Random Stuff!

[TheLocalYokel]

Those high buildings

More evidence that Bristol does not like very high buildings. The university has agreed to reduce the height of the tallest building by four storeys in a revised planning application for a new campus in the Temple Quarter.

New picture shows what Bristol University's new £300million campus next to Temple Meads would look like

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/new-picture-shows-what-bristol-1748289

 

[tpm]

I was always a bit sceptical about that one, seeing how close it is to Temple Meads and considering what happened to The Eye. I was told it wouldn't be a problem because it's not directly within the line of sight towards the station and station approach. Not sure the new revision is much better though. The new building is much bulkier and I fail to see how that distracts less from the station than the previous version, but I guess I'm not an architect or civic society member.

Bristol has been opposed to high buildings in the past. Which may not have been a bad thing. The new mayor is trying to change that though by changing the local policy for tall buildings, but we'll see what becomes of that (a consultation showed that residents/citizens tend to prefer medium-rise buildings to high rises).

Some speculative images from BDP's recent masterplan for St Philip's Marsh, south of the feeder, and Silverthorne Lane:

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think that Bristol's hilly townscape makes it less receptive to very high buildings generally. It depends on the building to an extent though. The current highest structure, the spire of St Mary Redcliffe, probably adds to the church's beauty (for many centuries the church had no spire of course) without in any way detracting from the surrounding area, in the opinion of most people, at least those people who take a view on it. Whether the same could be said for a 'modern' structure in the same position at a similar height is debatable and probably unlikely.

I've been following the Birmingham thread in recent months and pictures of the many new developments there depict (in my eyes anyway) impressive structures that seem to fit well with their surroundings despite their height (much higher than any current conventional Bristol building). Whether they would work in Bristol is something I'm not so sure about.

I was in Berlin a few years ago and the new and the old seemed to complement each other very well. I'm certainly not against new bulldings per se, and would particularly welcome something adventurous. I was very disappointed when the Millennium lottery funding was withdrawn from the 'exploding greenhouse' art centre proposed for the Harbourside along St Augustine's Reach.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

St Paul's Carnival

Bristol is known for its abundance of festivals and events each summer from comedy weeks to celebrations of Shakespeare to various 'foodie' gatherings, the Bristol Pride weekend, and this year Gromit2 trail will be around the city and its hinterland boasting specially made and decorated statues of characters created by the Bristol-based Aardman studios. Previous trails have featured Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, and the first one saw numerous gorilla statues dotted around the city. In the autumn the statues are auctioned off and in the past have raised several million pounds for Bristol's Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

However, one of the three major summer events, the St Paul's Carnival which attracts 100,000 people to the eponymous inner city suburb, has been missing for the past three summers because of difficulties with funding and disputes over who and how it should be organised and managed. Tomorrow it is back with funding from Arts Council England and the city council (somewhat controversially given the city's dire budget problems) right on cue to celebrate the fiftieth anniversay of the first carnival in 1968.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/st-pauls-carnival-2018-not-1742322

Later this month will see the second of the 'Big Three', the Harbour Festival, which is just three years younger than the St Paul's Carnival, and with good weather can attract 300,000 people to the city's Harbourside if past experience is a guide.

In the first part of August the third of main events, Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, will take place over four days and with good weather sees around half a million visitors. It's the biggest event of its kind in Europe and this year is celebrating its fortieth anniversary. These events are very important to Bristol's tourism industry and it looks as though St Paul's will kick off with the first of the biggies in superb weather, although the attraction of another event where kicks are also extremely important might take some of the visitors' eyes slightly off the St Paul's ball for a couple of hours tomorrow.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Those high buildings

More evidence that Bristol does not like very high buildings. The university has agreed to reduce the height of the tallest building by four storeys in a revised planning application for a new campus in the Temple Quarter.

New picture shows what Bristol University's new £300million campus next to Temple Meads would look like

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/new-picture-shows-what-bristol-1748289

I was always a bit sceptical about that one, seeing how close it is to Temple Meads and considering what happened to The Eye. I was told it wouldn't be a problem because it's not directly within the line of sight towards the station and station approach. Not sure the new revision is much better though. The new building is much bulkier and I fail to see how that distracts less from the station than the previous version, but I guess I'm not an architect or civic society member.

