Enterprise zone Gleaming new university campus to turbocharge innovation

WITH its gleaming glass frontages the University of Bristol's new Enterprise Campus is changing the look around Temple Meads station - fast. But how did it come about and who exactly is it for.

- Tristan Cork reports

It has a 100m long indoor 'street, a completely circular lecture theatre, striking wide yellow staircases around an open central area, community rooms and labs where it is hoped the next big advance in computer technology will happen.

Welcome to the new Bristol University campus, which is as far from a traditional uni as you can imagine.

The new building is now taking shape the last huge windows were being installed this week, and inside is a hive of activity with workers installing all the interior pipes and wires that will keep the building going, while others were busy laying down the concrete floors.

But what will go on inside the building when it does finally open, and what will the impact be on the university, and the wider city as a whole?

"We first conceived the idea in 2016, but it took until 2023 to work through all of the preparations and the planning," said Prof Judith Squires, the university's deputy vice-chancellor, who is the lead on the new campus project.

"It took a long time to get ourselves into a position where we were comfortable to sign that contract. It was all systems go from that very day when we signed the contract in 2023. It's only been two years to get to this stage, it's been incredibly quick. We are on budget and on schedule to open in September 2027," she added.

In 1997, the Royal Mail's main Bristol sorting office moved from a site to the east of the platforms at Temple Meads station to a new location on the A38 up in Filton. From then and for more than 20 years, the old building fell into disrepair. By the mid-2010s it was considered Bristol's worst eyesore, giving anyone who arrived into the city by train a strikingly dystopian view as their first glimpse.

It was eventually demolished in early 2019, and the space was left empty for more than four years, before work began in 2023 on the university's new 'Enterprise Campus'.