloped buildings include Bristol and Exeter House and Temple Studios. The latter opened in 2013. [1]
Engine Shed is a new use for part of the Old Station, Brunel's original building, in partnership with the University of Bristol. [1] Opened in December 2013, [6] it hosts business incubators, including SETsquared and WebStart Bristol, which support a cluster of hi-tech startup companies. [7] Engine Shed leases its office space to the incubators, who in turn sub-let space on more flexible terms to the companies, which are selected for their high growth potential, and high expected benefits for the regional economy. [6] In December 2015, with the building fully occupied, additional space was made available in the form of Boxworks, which was rapidly constructed by ForwardSpace next to Engine Shed using 20 shipping containers. This was intended to be a temporary solution until an Engine Shed 2 is built. [8] Public consultation for Engine Shed 2 took place in November 2016. [9]
In November 2016, the University of Bristol announced that it will build a £300 million Temple Quarter Campus for c. 5,000 students, directly to the east of the station. It will replace an empty sorting office building, formerly operated by Royal Mail but derelict since 1997. The campus, which will include a new business school, digital research facilities and a student village, is expected to open in 2021. It will also host Engine Shed 2. [10]
The zone's biggest development site, sometimes known as 'Arena Island', is south of the station and across the River Avon. [11] Formerly occupied by the Bristol Bath Road depot, the site was acquired by the Homes and Communities Agency. [12] In February 2014 Bristol Council agreed the financing of the arena, which including funding provided by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership totals £91 million. [13] The winner of the competition to design the arena, the architectural firm Populous, was announced in March 2015. [14] In the same month, the HCA gave the arena site to Bristol City Council. [15]
In 2013 the HCA agreed to fund an £11 million road bridge over the river, to link Cattle Market Road to the site of the planned arena. [11] Construction of the 63-metre (207 ft) bridge took place from March to September 2015. It has lanes for cars, bicycles and pedestrians. [16] In March 2016, the bridge was named Brock's Bridge, after William Brock (1830–1907), a local builder and entrepreneur. [17]
Temple Quay is an area of mixed-use development on a site to the northwest of the station, [18] where the station's goods yard was formerly located. [19] The development project was initiated in 1989 by Bristol Development Corporation, who originally called it Quay Point. In 1995, the corporation transferred its rights on the site to English Partnerships, and development started in 1998. [18] The developer was Castlemore Securities. [20] By 2002, the development south of Bristol Floating Harbour was largely complete and a new phase was started on the other side of the harbour, called Temple Quay North. [21] Castlemore went into administration in 2009, but development continued in the hands of the administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers. [20]
In 2015, Entrepreneurial Spark, a UK-wide business incubator network, opened a hub on the top floor of the Royal Bank of Scotland's Trinity Quay building in Temple Quay North. [22] Managed by NatWest, the hub provides free space, facilities and guidance for startups. [23]
The Avon Riverside area extends along the A4 Bath Road, and Bristol's so-called 'media mile', as far as the site of Paintworks, an existing mixed-use development by Verve. [24] Phase III of Paintworks will be the development of a 'creative skills hub' for digital and media businesses, in partnership with Creative Skillset. [1]
Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located 118 miles 31 chains away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city and surrounding districts, with a ferry to the city centre. Bristol's other major station, Bristol Parkway, is a more recent station on the northern outskirts of the conurbation. It is the busiest station in South West England.
The University of the West of England is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of higher education in the South West of England.
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of 70 acres. It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out permanently. A tidal by-pass was dug for 2 miles through the fields of Bedminster for the river, known as the "River Avon New Cut", "New Cut", or simply "The Cut". It is often called the Floating Harbour as the water level remains constant and it is not affected by the state of the tide on the river in the Avon Gorge, The New Cut or the natural river southeast of Temple Meads to its source.
The Bristol Harbour Railway was a standard-gauge industrial railway that served the wharves and docks of Bristol, England. The line, which had a network of approximately 5 mi (8.0 km) of track, connected the Floating Harbour to the GWR mainline at Bristol Temple Meads. Freight could be transported directly by waggons to Paddington Station in London. The railway officially closed in 1964.
Spike Island is an inner city and harbour area of the English port city of Bristol, adjoining the city centre. It comprises the strip of land between the Floating Harbour to the north and the tidal New Cut of the River Avon to the south, from the dock entrance to the west to Bathurst Basin in the east. The island forms part of Cabot ward. The area between the Docks and New cut to the east of Bathurst Basin is in the neighbourhoods of Redcliffe and St Philip's Marsh.