Bristol has been opposed to high buildings in the past. Which may not have been a bad thing. The new mayor is trying to change that though by changing the local policy for tall buildings, but we'll see what becomes of that (a consultation showed that residents/citizens tend to prefer medium-rise buildings to high rises).

Some speculative images from BDP's recent masterplan for St Philip's Marsh, south of the feeder, and Silverthorne Lane:

The city council's planning committee has unanimously approved outline planning consent for the new £300 million Bristol University campus for 3,000 mainly post-graduate students in the Temple Quarter next to Temple Meads.

The entire scheme is due for completion by the start of the 2021 academic year. If this was a city council project I would say there would be no chance whatsoever of meeting that date, but the university seems to get on with things as evidenced by the many new and redeveloped buildings in the 'University Quarter' proper in the area surrounded by Queens Road, Kingsdown and Cotham.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/...d-bristol-universitys-300million-city-1776111

 

[tpm]

Good riddance to the delapidated sorting office building, can't wait to see it gone!

The more interesting question for me is what's happening with the Temple Meads redevelopment master plan? Esp. the more ambitious bits like a new entrance on the sorting office side, and opening up the tunnels underneath the station and such. Last I heard, financing for this was still being sought (£300m or so altogether, was it?) Reinstating the platforms in the original shed for the direct fast trains to London is apparently still on the agenda but depends on the old signalling building going away as I understand it.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Good riddance to the delapidated sorting office building, can't wait to see it gone!

The more interesting question for me is what's happening with the Temple Meads redevelopment master plan? Esp. the more ambitious bits like a new entrance on the sorting office side, and opening up the tunnels underneath the station and such. Last I heard, financing for this was still being sought (£300m or so altogether, was it?) Reinstating the platforms in the original shed for the direct fast trains to London is apparently still on the agenda but depends on the old signalling building going away as I understand it.

Yes, like so many things in Bristol the revamp of Temple Meads is dragging on. Because of the station's listed status there are additional problems but the real sticking point seems to be Network Rail's lack of cash for the project.

Using Brunel's original station for the London trains would present some interesting operational manoeuvres given that the trains to the Midlands, North and Scotland would have to cut across the London train paths and vice versa as they left and arrived at TM.

When the old station was operational until the 1960s it was used exclusively by trains from/to the Midlands and North (I remember vividly the Jubilee-class locomotives), trains to/from Bath Green Park via Mangotsfield and to/from the Avonmouth line. The London trains operated mainly from platform 9, now platform 3, or platforms further to the east meaning they didn't get in the way of trains to/from the Midlands etc which used either Ashley Hill and Filton or the old Midland line via Fishponds.

 

[tpm]

Not sure if the paths would really be a problem. I believe the fast trains to London will go via Parkway, not Bath. In any case I'm sure the engineers will figure something out.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Not sure if the paths would really be a problem. I believe the fast trains to London will go via Parkway, not Bath. In any case I'm sure the engineers will figure something out.

I thought the original plan was for four an hour, with two via Bath and two via Parkway. If that is the case Parkway will have the South Wales trains to/from London as well, unless the plan is to run them non-stop through the station which would then lose connectivity between South Wales and the important North Bristol Fringe. I know when first mooted some former rail signalling managers questioned the 'scissors' crossing in the local press.

 

[superking]

Been reading local paper to Weston today. In 1968 police were asked to pay attention to lorries passing through Wrington from Portishead to the airport with fly ash from the power station. The fly ash was used for the run way extension. A pity they never levelled out the runway tump and in hindsight put winters lane in a tunnel. That way the runway could have had extra length put on it instead of stopping where they did.

 

[superking]

I see work starting on a new motorway junction today. The junction will be on the M49 on to the severn beach ind estate. In a round about way it will take a lot of traffic away from Avonmouth which will make it a lot easier for traffic to airport. The junction will take about 18 months to complete.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I see work starting on a new motorway junction today. The junction will be on the M49 on to the severn beach ind estate. In a round about way it will take a lot of traffic away from Avonmouth which will make it a lot easier for traffic to airport. The junction will take about 18 months to complete.

