Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has hailed Bristol’s Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone a success and pledged to devolve more powers to the city to enable it to fund similar economy-boosting measures itself.
The minister was in Bristol yesterday to mark the completion of the £40m, 98,000 sq ft, showpiece 2 Glass Wharf office building in the enterprise zone. He also visited the Paintworks creative hub – at the other side of the 173-acre zone– where a third phase is under construction and met Paintwork’s tenant Crux Product Design, which designed the distinctive helmets for Team GB’s medal-winning 2012 Olympics cycling team. 
Mr Pickles, pictured – a sharp critic of local government leaders who do not share his views on slashing bureaucracy and tackling inefficiencies and who in the past has accused councils such as Bristol of being “anti-car” – was uncharacteristically nice about Mayor George Ferguson, who accompanied him on his whistle-stop tour of the enterprise zone.
He said he was open to giving England’s largest cities more power, including more control over their finances, as long as they spent the money wisely.
Enterprise zones such as Temple Quarter – the UK’s largest urban regeneration project – were a classic example of this, he said. “Enterprise zones are a great place to do business. That’s why these developers are channelling millions of pounds into these investments,” said Mr Pickles.
“It proves that our long-term economic plan is on track, helping deliver the kind of world-class infrastructure that attracts top companies. And that’s great news for the economy and communities because it’s these kinds of businesses that will create jobs for hard-working people.”
Enterprise zones, which have less stringent planning rules and rate relief for business moving in, were central to the Government’s plans to rebalance the economy, he said. They offered “world-class infrastructure and top-class growth incentives for companies”.
A short while earlier Mayor Ferguson, standing alongside Mr Pickles on the top floor of 2 Glass Wharf, had called for Whitehall controls on cities’ purse strings to be eased – in Bristol’s case particularly for transport improvements as the only ‘core’ English city left out of Government spending on the HS2 high-speed rail link between London and the North.
He said he wanted the city to be able to invest in the planned regeneration of the nearby iconic Temple Meads station – a scheme which he said needed £300m but which, in its present form, was being underfunded.
If the city was a business it would be able to raise the necessary funds for such projects. “It’s not spending, its investment,” he said.
But he insisted he and Mr Pickles – who he once accused of being an “embarrassment to the Government” over his anti-car outburst – were working in partnership and “in a spirit of openness” over devolution of powers to Bristol. However, he did not think an agreement would be reached before May’s General Election.
Warming to the theme, Mr Pickles said: “We are looking for [Mayor Ferguson] to wow us. We want him to serenade us with his good ideas.”
2 Glass Wharf will get its first tenant later this year when accountants PwC relocates its Bristol regional office there from Great George Street. The firm is taking around 30,000 sq ft on the top three floors of the building, which has been being built by construction firm Wates for developer Salmon Harvester Properties.
Salmon Harvester has submitted a planning application for a slightly larger office building on a neighbouring vacant plot – a mark of the strength of Bristol’s office market, director Rorie Henderson said.
Mayor Ferguson added: “The completion of 2 Glass Wharf and the start of work on Paintworks Phase III are really good news and shows that there is real confidence in Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone and Bristol’s growing economy.
“These developments demonstrate that we have a very attractive proposition for investors and occupiers, offering a first class location, great connectivity and a talented workforce.”
While at Paintworks, Mr Pickles heard about the expansion from Ashley Nicholson, managing director of developer London-based Verve, and Sandra Dixon, sales and marketing director at Crest Nicholson.
The £55m Paintworks III and IV development will add 125,000 sq ft of space for creative and digital businesses, creating up to 450 hi-tech jobs when they are finished in 2018.
Ms Dixon said: “Paintworks is an incredibly innovative regeneration project, which has already established a fantastic creative hub for the city, so we’re really excited to be delivering Phase III.
“Our high specification collection of houses and apartments, commercial and live/work units will be a flagship development for Bristol and we anticipate high demand when they launch to market. We’re already receiving a lot of interest.”
At Crux Mr Pickles met director James West, two of the firm’s mechanical engineering interns and two recent graduates. Crux is planning to expand into new premises at Paintworks III when the development is complete.
