How new £500m campus could help city's start-ups
BBCA £500m university campus could bring in a wave of start-up entrepreneurship to Bristol, its bosses are hoping.
The University of Bristol's Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus is being built next to Temple Meads railway station and is due to open in September.
As well as being a base for 4,600 students and 650 members of staff, the site will be home to the new Bristol Innovations Zone, which the university says has been designed to provide start-ups with the support they need to thrive.
"It really says to the outside world that finally, after 180 years, Temple Meads is at the centre of the city," said Matt Griffith, Business West's director of policy.
The 38,000-sq m (409,028 sq ft) building is on the site of the former Royal Mail sorting office.
The Bristol Innovation Zone (BIZ) will have space for 300 enterprise partners and provide them with specialist labs, state-of-the-art equipment and support to grow, the university said.
Business students, digital engineering students and researchers studying deep tech topics such as AI will also be located in the building.
Marty Reid, director of innovation for the university, said: "Over the last few years there has been a huge growth of innovative companies and industry in Bristol.
"Companies working in science and technology that could make a real difference in the world but also create new jobs and growth in the city."
He said businesses often left the city due a to lack of space but he hoped the new building would encourage them to stay.
The project is part of the wider regeneration of Bristol Temple Quarter, which developers say will create 22,000 jobs and provide an estimated £1.6bn annual boost to the regional economy.
Griffith, from Business West, said the key to the success of BIZ would be making sure the city as a whole capitalised on the potential benefits.
"Bristol as a city hasn't provided enough workspace, enough labs, enough offices so a lot of those high-value companies - which we all need to pay our tax base, to create new jobs - haven't been able to fully grow in Bristol.
"That's the challenge of the next phase as a city - are we providing that type of facility? Investment from Bristol University is incredible but we need to make the most of it," he added.
Professor Judith Squires, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Bristol, said the project was on time and budget and would create a "new heart" for the university.
"This site is special because it's in the heart of Bristol Temple Quarter - one of the UK's largest regeneration zones - and we felt this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the university to really drive that innovation and urban regeneration," she said.
Members of the public will be able to use the ground floor of the building, with spaces designed for people to work collaboratively on issues that affect the city.
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