{"id":941054,"date":"2026-05-06T07:28:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/941054\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T07:28:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:28:25","slug":"work-begins-on-bristols-second-most-iconic-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/941054\/","title":{"rendered":"Work begins on ‘Bristol’s second most iconic structure’"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘People say Britain doesn\u2019t build interesting things anymore. I want to prove that wrong’\"Artist's<\/p>\n

Artist’s impression of ‘Ground Force’, the second plane proposed to ‘land’ in Brislington, brought by businessman Johnny Palmer(Image: PytchAir)<\/p>\n

A man who bought a huge private jet and installed it as a venue in South Bristol has started work on doing it again – this time creating what he claims will be \u2018Bristol\u2019s second most iconic structure\u2019.<\/p>\n

The foundations of what will be a giant Boeing 727 plane, mounted on top of repurposed shipping containers have begun to be laid at a unit at the Skyline Park industrial estate in Broomhill, Brislington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Palmer successfully persuaded council officers to grant permission for the installation of the 727 fuselage last October, with the project prompting a diverse opinion locally – some residents said they welcomed an innovative and quirky feature, and others said the new structure would be out of place.<\/p>\n

Last week, councillors gave their backing to Mr Palmer\u2019s plans to hold events in the space – up to four big raves a year<\/a> – and work is well underway now to install the second plane, named \u2018Ground Force\u2019, higher and bigger than the first.<\/p>\n

Mr Palmer said the second installation will be \u2018bigger, taller and far more ambitious\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think of Bristol and picture the Clifton<\/a> Suspension Bridge. I want them to think of Ground Force next,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Plan for second jet plane for Bristol industrial estate<\/a>READ MORE: Look inside world’s coolest Airbnb private jet once owned by Pablo Escobar<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be Bristol\u2019s second most iconic structure. The new aircraft will sit high above the industrial estate and form part of a mixed-use destination including hospitality, events, workspace and wellness facilities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Palmer\u2019s first plane had a long and quirky history and it is claimed to have been a private jet used by Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar at one point.<\/p>\n

The operation to bring it on a low loader from Kemble in Gloucestershire to Bristol stopped traffic along the route, and now Mr Palmer has hinted the next plane also comes with \u2018an extraordinary backstory\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Work<\/p>\n

Work has begun on a plan to install a second jet plane in Brislington(Image: PytchAir)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been digging into the history of this aircraft and there are some unbelievable stories \u2014 who owned it, where it\u2019s been, what it was involved in,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t say too much yet, but once it lands, there are some fantastically entertaining stories to tell,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said he hoped installing a second plane, which would be a venue, office space and create a place to go for people in the area, would boost the industrial estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkyline Park is an ageing industrial estate and this is exactly the right place for something extraordinary,\u201d he said. \u201cThe estate is dull, tired and full of asbestos. Not much is happening there. That makes it the perfect place for a project like this. We proved it with the first aircraft \u2014 now we\u2019re doing it properly, bigger and better,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Man who built Bristol Airbnb from Escobar’s plane hits out at ‘haters’ complaining<\/a>READ MORE: Four giant raves a year planned at Brislington industrial estate next to plane Airbnb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCities are remembered for their landmarks. Bristol has the bridge and the coloured houses \u2014 both brilliant \u2014 but I think we can do better. I love the idea of Bristol becoming known globally as the city with airliners on shipping containers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The businessman rejected criticism that the second plane was little more than a stunt, and said his goal was to \u2018create something memorable, commercially successful and culturally important\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is short. We\u2019re all going to be dead soon,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I ask myself: do I want to spend my time with a couple of giant airliners on an industrial estate? The answer is absolutely yes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Johnny Palmer in front of his plane(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say Britain doesn\u2019t build interesting things anymore. I want to prove that wrong. I want young engineers, creatives and entrepreneurs to look at this and think \u2014 maybe I can do something bold too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you try to do anything unusual in Britain, someone will call it stupid. That\u2019s fine. I\u2019d rather be criticised for building something exciting than praised for doing nothing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘People say Britain doesn\u2019t build interesting things anymore. I want to prove that wrong’ Artist’s impression of ‘Ground…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9420,381,748,18959,393,4884,12717,10002,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-941054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-brislington","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-clifton","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-planning","15":"tag-south-bristol","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116526457021986278","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}