“There is no repair or maintenance that can prolong its life”
Broadwalk shopping centre car park
The ageing multi-storey car park at South Bristol’s biggest shopping centre will never reopen, its owners have said. The car park at the rear of the Broadwalk Shopping Centre has now reached the point where ‘mitigation measures are now exhausted’, and it must remain closed.
The centre, its car park, and the bingo hall and snooker hall on the same site will eventually be demolished – potentially as early as the end of next year – to make way for hundreds of new homes as part of a transformation into what the developers have called ‘Redcatch Quarter’.
The owners of the shopping centre have told Bristol Live how the end finally came for the car park, which was built in the early 1970s alongside the shops. And Broadside Holdings say they are now hoping to find alternative arrangements for people who park to use the local services in the shopping centre, which include a dentist’s and a library.
Broadside is holding the first public consultation on its renewed and scaled back housing plans for Redcatch Quarter on Friday this week, July 11, at two drop-in sessions at a nearby church.
The plans will see around 500 new homes being built there, rather than the 850 the developers obtained planning permission for in controversial circumstances back in the summer of 2023.
While the shopping centre is still open, albeit on borrowed time, the car park is now closed forever.
(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
Bristol Live reported back in early June that the car park had been closed as a temporary measure because of structural concerns. A spokesperson for Broadside Holdings said the car park was shut now for good, because of those issues.
“Broadside Holdings has owned the Broad Walk Shopping Centre since April 2021 after acquiring it from US fund Cerberus,” a spokesperson for Broadside Holdings said. “Under Cerberus’, and then throughout Broadside’s ownership, the structural integrity of the ageing (now 50-year old) concrete multi-storey car park has been carefully monitored to ensure this could be safely used for as long as possible.
“Recently, further degradation of the concrete led to a temporary closure for further technical investigation and advice,” he added.
“In accordance with independent engineers’ advice, over the period of our ownership we have gradually reduced the number of usable spaces to minimise overloading. We have also used surface treatments to mitigate water ingress in an attempt to prolong the life of this asset insofar as possible.
“We are now advised that mitigation measures are now exhausted, that there is no repair or maintenance that can prolong its life further, and that the car park must be closed as it now poses health and safety risks to users.
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“We are now liaising with tenants to discuss the impact of this closure and hope to be able to find alternative arrangements to support local services, such as the dentist and library,” he said.
Broadside Holdings said it hopes to get through a second planning process on the revised plans as soon as possible, so that work can begin to demolish the car park and the shopping centre and build the new homes.
Broadside does have permission for 850 new homes in tower blocks both overlooking the Wells Road and Redcatch Park. But local resident Laura Chapman took legal action against Bristol City Council over the way that planning permission had been granted.
An out-of-court compromise deal between Broadside and Ms Chapman has seen the plans scaled back. There are now townhouses rather than tower blocks at the Redcatch Park side of the development, and a reduction in the number of new shops and businesses in the development as a whole.
The new plans for Redcatch Quarter, on the site of the Broadwalk Shopping Centre in Knowle(Image: Broadside Holdings)
Those fresh plans are being displayed on Friday, and a revised planning application is expected to go before councillors later this year.
“In line with the Judicial Review settlement agreement between Bristol City Council and Laura Chapman, we are currently progressing the planning application for variations as quickly as possible and look forward to redeveloping the centre in due course to provide much needed homes, commercial and community space, together with a new parking facility,” said Broadside Holdings’ spokesperson.
Another element of the Broadwalk Shopping Centre that is changing soon is the Club 3000 bingo venue, the only one in South Bristol. Its owners said they’ve been given notice to leave, but are hoping to remain into next year. Bristol Live exclusively revealed Club 3000’s plans for a brand new purpose-built bingo venue in Bedminster, which will eventually replace the one at Knowle.