The new plans for the Temple Island site, tentative at this stage, envisage a conference centre, a hotel, housing, offices and retail.
The council is now set to explore the alternative mixed use scheme with Legal & General as potential partner, a company that has previously invested 拢240m in the surrounding Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone area. Developed plans will come back to Cabinet at a later da
Bouygues UK was lined up in 2016 to build the Bristol Arena but failed to agree terms with the council. At that stage the budget was 拢95m and the main construction contract put at nearly 拢80m.
Buckingham Group Contracting was then given a pre-construction services deal but still the plans could not be delivered even for an increased budget of 拢123.5m. In November 2017 KPMG was commissioned to review the project. By January 2018 spending on the project had topped 拢10m, excluding KPMG鈥檚 fees.
The council has now decided to look at alternate plans for the site (illustrated below), a former diesel depot next to Temple Meads station.
Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees said: 鈥淲e need to move forward now and ensure Bristol is fit for the demands of a modern, thriving and well connected city. I am confident an alternative development for Temple Island is at the heart of that vision and will create inclusive economic growth, jobs and homes. Jobs and affordable homes are the key priorities for delivery by my administration and they will come first.
鈥淏y not borrowing the huge sums needed to build the arena, we will also release capital for other exciting city projects.
鈥淚 remain committed to delivering an arena for Bristol and we will continue to work closely with our partners to make sure that we make this a reality.鈥�
Cllr Craig Cheney, deputy mayor for finance, added: 鈥淚t is the council鈥檚 duty to seek the best possible value for public money and the greatest economic benefit for Bristol and this has been central to the decision. We cannot ignore the evidence which shows that a mixed use scheme on Temple Island would bring an extra 拢500m in economic benefit to our city and create three times the number of jobs for the people of Bristol.鈥�
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