Advancing three huge regeneration schemes, one of England's biggest cities is enjoying unstoppable growth.
Bristol is an urban dynamo. Three regeneration schemes, each worth around half a billion pounds, have transformed parts of the city. The 75-acre Bristol Harbourside residential development is at the old docks, Broadmead is an additional city centre shopping district, and in the suburb of Bedminster disused factories have been converted into chic loft apartments.
St Paul's, Stoke's Croft and Old Market areas are experiencing gradual gentrification too. These improvements are being made as Bristol Airport rolls out a huge expansion plan incorporating new facilities and extra flights with trans-Atlantic connections reinstated. As with other airport expansions, opposition is fierce from campaign groups. Yet the Airport development is driven by this city's ambition.
Bristol, a West Country county of around 585,000 people (about 430,000 of whom live in the city itself), is one of England's wealthiest. Knight Frank, a property consultancy, reported that some 72% of Bristol's population are economically active, the highest proportion in the country. England's second smallest ceremonial county at 110 sq km, Bristol gained county status in 1373. It was severely damaged by the Luftwaffe during the Bristol Blitz 1940-1 when 89,000 buildings including nearly 82,000 homes were damaged, 3,000 of which were demolished, and 1,300 lives lost. Dreadful tower blocks and brutalist architecture dominated the Bristolscape after WWII, but the city's recent revitalisation has included the restoration of Georgian period Queen Square.
This prosperous city his home to AXA and Bristol & West and numerous other businesses operating within a financial services sector employing c. 60,000 people. The Port of Bristol is one of England's busiest, now being the main entry point into England for imported cars. Hewlett Packard laboratories, Oracle and around twenty software and information technology companies spearhead the growth of the local knowledge economy. Manufacturing and engineering industries, in particular aerospace, are big here. BAe Systems, Imperial Tobacco and Du Pont are amongst some thirty five businesses in these sectors with operations in Bristol.
Interestingly, tourism is growing, as Bristol is the seventh largest tourist city in the UK attracting over nine million foreign visitors a year. Landmarks include Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge over the Avon Gorge. Banksy's graffiti art adorns Frogmore Street. The city hosts cultural events and festivals, and there's an active theatre scene.
This was named the UK's first cycling city and a comprehensive network of urban cycle routes has developed. Sustrans, a sustainable transport charity and creator of the National Cycle Network, is based here. Bristol is regarded as England's most sustainable city by a measurement of quality of life, evironmental performance, recycling, biodiversity, future-proofing and its success in addressing climate change.
So, when you read about the demise of upmarket niche carmaker Bristol Cars, recently put into Administration, bear in mind there are other, mre positive, stories to relate. I'd guess the place is more accustomed to winning regional and national awards for industry, commerce or, as happened recently, teenage film-making.
There is startlingly positive change occurring in Bristol, re-inventing itself as one of the country's chief economic dynamos.
Interestingly, tourism is growing, as Bristol is the seventh largest tourist city in the UK attracting over nine million foreign visitors a year. Landmarks include Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge over the Avon Gorge. Banksy's graffiti art adorns Frogmore Street. The city hosts cultural events and festivals, and there's an active theatre scene.
This was named the UK's first cycling city and a comprehensive network of urban cycle routes has developed. Sustrans, a sustainable transport charity and creator of the National Cycle Network, is based here. Bristol is regarded as England's most sustainable city by a measurement of quality of life, evironmental performance, recycling, biodiversity, future-proofing and its success in addressing climate change.
So, when you read about the demise of upmarket niche carmaker Bristol Cars, recently put into Administration, bear in mind there are other, mre positive, stories to relate. I'd guess the place is more accustomed to winning regional and national awards for industry, commerce or, as happened recently, teenage film-making.
There is startlingly positive change occurring in Bristol, re-inventing itself as one of the country's chief economic dynamos.
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