Ten years ago this weekend was a momentous one in the history of not just Bristol, not just Britain, but of Europe.
For the first time, a person of African-Caribbean descent was directly elected to be the mayor of a European city.
Much has happened in the decade since the second weekend of May 2016, and the first eight of those ten years saw Marvin Rees run the city of Bristol.
But what about the next ten years – or 20 years, or 100 years? What will his lasting legacy be? What will the next generation of Bristolians look around their city and see has changed, gotten better or worse, as a direct result of the eight years that Bristol had Marvin Rees as mayor and Labour in charge?
The now Lord Rees of Easton had a turbulent time in the eight years he ran Bristol. It was a time that saw Brexit, austerity cuts, almost weekly protests, the rise of Extinction Rebellion, the Covid pandemic, the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, riots in the city centre from both the left and the right.
But while tens of thousands of words about his time running Bristol have been written – not least by Lord Rees of Easton himself, in his autobiography – is it possible to look ahead, two years on from his last day in office, and assess what his legacy will be going forward?
No doubt this assessment will change over time – and any legacy can be undone or enhanced by those who follow. But here is an attempt to predict what the people of Bristol may well point to and say, to a lesser or greater extent, ‘this was because of Marvin Rees’.
Skyscrapers
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees on the roof of the new Castle Park View 26-storey tower block (Image: John Myers)
Technically a skyscraper has to be more than 100m or 150m to earn that name, but for a Bristol whose city centre was defined by Victorian buildings, one single decision by Lord Rees and his administration will change the entire look of the city for decades to come.
Back in 2005, city councillors adopted a ‘Tall Buildings Policy’ after a big public debate, which effectively set a limit on the height buildings in Bristol – especially in or near the city centre – could be.
Within months of his election back in 2016, the mayor made it clear he didn’t agree, saying that the only way to tackle the city’s housing crisis was to build up, more densely, than build out into the edges of the city.
READ MORE: Fight to save ‘best view in Bristol’ underway as huge tower block threatens
In 2018, the council quietly adopted something called the Urban Living Supplementary Planning Document, which basically ripped up the 2005 rules, and triggered the albeit slow start of what is now – years after he left office – a huge change in the look of Bristol.
Castle Park View, at 26 storeys, was the first big landmark tall block of flats, with The Boat Yard building by the river at Totterdown following, and many more have since been built, being built, given permission or proposed.
Now, large-scale development plans for former industrial sites that include buildings over ten, 12, 18, 20 or even higher are announced in different parts of the city with such frequency that it’s admittedly hard to keep up with them.
An artists impression of new student accommodation on Albert Road in Bristol, which includes L&G’s Temple Island tower blocks behind(Image: Cubex)
The full effect of this boom in building won’t be felt for maybe another five or ten years, but it is definitely one that can be placed on Lord Rees – and whether that’s placed like a medal to be pinned on his chest or not depends on your point of view.
Crises in building costs, affordability and viability mean that almost all of the tower blocks being built around the city are either ‘build to rent’ flats, student accommodation or ‘Co-living’, but that’s down to other factors most of which were and now are out of the former mayor’s orbit of responsibility.
READ MORE: Building up or building out? Do we solve Bristol’s housing crisis with skyscrapers or new suburbs?
But the tall building boom is certainly something he wanted to take credit for – at the time he often spoke of seeing ‘cranes across the Bristol skyline’, as direct evidence of the difference he was making in getting things done to tackle the housing crisis.
For years to come, as Bristolians look around their city in 2030 or 2050, the plethora of buildings over 15, 20 or 25 storeys will be one of Lord Rees’ most obvious legacies.
Bristol as a student city
Prof Evelyn Welch at the site of the University of Bristol’s new Temple Quarter campus(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
It always was, of course, known for having one university in the city centre, and another on the northern edge, but throughout the 20th century, the students of the University of Bristol were very much in their own bubble at the top of Park Street, Clifton and Redland, with the rest of the city continuing separately.
READ MORE: Calls for Bristol’s universities to ‘do a lot more to manage downsides’ of student expansion
National and even international changes in the way universities operate prompted the expansion in student numbers both at UoB and UWE, but this was embraced, encouraged and enabled by Rees when he took over as mayor.
Lots of student accommodation got the go-ahead, as did the new University of Bristol campus at Temple Meads.
Professor Hugh Brady, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol and Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees overlooking the site of the Temple Quarter Campus in November 2016
Whether or not a different mayor in 2016 – one who decided it was not the direction they wanted Bristol to go in – could have stopped or curtailed the growth of the students in Bristol is a pertinent question, but he saw the benefits of a growing and thriving university, especially as a kickstarter for the Temple Quarter regeneration. Which leads us onto…
The YTL Arena at Filton
Bristol’s arena will be called the Aviva Arena and will sit within the YTL Live entertainment complex (artist’s impression of what the arena will look like outside)(Image: YTL)
With work now, finally, underway in earnest at the Brabazon Hangar on the old Filton Airfield site on a huge arena venue, those who had for years been saying ‘it’ll never happen’ are quietening down now.
In ten years time when the Arriva Arena is hosting massive gigs and events, then many will link it to his tenure as mayor.
READ MORE: Former Mayor Marvin Rees says the new arena will ‘transform how the world sees Bristol’
One of the biggest decisions he made in the early stages of his time in office was to ditch the previous mayor’s plan for a medium-sized arena next to Temple Meads, and set the course of that whole regeneration project into a different direction.
Mayor Marvin Rees on the bridge to Temple Island(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
Whether or not YTL would have gone ahead with the conversion of the Brabazon hangar into an arena had there already been one in the city centre is a question we will never know the answer to – they maintained at the time they would.
But, for many, the flats and hotel that will (probably) eventually be built next to the Bath Road and Temple Meads will be how they remember his legacy because of the very obvious lack of an arena at the site.
Clean Air Zone
Many will point to the Clean Air Zone as one of Lord Rees’ legacies, but this is in the list – counterintuitively – to point out that it shouldn’t be. Yes, the Clean Air Zone was brought in by under the former mayor and his cabinet, and it’s difficult to see any future council leader deciding the city doesn’t need it anymore.
Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Bristol(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
But it’s important not to rewrite the history here. The Clean Air Zone perhaps shouldn’t be attributed to him alone – it was a Tory Government initiative, and Bristol’s Labour-administration had to be threatened with legal action to make them bring it in at the time.
The District Heat Network
Pictured in June 2022, Ameresco chief executive George Sakellaris (left) and Bristol mayor Marvin Rees (right), after Bristol City Council signed a £1 billion deal with the US energy firm(Image: Bristol City Council)
We’re now onto perhaps the thing that Lord Rees of Easton would most want to be in this list. The City Leap deal between the council and big US corporation Ameresco was controversial at the time, is still controversial now and given his continuing links to the company probably will still be controversial in the future.
READ MORE: The billion pound Bristol baby – what is City Leap and what does it mean for residents?READ MORE: Former Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees’ company paid by firms who signed major contract while he was in office
But for future-proof long-standing legacy, long after people have forgotten how it happened, the fact that hundreds of buildings all around the city will be heated by a District Heat Network is a legacy that will stand the test of time.
Whether or not people living in the build-to-rent flats of Bedminster or Temple Quarter or St Judes or Redcliffe in 2040 will be happy about having one fixed supplier of their heating and hot water remains to be seen, but if they want someone to praise or blame (delete accordingly in the future) then it was Marvin Rees’ big idea.