Bristol is a regional city in the west of England, located 120 miles (193 km) west of London. It is the largest city in the southwest of England, with a gross value added (GVA) of c. £15 billion (€17.4 billion). The city played an important role in England's maritime trade in tobacco, wine, cotton, and more. From the late 1600s to the early 1800s, Bristol was heavily involved in the slave trade. In the 1960s and 1970s the British Concorde supersonic airliner was designed, built, and tested in Bristol, with all British maiden flights from Filton Airfield just north of the city. More recently, in addition to aerospace, the city has been building a strong presence in the science, quantum, deep tech, robotics, and cyber security fields.
The city has a population of c. 480,000 and has been the second fastest growing of the “Core Cities” in England and Wales over the period 2012 to 2022. The city offers a sizeable talent pool including 43,700 full-time students comprising 9.2 per cent of the population with two prominent universities. The University of Bristol (a Russell Group university) has over 27,000 students and is ranked 81 in the Times Higher Education Rankings 2024; the University of West England (UWE) has over 38,000 full and part time students.
The University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust (UHBW) has a combined workforce of over 13,000 staff and delivers over 100 different clinical services across 10 different sites serving a core population of more than 500,000 people. Hospital and specialist services include Bristol Eye Hospital, Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre, Bristol Heart Institute Clinical Services, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol Royal Infirmary, St Michael’s Hospital, and University of Bristol Dental Hospital.
There are regular rail services to London Paddington station, with the quickest journey time being just over 1.5 hours. Road access to London is via the M4 motorway with a journey time to central London of 2 hours and 45 minutes. Bristol Airport offers over 100 direct flight destinations to a host of European destinations in 53 countries and is located 8.5 miles (13.5 km) southwest of the city centre – a 20-minute drive or 30 minutes on public transport.
Bristol and Bath Science Park
The Bristol & Bath Science Park is a hub for the region’s many science and technology businesses, connecting entrepreneurs, fledgling businesses, and established brands with vital investors, academia, and design. It provides a professional and supportive environment for collaboration between universities and businesses to accelerate the commercialisation of new and applied technologies. The Universities of Bath, Bristol, and West of England, and South Gloucestershire Council are key stakeholders in the Science Park. The 59-acre (24 ha) site is located at Emersons Green, north Bristol, and is easily accessible by rail, air and the M4 and M5 motorways.
The development opened in September 2011, with an initial 140,000 sq ft (13,007 sq m) of space including The Forum (communal and meeting space plus café), the Innovation Centre (25,000 sq ft / 2,323 sq m) for new businesses, and the Grow-on-Centre (25,000 sq ft / 2,323 sq m) for subsequent business expansion. The site masterplan allows for 830,000 sq ft (78,081 sq m) of office and technical space with plots available from 0.5 to 9-acres (0.2 to 3.6 ha) available for development over the next 10 years depending upon demand.
A key tenant on the Park is the National Composites Centre (NCC), one of the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing Catapult Centres. In November 2023 the University of Bristol announced a £225 million (€263 million) investment from the UK Government to create the UK’s fastest supercomputer at the NCC in the summer of 2024. The funding will contribute towards creating a new national Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (AIRR) announced at the government's AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, and aims to make the UK a world leader in AI. To be known as Isambard-AI, it will be 10 times more powerful than the UK's current fastest supercomputer and among the most powerful in the world.
Other occupiers include: Cubik Innovation, CFMS, Osprey Consulting Services, Tensense.ai, and Neetrix.
Key
1 = Bristol Robotics Lab 2 = The Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus
3 = Projekt, 1 Temple Way 4 = Bristol and Bath Science Park
