In just over two years’ time Bristol residents could be crowd-surfing or head-banging as part of a 12,000 capacity audience in the city’s brand new arena.
After decades of waiting, a funding package has been agreed, an operator picked and consultations on the design are about to begin. A planning application is due to be submitted in the summer, but two questions remain. First, what will the surrounding area look like to the crowds arriving? And second, will the plans kick-start wider development in the city’s enterprise zone?
Bristol Arena will be the centrepiece of the 173-acre Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone, which was set up in 2012 offering simplified planning and rates relief to occupiers to encourage development. Despite its status, the regeneration of the under-utilised area around the city’s mainline railway stations has been slow.
“So far the enterprise zone has failed to deliver anything substantial,” says Darren Sheward, head of Lambert Smith Hampton’s Bristol office.
Salmon Harvester Properties’ Glass Wharf office scheme and Verve’s Paintworks phase three have both progressed – the former seeing offices developed, the latter commercial and residential – but both were planned and started before the zone existed.
Development priorities, landbanking and market timing are all cited as reasons for the slow progress. Having come into being in the middle of the recession, there was little appetite from the private sector to get involved in new development projects, even with the incentives offered by EZ status.
Jonathan Orton, founder and director of Bristol-based planning consultancy Origin3, believes that undue priority has been given to commercial development. He says: “There is a reticence towards residential-led mixed-use development due to an employment-first policy put in place some time ago. People would be more interested in the area if they could work on mixed-use schemes.”
Then there is the old Royal Mail sorting office. The derelict, graffiti-daubed building is the first thing visitors see when arriving by train into the city and it has been the case for nearly two decades.
Matt Cross, head of inward investment at Invest Bristol and Bath, says: “Dealing with the sorting office is pivotal for the enterprise zone and the city.”
The building has been owned by Thailand-based firm Kian Gwan since 2008 and has consent for 178,000 sq ft of predominantly office space, but little has happened since. And neither has much happened on the 13 acres across six sites owned by the Homes and Communities Agency in the enterprise zone.
“If you look at the make-up of the sites in the zone, some have been landbanks and with others there have been legacy issues. Most, however, are under HCA control and I have seen very little marketing of those sites,” says Sheward.
With the arena now a reality rather than a pipe dream, this could all be about to change. Its arrival is set to change the composition of the area. Planners are keen to avoid what Orton calls “a white elephant situation”, where the arena zone is empty of people for long periods of time. Developers will consequently be drawn towards mixed-use schemes to ensure the area is always buzzing.
It is something mayor of Bristol George Ferguson is also keen to avoid. He says: “There is huge potential for redevelopment of the area around Temple Meads Station to open up a lost quarter of the city. The arena will unlock development on the rest of Arena Island, which is likely to be a mix of residential and commercial space.”
Progress on the arena has also motivated the council to take action on the Royal Mail sorting office. Ferguson says: “The arena will help bring forward other strategic sites, such as the former sorting office site that has been a scar on the area for over 17 years.”
Last week he announced that the council had made a grant-backed purchase of the site, which is adjacent to the site of the new arena. It means the council now has control of the area around the arena as well as the arena site itself. The plan is now to review how this might form a new quarter within the zone, which will feed into the planning application for the arena.
Development of the wider area around the arena is set to be the second phase of development and will most likely be a mixed-use scheme, although it is unclear what proportion of that will be residential. No doubt the next job will be getting a development partner on board.
The publicity surrounding the arena may help with this. Sheward believes it has helped put the city on the map and points out that there is a weight of money looking for opportunities (see p90). It might even speed the HCA sites to market.
Despite the problems associated with the zone, not everyone has issues with it. Rorie Henderson, development director at Salmon Harvester, has only good things to say. “The zone was definitely a help getting 3 Glass Wharf done, due to simplified planning. It is very important to our occupiers and helps us in attracting more people to the area.”
When the lights go down for the first time at the new arena, the crowd may not have arrived at the venue through a fully developed area, but the regeneration project should be well on its way.
Bristol Arena history
There have been discussions about bringing an arena to Bristol for more than three decades. The city does not have a large concert or events venue, the nearest being the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
The last attempt to develop an arena collapsed in 2007 when costs spiralled and Bristol council and the South West Regional Development Agency pulled their support.
At the time, Ian Knight, area director of the agency, said: “This revealed the costs are higher than anticipated and, combined with changes in the market, have made it too expensive to deliver.”
In the meantime, Leeds has successfully built and opened its own arena, which has attracted some of the biggest names in the music industry.
Jeremy Richards, JLL’s lead director for the South and Wales, says: “We are the last major city to get an arena. This means we can learn from the mistakes of others and deliver it properly and to full effect.”
Championed by mayor George Ferguson, funding has been agreed, an operator found and a designer chosen. Ferguson says: “Designers are drawing up detailed designs for the venue which will be consulted on in June in advance of a planning application being submitted in the summer. Work should start on site in spring 2016 with the aim of opening at the end of 2017.”