Its primary reason is to open up more of the huge Severnside brown field site to development. I don't know whether you've been to Severnside recently but the scale of the development and the room for much more is staggering. Already there are huge distribution and warehouse parks in that area such as Central Park where the likes of Tesco, Amazon, Next, DHL, The Range have very large distribution centres. Nearer Avonmouth there are other distribution and warehouse parks involving such household names as Asda; the largest wine warehouse in Europe is also situated there. There is still tremendous scope for further development hence the new motorway junction that should have been started several months ago.

At present lorries accessing the area normally leave or enter the motorway system at the junction of the M5 and M49 at Avonmouht. They then have to use St Andrews Road to reach the various parts of Severnside. I was there one weekday in early afternoon a couple of years ago and I counted over 100 heavy lorries using St Andrews Road in fifteen minutes which is around 400 per hour. The new junction will remove the need for many of these lorries to use St Andrews Road.

The Severnside facility is adjacent to the Bristol Port complex and within reach of both BRS and CWL, although I don't know how much if any freight is brought in or out by air. If there is a significant amount CWL would seem to be better placed than BRS given the latter's apparent lack of interest in freight.

 

[superking]

That new junction should have been built before Tesco moved there. That was 1 of the stipuations for Tesco to set up there. ICI own the ground round there,that was a shrewd buy years ago. I must say all round the Avonmouth area and Portbury is booming like the docks,and must add the airport into the mix as well.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

That new junction should have been built before Tesco moved there. That was 1 of the stipuations for Tesco to set up there. ICI own the ground round there,that was a shrewd buy years ago. I must say all round the Avonmouth area and Portbury is booming like the docks,and must add the airport into the mix as well.

Bristol Port Company has transformed the Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Docks in the past quarter of a century since they obtained a 150-year lease from the city council to operate them. Prior to that they were loss-making and a drain on the city rate payers.

The same applied to the airport in the 60s and 70s when it was owned by the city council, to the extent that its losses led some councillors and others to suggest seriously that the airport ought to be closed. The council did one thing right in the early 80s by appointing Les Wilson as MD. He began the turnaround of the airport into the profitable venture it is today. Even then there were elements in the city council who weren't keen to let it go and initially (in 1997) the council kept a 49% share when they sold the rest to First Group which enabled the new terminal and other infrastructure to be built. Good sense finally prevailed four years later when the entire airport was sold into the private sector (Macquarie and Cintra [Ferrovial] at that time).

I dread to think what state the airport and docks would be in now if the city council had retained ownership and control. They had limited means to provide the immense investment needed, especially at the airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Temple Meads

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/how-council-make-bristol-temple-1823536

Some small movement on the much needed revamp with a modest amount of money (up to £2 million) being provided by the West of England Combined Authority in conjunction with the city council, Homes England and Netwok Rail and a consortium of architects to creat a master plan for the station's future. The sums being mentioned, including £40 million from Network Rail to restore the station roof, looks like chicken feed when one considers the amounts spent on other stations. £100 milion was once mentioned for Temple Meads and even that didn't seem a lot. The station is usually accepted as one of the three great provincial stations of England from an architectural standpoint along with Newcastle and York.

The university campus at least looks as though it will go ahead pretty smartly (fortunately the city council is not driving that) with the Temple Quay developments picking up pace again. The main Temple Quay development on the site of the old goods yard has long been an apparent success. Temple Quay 2 along the Avon Street and surrounding streets area began well over a decade ago with office blocks, a hotel and residential accommodation but there was then a lull for a number of years before the government sparked things into life again with the HMRC regional HQ which is well on the way to completion. In recent weeks I've noticed the huge empty tracts of land on the western end of Avon Street are now under development by the likes of Kier and Galliford Try.

Temple Gate is an eyesore. The council bought the block on the western side that includes the Holiday Inn Express but what they intend ultimately to do with it is anyone's guess. I doubt that they know themselves. It might not look pretty but at least it contains a number of businesses at present. Far more problematic is the future of the derelict hotels (Grosvenor and George & Railway) that have lain empty for 20 years or more.

