Work is underway on a number of major commercial and housing projects in the West of England.
Despite the challenges of the Covid pandemic, developers and investors from the UK and overseas are continuing to plough millions of pounds into the region.
From Bristol Arena, which is on target to open in 2024, to the £2bn rebuild of facilities at Plymouth’s Devonport Dockyard, the construction of many schemes is continuing at pace.
As we head towards 2022, we take a look at the progression of just some of the developments that will change the face of our region once complete.
Golden Valley Development, Gloucestershire CGI of Golden Valley Development Cheltenham (Image: HBD X Factory)The developers behind the pioneering project to build the UK’s first cyber business park near GCHQ in Cheltenham were announced in July, with the contract expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2022.
The Golden Valley Development – a 200-hectare scheme being planned by Cheltenham Borough Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council – will see green fields close to the UK’s intelligence and cyber agency transformed into a huge campus and thousands of homes.
HBD X Factory, a joint venture between UK property developer HBD and the international innovation campus developer Factory, have been selected as the preferred development partner.
The project will transform the site into a multi-use development with 3,700 homes, two million square feet of commercial space and the UK’s first cyber-focused campus – Cyber Central – which will be home to cyber-related businesses.
According to Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Borough Councils, the project will create up to 12,000 new jobs.
HBD X Factory will be responsible for bringing forward the £1bn first phase. This will include UK Cyber Central and its Innovation Zone. A planning application is expected to be submitted in 2022 – and construction after that.
Intercity Place, Plymouth How Intercity Place could look after it is developed into the University of Plymouth’s Faculty of HealthWork is well on track to create a new medical campus as part of the redevelopment of Plymouth’s railway station with the facility expected to be open by 2023.
The University of Plymouth said it is making “significant progress” on the project to create an “outstanding” facility for its Faculty of Health in what was the ramshackle Intercity House office block at the station, off Saltash Road in the city centre.
In recent months the university and contractor Kier have been carrying out enabling works on the 11-storey building, which will now be called Intercity Place.
This has included removing fixtures and fittings which will be replaced with the equipment required to train nurses, midwives, paramedics, physiotherapists, and other allied health professionals. Refurbishment and reuse of the existing building will reduce the carbon impact and is highly sustainable.
The project is on schedule to be finished well in advance of the 2023/2024 academic year, meaning that new students arriving in September 2021 will be able to train in its facilities during their course of their studies.
The university is also continuing to work with Plymouth City Council, Network Rail and Great Western Railway as the building forms a key element of the wider regeneration planned for what will become Brunel Plaza.
The idea is for the shabby area to be gentrified as part of an estimated £80m project to revamp the station, and create a new hotel and multi-storey car park near to the new medical campus.
Bristol Arena, Bristol A CGI of what the arena could look like (Image: Publicity Picture)Bristol arena is scheduled to open its doors in 2024 – and construction is expected to start next year.
In November, the managing director of Malaysia-based developer YTL, Andrew Billingham, said the company had already received enquiries from promoters looking to book events for 2024-25.
Alongside the arena, YTL is constructing a vast neighbourhood on the former Filton Airfield to the north of the city, including a new train station which will be known as Brabazon and is set to start operating in 2023.
It will connect the new development and the arena to Bristol Temple Meads in less than 15 minutes once it is completed as part of MetroWest Phase 2, YTL has said.
YTL has also appointed consultants to develop designs for Brabazon Park , which will be just 200 metres west of the new station and directly in front of the Bristol Arena.
The new park, which is also expected to open to the public in 2024, is set to be the largest new urban public park in the South West for more than 50 years.
The first two-, three- and four-bedroom homes and one- and two-bedroom apartments at Brabazon – in a phase known as The Hangar District – are also under construction approximately 300 metres to the north of the new station.
Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth Devonport Dockyard in PlymouthWork has started on a £2bn rebuild of facilities at Devonport Dockyard which will create more than 600 construction jobs during the next five years.
The yard, the largest in the UK, is to undergo a huge redevelopment which will start with work to allow the newest nuclear submarines to be refitted in Plymouth.
