The University of Bristol's flagship £500m Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus (TQEC) opens its doors to students, teachers, and the public on Monday, replacing a derelict Royal Mail sorting office next to Temple Meads station that was once described by David Cameron as looking like the entrance to a war zone.
The campus's proximity to the station is expected to make commuting easier for students and staff who cannot afford Bristol's expensive property and rental market, and for business and research partners attending meetings from across the country. The site is designed to be "porous," with many areas open to the public, offering a front door to the university for Bristolians in a way that its grand buildings in the leafy Clifton area have never provided.
Key features and public access
The £500m campus is a major part of the Bristol Temple Quarter regeneration scheme, one of the UK's biggest, which aims to bring thousands of new homes, work spaces, and health and education centres to one of the city's most deprived neighbourhoods. The scheme is so significant to Labour locally and nationally that it was mentioned in Andy Burnham's first prime minister's questions.
Judith Squires, deputy vice chancellor and university lead for the TQEC, speaking in a garden space almost directly above platform 15, said the new site puts the university "front and centre" in the city. "We think it opens up lots of opportunities that we haven't yet explored," she said. "One of them will be for students who commute to Bristol, which I think may become an increasingly important trend given that rent is such an expensive cost. Living at home is becoming an increasing option for students."
The site will be a hub for teaching and research across areas including business, innovation, digital engineering, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced telecommunications, and quantum technologies. It features a rare circular lecture theatre, and new entrances, footpaths, and cycleways have been added from the station.
Public spaces and community engagement
Spaces aimed at citizens include the Bristol Rooms and the Story Exchange on the ground floor, designed to bring academics and students together with business, public sector, and community organisations. Sessions on topics important to Bristolians, such as health inequalities, reparative justice, and the climate crisis, have already been organised. Members of the public will be able to have a coffee on campus, plug in a laptop, or use it as a meeting spot.
Squires said: "We wanted to make it a porous place so that people can feel it is a space for them, designed with them in mind. It's really great to have such an accessible front door to the university where everybody can find it, so we don't feel so cut off from the city. I think it positions us physically and symbolically in a different way with the city."
Funding and future expansion
The main building, the Sloane Robinson building, cost £241m and is named after a foundation set up by former Bristol University student and hedge fund manager Hugh Sloane, which donated £20m. The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has invested £35m into the campus and £25m into the station entrance and new paths.
The university has acquired other parcels of land nearby to expand the campus in the coming years, bringing the total cost to £500m. Behind the Sloane Robinson building, work on the wider Bristol Temple Quarter project is under way in the St Philip's Marsh area, currently home to factories, waste disposal sites, and Bristol's fruit market. Though the new quarter will take 30 years to complete, workers are preparing the way for new homes, shops, and community spaces, with a bridge to be built from TQEC to link to it.
Helen Godwin, the mayor of the West of England, said the opening of the campus was a major milestone for Bristol. "Our investment in Bristol Temple Quarter will unlock a giant leap forward for the West of England," she said. Martin Booth, editor of the independent magazine and website Bristol 24/7 and author of 111 Places That You Shouldn't Miss in Bristol, said the new site looked as if a "gigantic spaceship" had crash-landed next to the station. "But it is a manifestation of the university's efforts to be a more visible part of our city – not just in their privileged position on top of a hill in Clifton," he said.
