Bristol and Bath Science Park
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Bristol and Bath Science Park (BBSP) is a science park in Emersons Green,
South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming ...
, England, north-east of
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and north-west of Bath. It cost £300 million to build and is expected to employ about 6,000 when fully developed. The park was opened on 26 September 2011, 25 years after it was originally proposed. The site covers 59 acres, half of which were developed by 2013; the whole site is expected to be complete by 2033. The main building comprises the Forum, which includes a reception area and two areas for businesses: the Innovation Centre for emerging businesses and the Grow On Centre for expanded businesses. The park's largest tenant is the National Composites Centre.


History

First proposed in 1986, the Bristol and Bath Science Park was officially opened on 26 September 2011. The park's development was a collaboration of universities, the
South West of England Regional Development Agency The South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) was one of the nine Regional Development Agencies set up by the United Kingdom government in 1999. Its purpose was to lead the development of a sustainable economy in South West Engla ...
and Quantum Property Partnership. It cost £300 million to build, and was intended to draw technology firms to the South West, giving them a space to develop technical designs for production. The site covers 59 acres, and is expected to employ 6,000. By 2013, 29 acres of the site had been developed, leaving a wide open common where children come to
skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarder ...
and play frisbee. The original intention was to create a building every year in the hope that more businesses would move in, but this was suspended after two years due to a
recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
. The remainder of the site is expected to take between 15 and 20 years to develop. The main building includes the "Forum", which comprises the reception area, meeting spaces and restaurants. It also includes the "Innovation Centre" for new business, and the "Grow On Centre" for subsequent expansion. The ground floor of the Innovation Centre was full by November 2012, and the second floor was half full by February 2013. By 2016, 40 companies were based at the site. The park's largest tenant is the National Composites Centre, a
carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
research centre opened by
Vince Cable Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet as ...
in November 2011, which is part of the government's High Value Manufacturing Catapult initiative. The centre was granted £28 million of government funding in 2012 and a further £65.4m in 2018. In September 2018, the
University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
and
South Gloucestershire Council South Gloucestershire Council is the local authority of South Gloucestershire, England, covering an area to the north of the city of Bristol. As a unitary authority it has the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. I ...
jointly purchased the park from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The purchase price was reported to be £18 million. In January 2019, a major expansion of the National Composites Centre, under the
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...
Wing of Tomorrow programme, was agreed upon.


Green energy

The park's first two buildings have 200 square metres of solar panels, which aimed to provide between 10 and 15% of the building's energy requirements. The park also includes a
solar water heating Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for residential a ...
system and a woodchip biomass boiler. The Forum building houses the world's largest solar-powered chandelier, designed by
Luke Jerram Luke Jerram (born 1974) is a British installation artist. He creates sculptures, large installations, and live arts projects. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, B ...
.


References


External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in South Gloucestershire District Companies based in Gloucestershire Science parks in the United Kingdom University of Bath