Babcock International Group Plc wants to start by rebuilding the 10 Dock Facility at the yard, including the demolition and construction of buildings, to support the maintenance programme for “new and existing classes of submarine” such as the new Dreadnought-class ballistic missile subs due to arrive in service in the 2030s.
Work has already begun on stripping out a building at the yard, which will be demolished in early 2022 to become the first significant step in the ambitious programme.
Although the work starts with the redevelopment of 10 Dock, and buildings near it, but it is only part of a number of projects associated with a major infrastructure refurbishment of the nuclear licensed docking and berthing facilities at the dockyard.
Royal Clarence Hotel, Exeter The Royal Clarence fire in 2016 (Image: Apex)Exeter’s fire-ravaged former Royal Clarence hotel could be turned into apartments, a restaurant and a bar under an ambitious £17m plan.
The Cathedral Yard building, severely damaged by flames in October 2016, was acquired by South West Lifestyle Brands in August 2020 after going on the market for £2m.
The company has now announced proposals to sensitively restore the Grade II listed 18th Century building by creating 23 luxury apartments with a mix of two- and three-bed flats on the upper four storeys, including three duplex apartments over two floors.
The plans went to public consultation in December prior to submitting a full planning application and an application for listed building consent to Exeter City Council in early 2022.
The plans, prepared by Exeter-based property developer Akkeron Group, pledge to restore the historic building to its former glory by reconstructing the original façade and exterior, and retaining as much of the building’s history as possible.
The scheme will create 180 full-time jobs in Exeter during the construction phase, and 44 full-time jobs in commercial activity once it is completed.
The original hope was to create a new hotel but that was found to be significantly unviable, with a forecast loss of about £17m, further impacted by the recent introduction of a new five-star hotel a few hundred yards away.
Seafront Pavilion, Torquay The Pavilion in Torquay (Image: Matthew Carter/Devon Live)Plans to restore Torquay’s much-loved seafront Pavilion took a step forward in October.
The Grade II Listed building, which was built as a theatre and concert hall in 1912, later became a shopping arcade and even a plastic ice rink.
A proposal to replace it with a huge skyscraper hotel block was scrapped after a massive public outcry.
Now, an application for Listed Building Consent has been submitted to Torbay Council to allow vital survey work to take place.
MDL Marinas who lease the building from Torbay Council want to protect the building from further deterioration and allow a surveyor to assess the extent of repairs required to stabilise and eventually restore the Pavilion.
In March this year, Torbay Council’s cabinet agreed to jointly fund, with MDL Marinas’ sister company YG Developments, a comprehensive study of the condition of the empty building and a costed repair plan.
Kristi Roger, director of YG Developments, said: “We are working closely with Dr Philips, MDL and Torbay Council to secure the future of the Pavilion which will eventually form part of a wider regeneration of Torquay’s waterfront.
“It is not yet known what the Pavilion might be used for, but this is a significant step in preparing to safeguard its future.”
Hinkley Point C, Somerset Work under way on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset. (Image: EDF)September marked five years since the start of full construction of the plant, near Bridgwater in Somerset, and the signing of final contracts by French energy giant EDF and the government.
When complete, EDF says the plant will be able to generate low-carbon electricity for six million homes over 60 years.
A visitors centre for the power station also opened in September, encouraging people to explore how electricity is created through videos games and digital tools. It opened as Hinkley Point started dumping mud from the Bristol Channel into the sea off Portishead after its plans were approved by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
EDF Energy will dredge and then deposit hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sediment into the Severn Estuary as part of works to install water cooling tunnels under the channel.
EDF said in May it expects to hire an additional 1,700 people to help work on the construction of the station, which is likely to cost £500m more than previously thought.
The French firm behind the plant announced the planned opening of the site’s Unit 1 has been put back by six months, with electricity generation now expected to start in June 2026, compared with previous estimates of an opening date at the end of 2025.
Former Honda Swindon factory, Wiltshire Aerial view of the Honda manufacturing plant in Swindon, which closed in 2021 (Image: WesternDailyPress)The Japanese car giant closed its Wiltshire plant for good in July after three decades of production – and sold the site off to Panattoni, Europe’s largest developer of new build industrial and logistics facilities.
