BRISTOL is undergoing something of a water-based renaissance. The Rivers Avon
and Frome have always formed the lifeblood of the city originally known as
Brigstowe, or “the place by the bridge”. Today the riverside in what was
once England's second-largest city (it has now sunk to eighth place), where
square-rigged merchant ships once traded in sugar, tobacco and slaves, is
being redeveloped to house workers in Bristol's new service-based economy.
New apartment blocks are taking the place of old dockside warehouses. Last
year 58 per cent of property sales in Bristol were flats, mostly on central
brownfield sites, up from 11 per cent in 2000. Yet the signs are that
Bristol may withstand the fears about oversupply of flats in city centres.
Annual price growth for new flats in the city was 11.7 per cent in the year
to September, according to estate agent King Sturge, higher than London's
11.6 per cent rate. Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle all experienced flat
or minimal annual growth.
“Bristol is a late starter in terms of ex-industrial development,” says Marcus
Dixon, author of a new Savills report on the West of England market, “and
the benefit of that is that it has seen the problems suffered by Liverpool
and Birmingham in terms of oversupply and has consequently kept
flat-building targets lower.” He estimates that, over the next 20 years, the
number of households in Bristol will rise by 1,700 annually, but only 1,200
new homes will be built each year. “Bristol is different to most cities,”
says Jeremy Montagu-Williams, of Savills. “It's the only large town in the
area and there's a strong student market. When I worked in Birmingham we'd
sell 95 per cent of flats in any development to investors. Here it's more
like 50/50. In a weak market investors might pull out, but owner-occupiers
won't, and that makes us less vulnerable to market fluctuations.”
Bristol's docks, the site of much of the city's development, are unique in
that they extend right into the centre. The first quays were built in 1239,
and the city grew in size and wealth on the profits of maritime trade until
the end of the 18th century. As ships got bigger and heavier, the tidal,
meandering Avon became harder to navigate and merchants turned to the Mersey
and Clyde. Bristol's solution was to install lock gates in 1804 on a section
of the river, the “floating harbour”, to keep the water level constant. But
port trade continued to decline, withstanding even Isambard Kingdom Brunel's
efforts at improvement in 1848. New docks at Avonmouth in 1908 and
Portishead in 1972 finished off any lingering trade in Bristol's harbour.
Portishead's dock, 12 miles outside Bristol on the Severn, continued to thrive
until the early 1980s, when its power stations closed and the need for ships
bearing coal disappeared. Today the town is undergoing its own
post-industrial renaissance. In 2001 the harbour was transformed into a
yacht marina. Waitrose moved in, as did developers including Persimmon,
Crest, Charles Church and Westmark, the latter winning the prize for the
most beautiful and expensive development with Mirage, an Art Deco-style
tiered tower resembling an ocean liner. Four one and two-bed flats are still
for sale out of 55 via Savills (0117-910 0360). They cost from £169,950 for
a 501 sq ft one-bed to £295,000 for an 829 sq ft two-bed. Some have roof
terraces with great views of the marina, behind which the cranes, smoking
chimneys and tankers indicate the health of the port at Avonmouth.
Twenty years ago, down the road in Bristol, the council proposed filling in
the redundant harbour, but locals protested and now the docks are again the
focus of investment. Bristol today is a city of contrasts. The new Cabot
Circus retail development, due to open next year, will be graced by a Harvey
Nichols, the London branch of which will be familiar to residents of the
Georgian terraces of Bristol's poshest suburb, Clifton. However, the central
and eastern areas around Temple Meads station are blighted by 1960s concrete
blocks and ugly 1980s offices. It's this part of town, Temple Quay, through
which the floating harbour snakes, that is to be rebuilt. Once home to
industrial warehouses, the 115-acre Temple Quay site is destined for 2.7
million sq ft of offices, hundreds of waterside homes, and a sprinkling of
shops, bars and cafés.
The office space is built and let to clients including RBS, Bank of England,
BT, KPMG and Orange. The second phase, on the other side of the river,
linked by a curving bridge, will be a £250 million development of up to 500
homes across several buildings. According to Montagu-Williams, a “tree-lined
boulevard” will soon replace the current view of crumbling warehouses, mud
and cranes watched over by the church of St Mary le Port. Barratt launched
the first development - The Zone, 407 studios, flats and townhouses -
yesterday (barratthomes.co.uk). Spring, another developer, is to launch
Affinity, 131 units, and The Eye, an elliptical 13-storey tower of 72 units,
next year. Both will range from studios to three-bedroom flats and will be
available via Savills (0117-910 0360).
If steel and glass don't do it for you, around the corner is Finzels Reach, a
£255 million development of 399 waterside flats in five buildings, plus
offices, cafés, shops and a fancy new bridge. Much of this will be concealed
behind the original Grade II listed façades of the old Courage brewery,
built in 1702 on the site of an earlier sugar refinery owned by one Conrad
Finzel. The developer, HDG Mansur, launched phase one, Castle Wharf, on
November 4, and 65 one, two and three-bedroom flats are still for sale,
ranging in size from 475 sq ft to 968 sq ft and in price from £205,950 to
£414,950, through Hamptons (0117-302 0100). According to Mya Castillo, of
HDG Mansur, the buyers include Londoners, locals, investors and first-time
buyers, all of them keen to live on a stretch of river that's been newly
opened up. “The heritage aspect gives it a sense of place, a sense of
history,” she says. “The river is why Bristol is here in the first place,
and it's been ignored for too long.”
SHORE BUY
ONE Portishead local who believes the town's property market is worth
investing in is John Mays, 67, a director of a local hairdressing business.
He has just bought the two-bedroom, two-bathroom showflat with a large
terrace at the Mirage development for £305,000. “Now I'm just negotiating to
buy the furniture too,” he says. “I hope to complete in ten days, so I can
move in before Christmas if I want.”
He already owns a penthouse flat at another development in Portishead, but
wanted to buy at Mirage “because of the superb location - I love the marina,
there's no traffic, it's secure and the building has a great ambience. I
plan to spend many a lovely summer's evening on the terrace.”
The view of Avonmouth and the marina has particular meaning for Mays: “I enjoy
looking out over the Bristol Channel because I used to be in the Merchant
Navy, and I met my wife on a night out in Bristol when I was docked in
Avonmouth. She had her own business in Portishead, so we moved here 40 years
ago. Now when I look out to sea I can envisage myself working on those
sailing boats, and think how things have turned around.”