Chippenham railway station is on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) in South West England, serving the town of Chippenham, Wiltshire. It is 93 miles 76 chains down the line from the zero point at London Paddington and is situated between Swindon and Bath Spa on the GWML. The Wessex Main Line diverges from the GWML to the southwest of Chippenham and runs to Trowbridge via Melksham.
Bristol is a city in south west England, near the Bristol Channel coast, approximately 106 miles (170 km) west of London. Several factors have influenced the development of its transport network. It is a major centre of employment, retail, culture and higher education, has many historic areas, and has a history of maritime industry. The city has a population of 450,000, with a metropolitan area of 650,000, and lies at the centre of the former County of Avon, which includes many dormitory towns, and has a population of one million.
Bristol Bath Road depot was a railway traction maintenance depot in central Bristol, England, which was in use from 1852 until 1995.
The majority of public transport users in the Bristol Urban Area are transported by bus, although rail has experienced growth and does play an important part, particularly in peak hours.
The Cumberland Basin is the main entrance to the docks of the city of Bristol, England. It separates the areas of Hotwells from the tip of Spike Island.
The Underfall Yard is a historic boatyard on Spike Island serving Bristol Harbour in England.
Thornbury railway station served the town of Thornbury in Gloucestershire. The station was the terminus of a short 7.5-mile (12 km) branch from Yate on the Midland Railway's line between Bristol and Gloucester.
Pill railway station was a railway station on the Portishead Branch Line, 7.8 miles (12.6 km) west of Bristol Temple Meads, serving the village of Pill in North Somerset, England. The station was opened by the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway Company on 18 April 1867. It had two platforms, on either side of a passing loop, with a goods yard and signal box later additions. Services increased until the 1930s, at which point a half-hourly service operated. However the Portishead Branch was recommended for closure by the Beeching report, and the station was closed on 7 September 1964, although the line saw freight traffic until 1981. Regular freight trains through the station began to run again in 2002 when Royal Portbury Dock was connected to the rail network.
MetroWest, formerly known as the Greater Bristol Metro, is a project to improve the rail services in Bristol, England, and the surrounding region. It was first proposed at First Great Western's Stakeholder Event in March 2008. The aim of the project is to develop half-hourly services through central Bristol which will also serve the surrounding West of England region. Transport campaigning groups Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FoSBR) and Transport for Greater Bristol are actively supporting the proposal, as are the three unitary authorities under the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council.
The Centre is a public open space in the central area of Bristol, England, created by covering over the River Frome. The northern end of The Centre, known as Magpie Park, is skirted on its western edge by Colston Avenue; the southern end is a larger paved area bounded by St Augustine's Parade to the west, Broad Quay the east, and St Augustine's Reach to the south, and bisected by the 2016 extension of Baldwin Street. The Centre is managed by Bristol City Council.
YTL Arena Bristol is a proposed 19,000-capacity indoor arena, to be located at the former Filton Airfield’s Brabazon hangar.
MetroBus is a bus rapid transit system in Bristol, England, created as a joint project between Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire councils. The first route, service m3, began operations on 29 May 2018, followed by m2 on 3 September 2018, m1 on 6 January 2019 and m4 on 22 January 2023.
Temple Quay is an area of mixed-use development in central Bristol, England. The project was initiated by Bristol Development Corporation in 1989, under the name Quay Point until 1995. In that year it was handed over to English Partnerships, under whom development eventually started in 1998. It is bounded by Temple Way to the west and Bristol Temple Meads railway station to the southeast; to the northeast the development was bounded by Bristol Floating Harbour until 2002, when development of Temple Quay North started on the harbour's other side. In 2012 the whole area became part of Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone.
The SETsquared Partnership, usually known simply as SETsquared, is a business incubation network run by five universities in Southern England. SETsquared stands for Southern England Technology Triangle. The partnership was formed in 2002, between the University of Bath, the University of Bristol, the University of Southampton and the University of Surrey. The University of Exeter joined the partnership in 2011.
Brock's Bridge is a road bridge in Bristol, UK that crosses the River Avon. It was built to provide road access to a former railway depot that was the original planned site of the Bristol Arena.