Panattoni is planning to invest more than £700m into the site, which is expected to be legally handed over in the spring of 2022.
The European firm said it would be working “very closely” with Honda and Swindon Borough Council, along with the community and its representatives to regenerate the site.
The local authority previously worked with Panattoni on bringing retail giant Amazon to a two million sq ft warehouse set to be built at Symmetry Park on the edge of the town.
Honda said in March it would assess opportunities for small sections at the edge of the site that are not required for Panattoni’s development to be utilised by the neighbouring communities.
The carmaker first revealed its intention to pull out of the town (and the UK) in 2019 as part of a major restructure of its global operations and a need to focus on electric vehicle production.
Harbour Arch Quay, Plymouth How the nine-storey Harbour Arch Quay block could fit into Plymouth’s waterfront (Image: SHG)Plymouth’s Sutton Harbour Group Plc has already begun work on the long-awaited Harbour Arch Quay block of flats with main construction due to begin in early 2022.
The AIM-listed company, in a statement to investors, said preliminary site works have started on the 14-apartment waterfront block at Sutton Harbour. The project was due to begin in 2020 but was delayed by the Covid pandemic.
A year-long construction programme will now commence in January 2022 with marketing of the apartments to start early in the new year.
The nine-storey building, which will stand next to Salt Quay House, is financed by separate lending secured on the development with part to be funded from an equity raise which netted the company £3.5m by way of an open offer in August 2021.
DHL parcel distribution centre, Exeter Work starts on the DHL centre at Exeter Logistics Park with (l-r) Pete Harvey and Richard Day, (both ISG), Edward Peel (Stoford), John Barker (Urban Logistics REIT). Andy Heywood (DHL), Ben Gwilliam (Stoford), Paul Hayward and Andrew Wood (both East Devon District Council)Work has begun at Exeter Logistics Park on construction of a huge warehouse which will become a DHL parcel distribution centre and create dozens of jobs.
Commercial property developer Stoford is constructing two buildings that will deliver a combined 83,500sq ft of industrial/logistics accommodation at the park, on the former Hayes Farm, Clyst Honiton.
They include a modern, bespoke facility of 55,000sq ft on behalf of DHL that has been designed to reduce the logistics firm’s environmental footprint by minimising the number of vehicles required on site.
A second unit of about 28,500sq ft is being developed speculatively by Stoford, in partnership with Urban Logistics REIT, and is expected to operate as a conventional facility with flexible warehouse space. The new developments could create more than 150 new jobs when they are functional in the first quarter of 2022.
Exeter Logistics Park is part of the second phase of a significant industrial scheme on a 55-acre site, owned by the Church Commissioners for England. It is part of the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point economic development zone east of the M5, near Exeter Airport.
The STEM and Health Skills Centre, Cornwall How Cornwall’s STEM and health care centre could lookWork on Cornwall’s £6.3m “shovel-ready” STEM centre is due to be completed by spring 2022.
The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and Health Skills Centre for North and East Cornwall is being built in Bodmin by Truro and Penwith College and is designed to train the aerospace, space, creative, energy, mining and health sector workers of tomorrow.
The project, on which work started in February 2021, is being supported by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which is meeting £3.78m of the costs through the government’s Getting Building Fund (GBF) for “shovel-ready” projects.
The new centre, called the Ottery building, will initially offer a range of programmes aimed at meeting the needs of the engineering, manufacturing, digital and health sectors. This will include access courses aimed at adults wanting to enter higher education and retrain for high-skilled careers.
The 1,918sq m centre will train more than 300 people a year, with in excess of 120 learners on apprenticeships and T-Level qualifications, and support 150 businesses in the next five years.
Truro and Penwith College is working closely with local employers and business groups to make sure the courses on offer match what industry needs.
Melville Building, Royal William Yard, Plymouth The Grade I listed Melville building at the heart of Plymouth’s Royal William YardThe first phase of the restoration of Plymouth’s Grade I listed Melville building is scheduled to be completed by mid-2022 with new occupiers lining up to join restaurant Hub Box and the Everyman cinema.
