A world-leading team of masterplanners and placemaking specialists has been appointed to help develop proposals for the transformation of Bristol Temple Quarter.
Prior + Partners, an integrated masterplanning and planning practice that has worked on high-profile projects across the globe, including the Birmingham Smithfield and Google’s campus in Sunnyvale, California, and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, has been selected to lead the development of a masterplan for Temple Quarter.
Prior + Partners expert team includes specialists from AHMM, Arup, Spacehub and Bristol-based Nudge Studio. Nudge, founded by architect Shankari Raj, will lead a ‘Social Value Taskforce’. Using new and established local connections, this taskforce will ensure genuine social value, including employment and educational opportunities, are baked into the masterplanning process from the start.
Additional practices forming part of the masterplanning team include AHR, Alan Baxter Associates and Newsteer.
The masterplan will build on the high-level principles for change in the Temple Quarter Development Framework, which was endorsed by Bristol City Council’s Cabinet in May 2023. It will explore how connectivity in, out and through Temple Quarter could be improved, while creating a framework for how the future development of the area could come forward.
Alongside the Prior + Partners team, the Temple Quarter partners have appointed The Place Bureau to help define the sort of place Temple Quarter should become. This ‘placemaking’ commission will develop a place strategy that can ensure Temple Quarter becomes somewhere people want to live, work and spend time, while reflecting the best that the city-region has to offer.
The team combines a local presence in Bristol with wider placemaking global expertise. Building on their experience working on placemaking research and major regeneration projects in Bristol and elsewhere, including Old Oak Common in London, Bilbao in Spain, and Bristol’s Western Harbour, The Place Bureau will bring together stakeholders, communities, and decision makers to define what good placemaking means for Bristol.
The commission will build on the five Guiding Principles for change contained within the Temple Quarter Development Framework. 87% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the guiding principles during public consultation in early 2023, but feedback also showed an appetite to ensure change is rooted in Bristol, rather than creating a generic development that doesn’t reflect Bristol’s past, present and future.
Both the masterplanning and placemaking commissions will be based upon extensive public engagement, helping to ensure views from across the city-region are heard and reflected in plans for Temple Quarter as they develop.
Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said:
“Temple Quarter is one of Europe’s biggest urban regeneration projects. We’re aiming to deliver 10,000 new homes, 22,000 new jobs and a range of new public spaces alongside a transformed Temple Meads station. We’re clear, though, that this isn’t simply a housing or infrastructure project. We want to create a sustainable, genuinely mixed-use place that works for the city-region as a place to live, work and spend time. We want Temple Quarter to be easy to get around, reflective of Bristol’s history and future, and an example to the world of what 21st century city regeneration can look like. These two commissions will work hand in hand to help us deliver on these aspirations to create a place that people in Bristol and the West of England can share in the success of.”
Elise Baudon, Director at Prior + Partners, said:
“Bristol Temple Quarter has the potential to become an inclusive and equitable piece of city, and we are dedicated to ensuring we craft design proposals that can unlock the investment and support required to deliver on that ambition. To do this, we have brought together a comprehensive, multi-faceted team, and through a truly collaborative process with the Joint Deliery Team, stakeholders, and community, we’re excited to raise the game for urban regeneration and bring forward a truly transformational place for the people of Bristol and the wider region.”
Rosanna Vitiello, Founder of The Place Bureau, said:
“Bristol is a city with real charisma and character. As the city moves towards the future it’s fundamental that placemaking reflects the evolving identity and continues to create places people love. We are confident that working with local stakeholders, communities and this talented design team will draw on the best of Bristol’s past, harness what’s great about the present and together inspire a brighter future for the city.”
