Redevelopment of The Galleries in Bristol set to get green light

The transformation of The Galleries shopping centre site in Bristol - Illustrative view of the redevelopment from Castle Park
-Credit:AHM Architects


The demolition of The Galleries shopping centre and creation of a new part of Bristol city centre in its place looks set to get the go ahead next month.

Councillors will decide on the plans put forward by Bristol developer Deeley Freed next Wednesday - and the council’s planning officers are recommending the ‘hybrid’ application is given permission.

The developers want to completely demolish The Galleries shopping centre and the multi-storey car park next door, and create a new area of the city centre, with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, a hotel, offices and hundreds of new homes and new student accommodation. The current underground area of The Galleries - where Fairfax Street runs underneath the car park, could be transformed into an underground music venue.

ADVERTISEMENT

The scale of the new development is vast - it will be the biggest single change to the city centre since the creation of Broadmead in the early 1960s. The developers said the project would end with another 5,000 additional people living and working in the city centre, with 450 new homes, office space for 3,450 people and a PBSA - purpose-built student accommodation - for up to 750 students.

'Block visuals' showing the extent of the redevelopment of the site of the Galleries shopping centre in Bristol city centre. Another view with more detailed buildings, looking across Castle Park from St Philips Bridge
'Block visuals' showing the extent of the redevelopment of the site of the Galleries shopping centre in Bristol city centre. Another view with more detailed buildings, looking across Castle Park from St Philips Bridge -Credit:NPA Visuals/Deeley Freed/Bristol City Council

Deeley Freed said the scheme would also open up Castle Park to the Broadmead area, and a total of an acre and a half of the footprint will end up being public open space.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-imagine the obsolete shopping centre,” a Deeley Freed spokesperson said. “Our redevelopment would reinvigorate and green the city centre and help Castle Park become the safe, attractive heart of the city it should be.

READ MORE: Galleries demolition plan heralds new city centre for Bristol

ADVERTISEMENT

READ MORE: The radical changes coming to create a new Bristol city centre

“The existing issues at the Galleries cannot be resolved without redevelopment,” he added. “There’s a massive over-supply of retail space. It’s an extremely poor and inefficient use of this key city centre location with an enormous building that blocks the city centre from Castle Park.

“Regeneration will only succeed if more people are brought into the city centre to live and work. Our scheme would bring more than 5,000 people to live and work in Broadmead. There will still be many shops, cafes, bars and restaurants on the ground floor, but with much greater appeal – complementing but not competing with the rest of Broadmead,” he added.

READ MORE: In pictures - what The Galleries redevelopment will look like across Bristol

The application was submitted back in May last year, and has attracted 40 objections from members of the public and more from organisations - many expressing concern at the size of the buildings that are planned, and how the until-now low-level skyline of Bristol city centre will change forever with a number of tall buildings.

But council planning officers will tell councillors that, on balance, the economic boost from a transformed Galleries area, with more people living and working in the city centre, will outweigh the visual impact of the views from across the city.