A tentative timeline for the transformation has been laid out
Broadwalk Shopping Centre (file image)(Image: Northcliffe Media Ltd)
A campaign group which successfully stopped an 800-flat tower block plan for a shopping centre and bingo hall in South Bristol has outlined what will happen next with the site.
Scaled-back plans for the demolition of the Broadwalk Shopping Centre in Knowle and the creation of a new area called ‘Redcatch Quarter’ will be revealed in detail when the shopping centre’s owners Broadside Holdings in the next few weeks.
A week after the multi-storey car park at the shopping centre was completely closed for the foreseeable future, it has been revealed that the developers hope to start work on the transformation of the area, and the demolition of the shopping centre, towards the end of next year, 2026.
The new-look ‘Redcatch Quarter’, which will see just under 500 new homes between the Wells Road and Redcatch Park, is hoped to be completed by 2029 or 2030, with years of building work in the heart of Knowle to come.
The Knowle Neighbourhood Planning Group, a group of local residents living around the Broadwalk Shopping Centre, successfully challenged Bristol City Council and Broadside in the courts, threatening a judicial review over the controversial way the council gave permission for Broadside’s large-scale plan for 12-storey tower blocks and more than 800 flats on the site.
The parties reached an out-of-court settlement, which Bristol Live revealed back in February this year. This saw the threat of a judicial review dropped in return for a scaled-back plan for 492 new homes, albeit with much less space for shops and businesses.
Little else has publicly happened since that announcement, but behind the scenes Broadside have been drawing up what will be a ‘variation’ to the planning permission they obtained back in 2023.
A spokesperson for the Knowle Neighbourhood Planning Group said the details of what the new plans will look like should be released publicly and put before the council in the coming weeks.
“A lot of information is still to be worked up before the exact picture will be confirmed – and after consultation in July and August 2025 with the council, design review panel, KNPG, local residents and other key stakeholders,” she said.
“Following this, developers expect to submit a Section 73 Variation application to the City Council Development Committee at the end of the summer 2025. We do not yet know when a council committee will look at this, but developers hope it will be before the end of 2025,” she added.
From there, into 2026, residents will be able to have their say on the new plans and – if permission is granted again – “it’s hoped that work onsite may start late 2026. The building work could be completed and site fully open again in 2029/2030.”
READ MORE: Broadwalk homes plan scaled back after ‘victory’ for residentsREAD MORE: Shopping centre car park closed ‘due to health and safety’
“Developers hope to develop the build in phases,” KNPG said. “However, before any further clarity on this will be made available, the developers must consult a number of essential statutory agencies and bodies like the Highways Authority and Fire and Utilities services to ensure that plans meet any identified requirements. This includes decontamination of the site where the old petrol station used to be.
“Provisionally, developers hope to start with demolition at the back of the site and the building of the town houses and other buildings in the area where the car park, petrol station and old library is, then move onto demolition at the front of the Broadwalk site including constructing the flats and commercial space.
“It is likely that commercial tenants will have to move out before then including pharmacists, dentists, library, Iceland, locksmiths, Holland & Barrett, charity shop, snooker club, gym, Clifton Cards, Poundland etc,” she added.
The new, scaled-back plans still include a new and larger dentist building on Redcatch Road, where the old library is, a new dedicated space for Redcatch Library and an underground car park with around 160 spaces.
The new plans for Redcatch Quarter, on the site of the Broadwalk Shopping Centre in Knowle(Image: Broadside Holdings)
But one of the biggest changes in the compromise out-of-court deal between residents and the developers, as well as the number of new homes and scale of the buildings, will be the amount of shops and commercial space the new development will have.
The Broadwalk Shopping Centre currently has 219,000 sq ft of space for shops, with some big-name brands like Iceland and Holland & Barrett still part of the retail offering there.
Broadside’s plans for Redcatch Quarter that were approved by the council in 2023 had that reducing to 94,830sqft, with shops and businesses on a pedestrian high street that connected Redcatch Park with Wells Road.
But the current proposal is to reduce that even more – down to a minimum of just 22,000sqft or a maximum of 40,000sqft.