An Ian Botham-throw away from Temple Gate is the redeveloping Redcliffe Quarter, another large mixed use site, that already has the first three residential blocks nearing completion. When finished that should be an excellent new quarter for the city and cheek by jowl with Temple Meads too.

If the rest of the Temple Quarter really can push on in future years it will create a series of new quarters to the east of the city centre along with Redcliffe Quarter and the impressive Finzels Reach with its mixed use site nearing completion. Mayor Rees talks about the next area to the east of Temple Meads (St Phillips Marsh) becoming the site of one of the biggest regeneration areas in Europe.

There is no doubt that the Harbourside is now the fous for much of Bristol's leisure and business communities. The three mile stretch from Temple Meads to Hotwells is already lined with offices, hotels, residential accommodation, museums and leisure activities. The only remaining gap at the western end (the rest of the former gas works complex) is now well on the way to seeing more apartments filling the site, and further east across the water Wapping Wharf 2 promises a continuation of Wapping Wharf 1 with its numerous eateries and residential accommodation. I understand the new hotel to be built on the site will be a Radisson Red to complement the existing Radisson Blu at Broad Quay.

There are still too many large undeveloped sites in the central areas but if the city council can shake off its notorious lethargy and get on with things instead of just talking, the already promising new cityscape could be something to behold in a decade or so.

 

[tpm]

Far more problematic is the future of the derelict hotels (Grosvenor and George & Railway) that have lain empty for 20 years or more.

Not sure if it's really problematic. Engine Shed 2 has detailed planning permission already. I think the council have authorisation to go ahead with a compulsory purchase for the missing parts of the island if needed, but I might be making this up.

I'm also sure I've seen fairly detailed plans for two office blocks on the Grosvenor site and the new freed-up space north of Portwall Lane, but can't find them any more right now.

Mayor Rees talks about the next area to the east of Temple Meads (St Phillips Marsh) becoming the site of one of the biggest regeneration areas in Europe.

One of the 500 biggest in Europe, no doubt 😆

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Not sure if it's really problematic. Engine Shed 2 has detailed planning permission already. I think the council have authorisation to go ahead with a compulsory purchase for the missing parts of the island if needed, but I might be making this up.

I'm also sure I've seen fairly detailed plans for two office blocks on the Grosvenor site and the new freed-up space north of Portwall Lane, but can't find them any more right now.

I meant problematical from the city council's perspective. As you say, in recent months there has been another application to develop the site, one of several over the past 20 years, but the council planning committee always seems to find reasons to reject the applications.

They might well have had sound cases for rejection on each occasion but with the city council's long-held reputation for being a 'can't-do' rather than a 'can-do' authority there is always the suspicion in many people's minds that the 'derelict hotel area' is another manifestation. Last year Mayor Rees admitted in an interview on Radio Bristol that the government views Bristol in this light. How much this was a dig at his predecessor I don't know but he certainly said it because I heard him. With his continual prevarication over the arena he seems to have fitted into the pattern effortlessly himself.

Back to the derelict hotels, it will be a supreme irony if planning consent is given. It will inevitably lead to a need for occupation of parts of the adjacent roads by the contractors, coming as it would after two and a half years of traffic disruption at that location in connection with the re-modelling of the major road junction - that work will not now finish until autumn 2019 instead of autumn 2018.

 

[tpm]

Apologies if I phrased that badly. If you look at the article I linked it says

Yesterday, Wednesday 8th November 2017, Bristol City Council’s planning committee unanimously declined to take the planning officer’s recommendation and push forward the plans from developer, Skanska, for Bristol’s derelict George and Railway pub to become Engine Shed 2.

so planning permission has already been granted.

My impression is that in general on the big sites it's not really been the council that's holding things up, but developers or maybe lack of financing. For example not much seems to have happened on the the Redcliffe Quarter site for ages apart from the phase 1 apartment blocks (but I haven't been there very recently, so maybe something changed), even though they said they needed planning permission super-urgently because otherwise the hotel deal they had for that site would fall through. And don't think Wapping Wharf 2 was held up by the council either? Same with the Bank Place / The Assembly and lots of other sites. Bristol is just not London, it seems developers generally won't build offices speculatively here.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Apologies if I phrased that badly. If you look at the article I linked it says



so planning permission has already been granted.

