Two and a half years after a Government minister promised £14.5m
An artist’s impression of what the newly-rebuilt Filwood Broadway shops and flats at 4-16 Filwood Broadway will look like(Image: Bristol City Council)
Two and a half years after the Government awarded £14.5 million to regenerate one of South Bristol’s most downtrodden areas, plans have finally been submitted to demolish and rebuild part of it. The city council said its plans to knock down and rebuild numbers 4 to 16 Filwood Broadway mark ‘a significant milestone’ in the regeneration project.
The ‘deteriorated’ parade of shops at the heart of Filwood Broadway have homes above them, but the new plan will see new shop units below and 18 new council houses, new commercial and community space, as well as a new communal garden for the residents who move in.
Describing it as a ‘re-building scheme’, it is part of the £14.5m Levelling Up project which saw Government ministers arrive at the start of 2023, huge plans for the regeneration of the Filwood Community Centre on the other side of the road, and plans to build new homes on the site of the old cinema, and have new sports facilities in the area too.
Bristol City Council said the design of the scheme for the Filwood Broadway parade is ‘informed by the character and heritage of Filwood Broadway’, which was the heart of a bustling new town community when the Knowle West estate was built in the 1930s, and long into the post-war decades.
The 18 new homes will be covered by the new ‘Knowle West Local Lettings Policy’, which means half of the new affordable homes will be offered to people with a local connection to the Knowle West area, and the other half offered more widely on the city council’s HomeChoice system.
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“This is an exciting step forward for Filwood Broadway,” said Cllr Barry Parsons, the council lead on housing. “Replacing tired, outdated buildings with high-quality new council homes and space for local shops and community use will make a big difference to the area.
The area of Filwood Broadway set to be demolished and rebuilt(Image: Bristol City Council)
“Not only will this development contribute to the regeneration of Filwood Broadway, but it will also be helping meet the need for affordable homes for South Bristol. The council is building a total of 48 new affordable homes for Filwood on the neighbouring Cinema site, made up of 42 social rented council homes and six shared ownership homes
“What makes this project even more special is the care that’s gone into getting it right — from working with local young people on the design, to ensuring half of the new homes go to people with a connection to Knowle West,” he added.
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“We’re not just building new homes and shops; we’re investing in the future of the community. I look forward to seeing the next phase of work take shape in the months ahead,” he added.
Students from E-ACT Merchant’s Academy in Withywood and Bedminster Down School helped develop ideas for the designs of the retail units, and the Filwood Broadway High Street Working Group is working on a process for letting the units out when they are completed.
The communal garden will be open only to those living in the apartments.(Image: Bristol City Council)
Work on the demolition of that side of Filwood Broadway is due to start next month, with construction of the new parade starting in the spring of next year.
It’s part of a wider transformation of Filwood Broadway, which involves more council homes on the site of the old cinema and petrol station, along with space for a small supermarket and other community spaces, the work on the Filwood Community Centre, a new ‘long-term High Street strategy’, and the transformation of the Filwood playing fields unveiled earlier this month by the Bristol City Robins Foundation.
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