The largest commercial property project in Bristol in the past five years has been given the green light.
Bristol Council has given the go-ahead for a new £35 million office block that will be part of a wider ‘enterprise zone’ near Temple Meads station. The 100,000 sq ft block will be eight-storeys tall and will be known as Two Glass Wharf. The site will also feature a series of shops and restaurants for public use.
Councillors hope that this project will recover the market which has remained stagnant since 2008. The project will be financially backed by both NFU Mutual and Salmon Developments.
Rorie Henderson, a development director at Salmon, said: "The site is ready for delivery and we are now going out to tender. Tenants at Two Glass Wharf will benefit from a first class location in the heart of Bristol, a waterfront setting and all the infrastructure and financial advantages of being located within the enterprise zone. We have acquired three adjacent sites in Temple Quay over the last two years and this is the first phase of our development plans."
The journey to get here has been tough. The office block actually gained planning permission back in November 2007, but the project was halted when the financial crisis hit globally. The original developer Castelmore fell into liquidation and the site was bought by Salmon Harvester Properties from administrators PWC and Lloyds Bank. Ground works for a basement car park have already been finished, whilst a concrete slab, which will be the ground floor of the office block, has also been put in place.
Developers hope to begin work on the site in June, with the building scheduled to be completed in October 2014.