A new £300 million campus at Temple Meads will include a Digital Innovation Hub and new business school. There will also be the expansion of the award-winning Engine Shed business accelerator as well at a nearby site.
“This confirms our place as the UK’s most technologically advanced city-region”
The Temple Quarter Campus will be built on the derelict site of the former Royal Mail Sorting Office at Cattle Market Road (see right) and will be at the centre of one of the largest urban regeneration projects in the UK.
“This confirms our place as the UK’s most technologically advanced city-region and one of the world’s leading digital cities,” said Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol. “The future of UK industry relies on an ability to innovate and lead in the digital and technological sectors, but of course this must be built on the foundations of a stronger, fairer society which provides equal opportunity to everyone.”
“The Engine Shed has been hugely successful in supporting new entrepreneurial businesses and delivering economic value to the city while also being committed to delivering social value within enterprise development. It brings a different approach to economic expansion developing new business methods and the courage to innovate,” he added. “All this with a commitment to an inclusive economic growth that creates opportunity for people from all Bristol communities.”
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The campus is planned to be open in time for the start of the 2021/22 academic year and is specifically building on the city’s reputation for high-tech and digital innovation.
“Government, academia and industry [are] collaborating to deliver future-focused training”
“Our forthcoming Industrial Strategy is committed to creating highly skilled and versatile workforces in all areas of the UK. The development of this exceptional new campus for the University of Bristol is a brilliant example of this strategy in action, with government, academia and industry collaborating to deliver future-focused training that will build on Bristol’s growing reputation as a digital and tech cluster,” said Greg Clark, Business and Energy Secretary.
Industry partners
The students on the campus will have completely new degree programmes that will be designed and developed in collaboration with industry partners.
“This new initiative is, I believe, truly unique: a dynamic partnership between the University, industry and the city, located in an enterprise zone and major transport hub and offering the opportunity to position Bristol as a global leader in digital and educational innovation,” said Professor Hugh Brady, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol.
Engine Shed 2: The site and proposed plans for the expansion of the Engine Shed
“In its first three years, Engine Shed has played a major role in helping Bristol and the entrepreneurial businesses located there, to be recognised nationally and internationally as one of the leading cities in Europe in which to build and grow technology-based businesses,” he said. “The University of Bristol is fortunate to be located in one of Europe’s most creative, dynamic and liveable cities.”
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The new campus follows the successful collaboration between the University and Bristol City Council to establish the accelerator in Brunel’s Engine Shed. The enterprise hub opened in 2013 and contributed £7 million to the economy within 12 months of opening. In that time it has supported 72 companies through the Bristol SETsquared Centre, which have raised £76 million and created 410 jobs and last year was recognised as the world’s best university incubator.
Campus collaboration
One of the key companies involved in the campus development is US software giant Oracle, which has a development centre in Bristol.
“Oracle is delighted to be part of this unique development, which will bring together one of the world’s best universities with industry and the city,” said Phil Bates, leader of Oracle’s Bristol cloud development centre. “This new initiative will ensure we have the talent pipeline industry needs, and also that researchers in academia and industry can work side-by-side, co-creating new technologies with students and future users and bringing new ideas to fruition.”
You can see the three-year review of the Engine Shed at www.engine-shed.co.uk/about/threeyearreview/
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