New Bristol Brewery coming to Carriageworks

According to notices on the Carriageworks site and an article in the Bristol Post, New Bristol Brewery is coming to the Carriageworks.

Owned and operated by husband and wife team, Noel and Maria James, New Bristol Brewery is “a small, but daring, brewery” that makes “unfined, naturally conditioned, tasty craft beers”. They say that “New Bristol Brewery is our attempt to bring people together over great beer”.

New Bristol Brewery is based on Wilson St in St Pauls, where they have a tap room. They have submitted an application for a premises licence for 0830 to 2330 Mon to Friday.

New Bristol Brewery will occupy one of the units fronting onto Stokes Croft.

What should be in the Cultural Plan?

Planning Condition #15 attached to the Carriageworks development states: “Prior to the commencement of any construction works for the development a Cultural Programme Delivery Plan shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. This shall set out the details of the Cultural Programme Steering Group, co- ordinated by an appointed programme manager. This Delivery Plan shall set out clear principles for the delivery of cultural projects to be delivered within the site.”

In January 2018 local consultants Willis Newson were appointed to prepare both the cultural plan and a public art plan.  They ran various events through the year to find out what local organisations thought and in September presented their ideas at a public meeting. Since then progress has slowed as the developer, PG Group, has focused on other not insignificant matters e.g. demolition.

The CAG Liaison Group has kept asking about progress and recently had a meeting with PG and Willis Newson but there’s still nothing to share that gives a sense of direction or costs.

CAG believes that the Cultural Plan should address the long term use of the site as a whole. To this end we have produced a discussion document which you can download (pdf) which will be discussed at the community meeting on 16 May.

Cultural Plan meeting – Wed 18 July

Dear Friends of the Carriageworks

As you know, there is a CAG meeting on Wednesday July 18^th at 6pm (latecomers welcome!) at St Paul’s Learning Centre to talk about what we want to see included in the cultural plan for the development.

Jane Willis from Willis Newson and Kim Wide from Take A Part, who have been commissioned by the PG Group to write the plan, will be there to hear what you have to say. They have already spoken to a range of people individually and in small groups, so if you have already seen them, please bear in mind that this evening is a chance for others to be heard.

These are the questions we will be considering

• Heritage: What aspects of the area’s heritage do we want to see celebrated within the site?
• Community and Partnerships: How can we create a place that is inclusive and welcoming to all?
• Enterprise and Market: What will attract businesses to the space and make the market an ongoing success
• Public Realm: How else would we like to see the space used, in ways that respect the needs of residents and neighbours?

These are big questions and there is never enough time. As usual Lori will try to pick up on everyone there, but all of us cannot realistically expect to talk about every point, so everyone will have a chance to add their thoughts on post-it notes.

If you are unable to come in person please feel free to send your suggestions, ideas and dreams to CAG:  ideas@carriageworks.org.uk and to Jane and Kim at Jane@willisnewson.co.uk or drop in a note to Willis Newson at Utility House, 3 York Court, Upper York Street, Bristol, BS2 8QF. Please try to keep within the framework of the questions. We will also send round a summary of everything we have received on email and at the meeting after the event.

Following this event, there will be an open day running from 2pm-8pm on Wednesday 12^th September, venue tbc, when Jane and Kim will share the draft ideas being developed from the consultation process in order to seek further feedback and input before the Cultural Plan is drafted in October.

After the Cultural Plan is agreed, we will be looking at management of the site, but that is for another time and outside the scope of this meeting.

Onwards and upwards!

Best wishes Lori and the liaison group.

The Culture of the Carriageworks – your ideas

A short time ago we asked you what you think the Carriageworks should be like in the future? What sort of culture will it have? What will be happening on the site that will appeal to residents, workers, neighbours and visitors?  We said we’d put your answers into a wordcloud.  Well, this is what we have so far.

If you haven’t put in your ideas yet we’ve decided to leave the process open so go to SurveyMonkey and tell us what you think.

What is the Carriageworks Cultural Plan?

When Fifth Capital were granted planning permission back in October 2015 one of the conditions stated:

“Prior to the commencement of any construction works for the development a Cultural Programme Delivery Plan shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. This shall set out the details of the Cultural Programme Steering Group, co-ordinated by an appointed programme manager. This Delivery Plan shall set out clear principles for the delivery of cultural projects to be delivered within the site. Reason: In the interests of the proper management of the site.”

It was also a requirement of the permission that the developers consult and work with local stakeholders, including the Carriageworks Action Group (CAG), on certain planning conditions including the cultural plan, public art, local employment, long term management and external finishes.

