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Author Topic: Bristol: former Royal Mail sorting office building eventually chosen as new University city campus  (Read 42012 times)
Bmblbzzz
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« Reply #60 on: December 02, 2016, 21:48:46 »

Wouldn't some artfully placed explosives be more entertaining?
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Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
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« Reply #61 on: December 13, 2016, 11:17:09 »

Three years is plenty of time for the vandals to reduce it to rubble if they continue their theft and demolition at the current rate.
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simonw
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« Reply #62 on: December 13, 2016, 13:15:22 »

Invite the Grand Tour to demolish the site, would certainly be entertaining.
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Brucey
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« Reply #63 on: December 13, 2016, 18:40:59 »

This is an excellent idea, especially considering the constraints on further expansion around Woodland Road.  Unless things have changed recently, some of the university buildings were in a dire state when I left in 2011, so new developments are much welcomed.

The long distance transport links are also good for the staff.  I know a lot of academics commute some distance for their work.  One of my professors at Bristol lived in Exeter!

However, as someone who previously worked at a university with multiple campuses, travelling between them can be quite frustrating, as something like attending a one hour seminar could easily consume more than three hours of your day when using public transport.  The institute I was working at provided an electric car for this purpose (for staff only).  The concept worked reasonably well, provided it was booked in advance and the previous user had remembered to put it on charge.
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Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #64 on: December 14, 2016, 00:23:26 »

Admin note:

In the interests of clarity and continuity, and for ease of future reference, I've now moved and merged a couple of few topics here, as they all relate to the proposed redevelopment of the old Royal Mail sorting office building at Bristol Temple Meads.  Wink

« Last Edit: December 14, 2016, 01:06:35 by Chris from Nailsea » Logged

William Huskisson MP (Member of Parliament) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #65 on: March 04, 2017, 20:38:36 »

From the Bristol Post:

Quote
Council to earn up to £16million by selling off old sorting office for new Bristol University campus


The sorting office has stood empty for years

Councillors are set to decide on a landmark deal with Bristol University on their new Temple Quarter campus.

As announced by the Bristol Post last year, the university has bid to take over the old Royal Mail sorting office near Temple Meads station.

The building has set derelict for more than a decade, and will be knocked down for the new £300 million campus for 5,000 students.

Bristol City Council's cabinet will meet next Tuesday, to consider the deal.

If agreed, the council will sell off their freehold interest and the remaining land on Arena Island that is not required for the new arena.

The net income for the council from the sale of the land is expected to be between £11million and £16million, once costs for land acquisition, remediation, demolition and other associated costs have been taken into account.


Bristol Arena

The business incubator SetSquared in Engine Shed and the Engine Shed 2 development are also likely to form part of the broader campus.

This new campus is expected to include a business school and a student 'residential village'.

Sitting by Bristol Temple Meads station, it has provided an unwelcoming sight for travellers on trains pulling in to Temple Meads station for a generation.

It has been left empty since the Royal Mail left the site and moved to Filton in 1997. The huge building fell into disrepair, attracting squatters and vandals.

It became the site of a serious accident in 2005, when a 13-year-old boy fell 20ft through a glass roof while playing in the building. He landed on a concrete floor, fracturing his skull, and spent weeks in hospital afterwards.

In 2000, Shepherdess Holdings' sister company Media Office bought the site for £2 million, outbidding the former South West Regional Development Agency, which wanted it for the first Bristol Arena project.


The old sorting office

Five years later, Media Office won planning permission to convert the site into 107 flats, seven studio workspaces, walkways and offices. But that plan never came to fruition and three years later it was bought by Malaysian investors the Kian Gwan Group.

In 2011, there were plans to encourage independent tenants to take leases on the property after the building was given a makeover by the owners - but the project came to nothing.

For years it stood empty, until Bristol City Council, under former Mayor George Ferguson, bought the site for £6million, using a £5.4 million grant from the Government.

The new campus will be "an important anchor" in the regeneration of the area, the council said.


New campus for Bristol University

The business rate income from the university is likely to be lower than from a "purely commercial deal" it added, but said it would give "more certainty" to the development of the other sites.

Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said: "This is an important deal for consideration by cabinet that could see the development of a major new campus for the University of Bristol and the acceleration of development in the Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. The derelict land close to the station has been a blight on the city for too long, and this deal could offer an exceptional opportunity to create a flourishing and inclusive home of digital excellence, innovation, education and industry. It could also bring forward more quickly jobs and opportunities for our citizens from other sites in the area."

If approved, full transfer of the land would take place once demolition of the former sorting office has been completed and Bristol University has received planning permission.


Quote
The building has set derelict for more than a decade ...

Shocking journalism.  Roll Eyes

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William Huskisson MP (Member of Parliament) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
TonyK
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« Reply #66 on: March 06, 2017, 23:03:05 »

Shocking journalism.  Roll Eyes

Nah, not by Bristol Post "standards".  This, remember, is the once-mighty organ that reported last week on Tornado's arrival into Temple Meads station - an event that never happened.
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Now, please!
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« Reply #67 on: June 22, 2017, 15:00:07 »

Some outline plans have appeared on the UoB website:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/university/strategy/implementation/temple-quarter-campus/

Looks interesting!

On a related note a public consultation opened on 19th. Online responses:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TQECUOBweb

[The survey link contains a lot of the plan pictures/artists impressions etc without needing to access the >9MB pdf available via the first link!]
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Red Squirrel
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« Reply #68 on: June 22, 2017, 16:54:04 »

Section 2 of the UoB presentation shows the subway at Temple Meads. Before seeing this I'd not noticed that the subway gets narrower as you progress towards Platform 13/15 - obvious really!

I am disappointed to see that they seem to have rather toned down the opportunity to access Temple Meads from the east. Whilst the plan in Section 5 shows a "Potential link to Bristol Temple Meads" via the subway, the text says:

Quote
The two sites are connected to the existing public transport interchange at Temple Meads Station via the recently upgraded Cattle Market Road and the proposed Harbour Walkway

...which implies that if you want to catch a train, you'll have to walk round the station; rather less convenient. It is also mentioned in Section 7, but again the weasel words 'potential' and 'future' are lurking too close for comfort.

Can't help noticing that the 'public realm' elements of this scheme will get a bit crowded if more than 3 people want to air their handkerchiefs at the same time.

All in all, a bit disappointed. Hey ho.

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