My impression is that in general on the big sites it's not really been the council that's holding things up, but developers or maybe lack of financing. For example not much seems to have happened on the the Redcliffe Quarter site for ages apart from the phase 1 apartment blocks (but I haven't been there very recently, so maybe something changed), even though they said they needed planning permission super-urgently because otherwise the hotel deal they had for that site would fall through. And don't think Wapping Wharf 2 was held up by the council either? Same with the Bank Place / The Assembly and lots of other sites. Bristol is just not London, it seems developers generally won't build offices speculatively here.

I agree that commercial development is in the hand of the developers and not many might want to take a speculative punt on Bristol. Slightly surprising if true given the city’s status as one of the most economically vibrant and successful city regions in the country. The relative proximity to London should also be a plus point. The only current speculative office development that I’m aware of is in part of the almost-finished Finzels Reach complex. The office development there is nearly complete with signs saying two of the floors are let to named clients with offers on two more. Being Bristol, it’s not a skyscraper which in many ways I approve.

Over the past 20 years or so numerous office blocks have been transformed into grade A office accommodation or residential/student/ hotels. Others have been demolished to rise again usually for one of these purposes. The process of conversion continues - it’s doubtless more cost-effective than building from scratch - with for example part of the block on Colston Avenue East (St Stephens House) currently being transformed into a headquarters office for an unnamed client.

I’m sure you are aware of all this but others might not be.

The three residential blocks in the Redcliffe Quarter appear to be finished or almost so but they don’t seem to be occupied as yet. They only take up about 15-20% of the site, the northern part, and this week there was activity on part of the southern area with what appeared to be initial groundworks taking place. However, there are huge piles of rubble that must be disposed of first I would imagine.

The fact that Bristol has been developed so much over the past quarter of a century obviously gives the lie to the city council always being slow or obstructive but they seem to be particularly lethargic at times when it comes to empty sites or derelict buildings in the central area.

Currently they’ve stopped previously agreed development of the former ambulance station near Castle Park because the developer proposes less social housing/affordable homes than the council wants. Another developer wants to build students flats where the old BRI building stands near the junction of Upper and Lower Maudlin Streets but the council doesn’t like it. The last I heard the minister will have to decide.

The long drawn-out sagas of Bristol North Baths and Westmoreland House in Stokes Croft - complicated legal wrangles at both with the first halted for a long time part way through construction - never seemed to paint the council in a positive light, albeit its powers were admittedly limited.

I’m not having a pop at the current administration per se. Previous administrations have not shown themselves in a good light with such things as the tram wrangle when the Labour Westminster government withdrew a grant for a tram line from the centre to the northern fringe because Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council could not agree on the location for the northern terminus. The arena has stretched over many administrations with the original completion date set for 2008 then 2009. The Metrobus fiasco is not the fault of the city council in entirety - other public and private bodies have to take their share of the blame - but it’s another negative mark against Bristol.

I could not believe that the city council formally objected to the expansion of Bristol Airport when the application was made to North Somerset Council planners in 2010/2011 - the now defunct South West Regional Development Agency did the same. I wrote to the then leader of the city council, the Lib-Dem Barbara Janke, now Baroness Janke, asking her what the council was playing at. To her credit she sent me a letter in reply - whether she wrote it I don’t know but she did sign it - saying that she had a duty of care to Bristol citizens who might be adversely affected by the noise of aircraft. The fact that the airport is a major jobs provider for the city region and a driver of the local economy seemed to have passed by Cllr Janke and her council.

I could go on but this is just a taste as to why I have little confidence in the city council being outstandingly proactive when the chips are really down in something like planning, and I wonder how much this message goes out to potential investors and developers in the city.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

tpm

We've obviously under-estimated Bristol - well, I have anyway.

This an impressive list although I think much of it is in spite of the local authority, this administration and previous ones, not because of it.

http://www.engine-shed.co.uk/west-of-england-the-best-bits/