Bristol and Bath City region: A leading South West location

The City region races ahead with new exciting developments and continues to provide opportunities for businesses seeking a high quality strategic location. This successful and vibrant area has particular strengths in aerospace and advanced engineering, ICT and silicon design, and environmental technologies. The City region is also home to the largest UK creative industries cluster outside London – the latest phase of the Paintworks development, Bristol’s Creative Quarter, is already fully let and despite current market trends has recently achieved a record rent within the site.

The recent opening of the £500m Cabot Circus development has contributed to a significant boost to the Bristol economy delivering more than 3,000 new retail, leisure and hospitality jobs and transforming the area into one of the best shopping locations in the UK. The Cabot Circus scheme sits alongside other major regeneration projects that continue the reshaping of Bristol city centre. Works on Bridgewater House, the 110,500sq ft office building at the heart of the Finzels Reach complex, have started and, when completed, it will be one of the centrepieces of this vibrant new city quarter offering retail and leisure facilities, public spaces and high quality office premises.

A total of 66 percent of new office space currently under construction in the city centre is already pre-let. Work to complete Temple Quay Central is progressing and includes the 160,000sq ft waterfront premises for the headquarters of local law firm Burges Salmon; 2009 will also be marked by completion of the new headquarters for stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown on Bristol’s Harbourside.

With its high level of economic success in the knowledge based industries, the Bristol and Bath Science Park (SPark) will provide a vitally important new resource for supporting innovation and knowledge exchange. Acting as a major hub for science and technology, SPark will create around 6,000 highly-skilled jobs when fully developed and will include an innovation centre together with flexible, sustainable buildings designed to meet the needs of fast-evolving enterprises.

The out of town market and suburban locations are also benefiting from investors seeking value for money. Portishead, an attractive coastal town located just 10 miles from Bristol, is continually expanding with the take-up of major new office and housing developments. Marine View Office Park is at the heart of the new Portishead Marina development and while phase one has been completed, providing over 30,000sq ft of high quality office space, pre-let opportunities are also available with capacity to accommodate up to 65,000sq ft.
A short drive south, Weston Gateway will provide bespoke office accommodation within seconds of junction 21 of the M5. A significant proportion of the site has planning permission and offers up to 390,000sq ft of individual architecturally designed or campus style office park opportunities.

Bath Western Riverside lies just outside the city’s historic Georgian centre and is being designed to complement the magnificent existing architectural landmarks. At 18 hectares, one of the largest Brownfield regeneration projects in the South West, Bath Western Riverside is expected to deliver high quality, mixed-use developments including new homes, business space, and community and leisure facilities.

Meanwhile, the £360m SouthGate development is well underway and will create new retail, residential and leisure areas right in the heart of Bath, together with a new state-of-the-art transport interchange.

For more information:
For details of support available to relocating companies contact:
Invest West, West of England Partnership
Tel: +44(0)117 903 6863
E-mail: investwest@westofengland.org
Or visit our website and interactive property search facility at: investwest.org