From the outset, when we submitted a Cultural Strategy Position Paper (pdf) to PG, CAG has believed that the Cultural Plan should encompass all the cultural aspects of the scheme i.e. economic, environmental and social. As such it can address local employment, long term managment, public art etc. We fully accept that it cannot redefine or change the development, but there are still opportunities to consider and influence how the scheme will be impacted by and impact upon the local area and its culture in the short and long term.

When the Liaison Group met with PG on 12 July it was agreed that we should draft a specification for the Cultural Plan and suggest organisations that might be able to prepare it. Click to read our draft specification (pdf).  When we met again on 30 August there was a lively debate about the Plan, its purpose and who should write it with PG’s consultants taking a different view of its function and its commissioning.  There will likely be further discussion at the Community Meeting on 4 September.

Community Meeting – 4th September ’17

There will be a Community Meeting on Monday 4 September, 6pm at the Kings Centre, King Sq.

PG Group will be attending the meeting.

We will be discussing their proposed changes to the pre-commencement conditions, their programme of work and the commissioning of the Cultural Plan for the site.

EW Godwin in Radio 4’s ‘Great Lives’

The “Great Lives” series on Radio 4 this week will be about EW Godwin, the designer of the Carriageworks.

The format of the programme is that a “famous person” selects their hero and the presenter (Mathew Parris) gets an “expert” to fill in the details of their story.

So for Godwin it’s Gary Kemp, songwriter and guitarist with Spandau Ballet.  Kemp began collecting pieces of Godwin’s work from the 1980s. He’s remained fascinated by the life and work of the man who formed part of the Aesthetic Movement in the 19th century, designed houses for Oscar Wilde and James Whistler, and influenced Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Great Lives is on Radio 4 on Tuesday 4 April at 4.30pm.  93fm in Bristol, 92-95fm elsewhere in UK or online http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_fourfm

More details about the progreamme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08kv5f6 and more on Godwin’s life in Bristol on the PRSC website.

Something nice for the weekend…

Courtesy of the very wonderful Walk off the Earth.  One day they might come to Bristol 🙂

A familar tale?…

By Grayson Perry.  Remind you of anywhere?

Raises interesting questions worthy of much debate over a white cider, homebrew, craft ale or chablis (depending upon which picture you inhabit).

• What do you do when an area becomes totally run down?
• Have things reached rock bottom when the artists move in?
• Once things start to improve does the area attract new types of people?
• Do the old inhabitants get squeezed out or does the regeneration process extend to them as well?
• Are the hipsters, like the cuckoo, the first sign of spring? And do the investor developers follow them just as one season follows another?
• Are high end apartments an inevitable conclusion to the regeneration process?
• And what happens after the bohemian apartments? Does it start all over again?
• Can one place accomodate everyone, old and new, traditional and progressive, ordered and anarchic, conventional and challenging?
• Finally, is it possible (or desirable?) to press a pause button, to freeze the cycle and preserve it in time? And who decides when?

Mull, discuss, respond; because it’s happening in a street near you!

Has Fifth Capital lost the plot?

Marc Pennick, owner and Director of Fifth Capital, went off script when he spoke to the BBC about the open letter from city leaders opposing his plans for the Carriageworks.

The BBC contacted him having seen the letter from, amongst others, David Sproxton of Aardman Animation.  The letter calls into question Pennick’s plans and their failure to provide affordable housing.

But the developer’s formerly tightly managed PR campaign went crashing off the rails not once, not twice but three times when Pennick opened his mouth.

First off in his outburst he said “I don’t need a lecture from someone who makes fictional animations”.  For that, also read ‘I don’t need lectures from local residents’ for that is what many of the signatories to the letter, including David, are. Not clever to insult the locals Marc!

Number 2: Pennick went on “Maybe his time would be best spent on making another Wallace and Gromit animation which will be hopefully better than the last one.”  Ouch! Well loved Bristol company have won many oscars and plaudits for their work, have brought wit and humour to our lives and earned a place in the hearts of every Bristolian.  But Pennick, who has no connection with Bristol, and questionable connection with reality, sees fit to insult the town’s local produce. Lesson number 2 – understand the local culture.

And finally: He got his facts wrong for he claims that it has taken David 28 years to comment – look at our website Marc and you’ll clearly see David taking part in our community consultation in 2011 before Fifth Capital even existed!  Lesson number 3 – do your homework first!

Twitter is alive with people condemning Marc’s outburst. Doubtless Four Communications and Peter Bingle, PR and lobbying consultants to Fifth Capital, are spending Easter trying to recover the damage done.

See the BBC article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-32158549