The simmering row over where Bristol’s much-delayed arena should be built took a new twist yesterday when plans to develop its original site near Temple Meads as a new housing and employment area were unveiled.
Insurance giant Legal & General said its vision for Temple Island – the derelict five-acre site owned by Bristol City Council also known as Arena Island – would create a ‘vibrant new quarter of the city’. 
The plans include a large capacity conference centre and exhibition space, a 345-room hotel – which would be the city’s largest – and 550 new homes, nearly half of them designated as affordable – and two major office buildings.
Legal & General said its plans, pictured, “would provide significant transformational benefits to the city of Bristol, with the scope to introduce more efficient technologies, supporting city centre working and living for residents of all ages, demographics and social groups”.
The scheme, designed by world-renown London-based Zaha-Hadid Architects (ZHA), would earn income for Bristol City Council as the site is in the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone, Legal & General said.
It would be built alongside the University of Bristol’s £300m Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus.
It would also “help build a resilient city centre offer for Bristol in the face of current structural changes in retailing, culture and leisure, which demands a different offer from towns and city centres,” the insurance group said.
Legal & General’s plans for the site emerged as the political stand-off over the site of the arena intensified.
Temple Island had been the preferred location for a 12,000-capacity arena dating back more than 15 years. The plans gathered pace under previous Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson and since then around £9m has already been spent in preparation work on the site, which has planning permission for an arena.
However, with the cost of building the arena at Temple Island spiralling to nearly £190m, a value-for-money report was commissioned by new mayor Marvin Rees from accountancy giant KPMG to analyse the economic cases for and against Temple Island, alternative uses for the site, and a rival location using the Brabazon Hangar at Filton proposed by Malaysian industrial conglomerate YTL.
It concluded that the council could gain a “significant return” from an alternative use of Temple Island.
Mayor Rees was due to announce his decision on the arena’s location at a cabinet meeting on September 4. But earlier this week a group of councillors, including the three opposition party leaders as well as some members of the ruling Labour group, successfully lobbied for an extraordinary full council meeting to take place the previous day to discuss the issue.
Legal & General said it has invested billions of pounds into UK direct investments and urban regeneration projects in recent years, including partnerships with councils in Cardiff, Salford and Newcastle as well as central government bodies such as Homes England and the Department of International Trade.
It has already invested more than £240m in the Temple Quarter area, including £70m for the new HMRC regional office at 3 Glass Wharf, which is now nearing completion, and co-funding a 255-home buy-to-rent housing scheme.
Legal & General also said its proposal for Temple Island would be a more environmentally friendly option “compared with proposed plans for an arena”, due to a commitment to BREEAM Excellent -‘green’ building regulations – status for the buildings and reduced car movements derived from city-centre living.
However, its announcement did not specify the size of the buildings or give any time line on the development.
Legal & General CEO Nigel Wilson said: “Our investment partnerships in cities such as Cardiff and Newcastle are already delivering at pace, and likewise our vision for the Temple Island could deliver a much-needed new quarter in Bristol, with the conference centre it needs to attract events and delegates from around the world, whilst also generating employment opportunities and economic growth.
“We have been attracted by Bristol City Council’s commitment to become a ‘city for all’ and, with our existing significant stake in Temple Quarter, want to see the best decision for the city prevail.
“We firmly believe this mix of development at Temple Island best complements the broader regeneration proposals for the area surrounding a redeveloped Temple Meads Station, and offers a perfect fit with University of Bristol’s new Innovation Campus.”
The area around Temple Meads is viewed as one of Bristol’s prime development locations with the railway station due to be upgraded in a multi-million pound scheme following years of delay caused by a lack of funding and the University of Bristol building its £300m innovation campus on the site now partly occupied by the eyesore former sorting office building. Land in and around the area, including sites in neighbouring St Philips, are already changing hands for record sums.
Zaha-Hadid Architects are best known for their international flagship projects including the London Aquatics Centre at the 2012 Olympics and the Glasgow Riverside Museum of Transport.
