A new insight into the changing landscape of the city centre is being provided by a property map with analysis called Bristol Development Watch.
It has been launched by the Bristol office of commercial property specialist Colliers International, and features a map showing new development taking place in different areas of the city centre, within the residential, office, hotel and student accommodation sectors.
The map will be published regularly with expert analysis on current and forthcoming development activity from members of the Central Business Group in the Bristol office of Colliers International. The group combines the expertise of the Planning, Investment, Offices and Development teams in an initiative which mirrors the increasingly mixed form of activity in the city.
Christopher Dawson, director of the Development Consulting and Agency team, said: “At a time when central Bristol is undergoing significant changes as a result of development, we felt it was timely to begin monitoring those schemes.
“In doing so we are aiming to build a simple overview picture of the way in which Bristol is being transformed as people come in numbers to live in the city centre for the first time since the post-war push to the suburbs.”
National offices director James Preece added: “This guide will provide an overview as to what these schemes are and where construction is taking place. And, by comparing successive snapshots we aim to present a visual portrayal of the changing face of Bristol’s development activity.
“There are various sites with planning permission in the city centre, but it is useful to gain a snapshot of where actual development is underway and in which sectors.
The first Bristol Development Watch provides a picture of a city centre on the cusp of significant change as a result of a number of major new development schemes that have recently got underway.
There are presently six major new developments in the heart of the city, of which two are residential, two are offices, one is a hotel, and one is student accommodation. They are:
- Finzels Reach – Premier Inn – a 168 bedroom hotel within the Finzels Reach development by Cubex Land and Palmer Capital on the site of the former Courage Brewery;
- Finzels Reach – Aurora – the 95, 531 sq ft latest phase of this mixed use development, consisting of the speculative Aurora office building plus 38 apartments at the Cask Store;
- Print Hall – student accommodation by developer Alaska, totalling 270 beds in three blocks extending to a maximum of 11 storeys on the site of the former Bristol Post print hall at the junction of Old Market and Temple Way;
- 1 Redcliff Street – the addition of an additional storey, comprising 8,888 sq ft of new office space in the landmark office building managed by Aberdeen Asset Management.
- The Milliner’s, Victoria Street– an office-to-residential conversion by developers Headoffice, which will create 109 apartments, consisting of studio and one-bedroom flats aimed at first-time buyers.
- Redcliff Quarter Phase 1 – 128 apartments and three commercial units on a 0.8 acre area of the 2.5 acre site being developed by Change Real Estate.
Christopher Dawson said: “It is interesting to note that development currently taking place involves a number of diverse schemes, and is not dominated by any particular sector.
“Mixed use schemes are very much driving the current new development in Bristol. Another important driver will be the infrastructure work to improve accessibility that is taking place around the city, ranging from the enabling work for the Metro Bus to the recently opened South Bristol link road, the bridge at Finzels Reach and to public realm work around Temple Meads station.”
In the once semi-derelict Redcliff area of the city, construction is underway at Redcliff Quarter Phase 1; The Milliners on Victoria Street; the office block at 1 Redcliff Street, and the nearby mixed-use Finzels Reach scheme.
There will be further phases at Redcliff Quarter and Finzels Reach, which will include a 82m tall tower with 84 flats and a 186-bed hotel in Redcliff Quarter, and the largest build-to-rent residential deal in Bristol at Finzels Reach, consisting of a development of 194 homes by Cubex Land which will be funded by Grainger PLC.
New developments proposed to take place in the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone include a seven storey office called 3 Glass Wharf with 115,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation, and a £300m city campus and student village for Bristol University.