Filwood Business Park is a green business park built by the Bristol City Council in Knowle West, South Bristol, UK, and a big part of the city’s status as European Green Capital.
Opened in May 2015, it forms part of the wider regeneration of Knowle West and created 350 new job opportunities in the region.
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The £12m (approximately $20m) business park is expected to attract environmental and low-carbon businesses, as well as other B1/B2 user classes while encouraging entrepreneurship and business start-up in the area.
The Knowle West regeneration will also witness the construction of a new public park and up to 150 new and affordable homes.
Award-winning Filwood Green Business Park
BREEAM has judged the Filwood Green Business Park as an Outstanding industrial building, making the building the first such in the South West. Filwood Business Park was also a finalist for BREEAM’s People’s Choice Award.
Created in 1990, BREEAM was the world’s first environmental assessment method and is now used in more than 70 countries.
Filwood Business Park project background
In 2012, the Bristol City Council announced plans to build the business park on the site, which was formerly used to accommodate an aircraft hangar and is currently owned by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). The site had remained undeveloped since 1956 when Whitchurch airport was shut down.
The HCA, which led the project, provided the council with the land and secured outline planning permission to develop the wider Filwood Park located on the old hangar site on Hengrove Way. The HCA also provided key infrastructure and services, as well as a new access road for the park.
Design and features of Bristol’s new business park
Filwood Business Park is spread over 40,000ft² and provides space for offices, hot-desking and workshops. It was designed by architect Stride Treglown to offer all key elements for the development of small businesses.
The centre provides all tenants with a wide range of facilities such as boardrooms, meeting facilities, high-speed broadband and reception services. The building also features Workhub, a space-facilitating interaction and providing a professional work environment for home-based or mobile entrepreneurs.
The business park forms an important landmark on Hengrove Way and will benefit from the Metrobus service, which is scheduled to start in 2017.
Other features of the facility include a wetland ecology area, electric vehicle charging points, new cycling and walking routes, and shower amenities for cyclists.
Sustainability features of Bristol’s Filwood business park
Filwood Green Business Park integrates environmental sustainability with economic and social benefits for the people in the region.
The design of the building minimises carbon footprint to prevent a ‘performance gap’ where low-carbon buildings emanate more carbon than projected.
Using high-performance building materials and on-site energy generation, the building is also expected to achieve a 40% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and save an estimated 46t of carbon a year.
It also consists of green roofs and produces 20% of its energy onsite from renewable sources.
Funding for the Filwood Green Business Park
The project was partly funded by Bristol City Council and also received £5.37m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership Revolving Infrastructure Fund, which is supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, also funded the construction of the Business Park.
Contractors involved with Bristol’s green business location
In January 2014, Bristol City Council appointed Bristol-based Midas Construction as a contractor to build the business park. Stride Treglown provided landscape architecture, interior design and architecture services for the project.