Bosses at Urban Splash, the regeneration specialist which has been developing Plymouth’s Royal William Yard for nearly 20 years, said work to fit out the Hub Box restaurant is scheduled to begin in early 2022.
And Everyman Media Group Plc, which is predicting a £7m profit for 2021 after audiences flocked back to picture houses, is due to begin fitting out its triple screen boutique cinema in the yard at Easter 2022. It means the cinema should be on schedule for the curtain to go up in late summer.
Meanwhile, negotiations are ongoing with a restaurateur, offering a cuisine not already found in Plymouth, about opening in one of three ground-floor retail/hospitality units currently unclaimed.
And a large professional services firm is in talks about moving into office space on the first and second floors of the block. It would neighbour space already earmarked for co-working company BLOCK, which is taking 17,000sq ft across two floors and will also create a coffee shop, wine bar and business lounge, which users can join in the way people use airport business lounges.
It means just two ground floor retail/restaurant units, on the right hand side of the building facing the Factory Cooperage, are currently totally unspoken for in the first phase of the restoration. Urban Splash is keen to hear from any potential tenants.
Construction work is ongoing at the building, centrepiece of the former naval victualling yard, with atelierBUILD overseeing a hive of activity.
It has been renovating the 19th Century pile, characterised by its prominent clock tower, for Urban Splash, working alongside partners Ward Williams Associates and Gillespie Yunnie Architects.
Former Oscar Mayer Factory, Somerset The Millfield Industrial Estate site in Chard, Somerset, which Numatic has bought from Oscar MayerManufacturing giant Numatic International announced in September it had bought Somerset’s huge Millfield Road Industrial Estate and it would build a £30m factory to make Henry vacuum cleaners.
The seven-acre site in Chard was put on sale in May 2021 when food producer Oscar Mayer said it would cease production in the town by September, with hundreds of staff losing their jobs.
The plan is to construct a production operation for the Henry vacuum range with raw materials entering at one end and finished products leaving at the other.
This operation will utilise the entire site and require an investment of £30m, leading to the creation of employment opportunities in Chard, Numatic said.
The company is now hopeful planning consent will be forthcoming without delay so the demolition of the existing buildings can be commenced and construction of the new facility started as soon as possible.
Courtyard Exeter Sandy Park Hotel, Exeter A CGI of how Exeter Chiefs’ Sandy Park hotel could lookThe £35m four-star Marriott Courtyard hotel is set to welcome its first guests in February 2022.
Construction began in early 2020 on the eight-storey, L-shaped hotel which has become a landmark close to the Sandy Park Exeter junction of the M5 motorway.
In addition to 250 bedrooms, the hotel, situated off Old Rydon Lane, will have a rooftop cocktail bar and restaurant that boasts views along the River Exe Estuary.
As well as helping to drive additional business towards Sandy Park Conference and Banqueting Centre during the week, the hotel will also welcome supporters heading to the city for match-days involving the Exeter Chiefs.
The hotel is the latest piece of the development plan for Sandy Park, which has been the home of Exeter Chiefs since 2006 when it moved from County Ground into the purpose-built rugby stadium complete with modern conference and function facilities.
Leonardo helicopter logistics hub, Somerset A CGI of what the new helicopter hub could look like (Image: Nick Brown)A vast helicopter logistics hub is set to be built in Somerset for engineering and aerospace giant Leonardo.
The £30m state-of-the-art facility in Yeovil will see eight existing warehouses turned into one huge centre and work is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2022.
The 210,000 sq ft site will support Leonardo’s global fleet of helicopters through the storage of components and tooling.
GMI Construction Group has been appointed by real estate development company Graftongate to build the new facility. Leonardo’s logistics partner, Kuehne + Nagel, will operate the hub under a 10-year logistics contract.
The hub will be constructed with a strong focus on sustainability, according to GMI Construction, with various eco initiatives “built in”, including electrical vehicle charging points.
There will also be rainwater harvesting tanks for brown-water services, LED lighting throughout the facility, and a heat-recovery system in the main warehouse.
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