The Bristol-based developer aiming to transform the city’s Galleries shopping centre is keen to get the public’s response to what it is calling a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a world-class, sustainable, vibrant destination”.
Deeley Freed is shortly to submit outline plans to Bristol City Council for the scheme, which will include several hundred flats, offices and a hotel as well as retail units.
It has said it wants the redevelopment of the 70-store centre, which opened in 1991, to be more ‘people friendly’ with open spaces, wider pavements and cafes.
It has spent the past four years working with The Galleries’ owner LaSalle Investment Management on the scheme.
When the refurbishment was first made public two years ago Deeley Freed said footfall in The Galleries was down 35% from pre-pandemic levels.
Deeley Freed, which has been responsible for some of the biggest property schemes in Bristol over recent decades, said its outline plans for the 1.5-acre site were nearly finished but it still wanted to hear from the public.
Among its proposals are 8,000 sq m of retail, food and drink space in a range of units, 46,000 sq m of workspace – which could provide employment for 3,450 people – 450 homes overlooking Castle Park and accommodation for a 750 students, a 250-bedroom hotel and a new community building and public hub in the heart of the scheme providing secure parking, toilets and changing facilities.
A spokesperson said: “This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity looks to reinvent this important city centre destination, opening it up to Castle Park and Broadmead and providing a much more diverse day and night offer that includes shops, food, entertainment, community facilities, and open space on the ground floor, with new homes above.
“The extensive level of work so far has focused on making sure this works for Bristol: creating an inclusive place people want to visit, live and work in, that responds to the changing face of retail and the city’s housing, climate and ecology crises, and celebrates the jewel that is Castle Park and the Floating Harbour.”
Consultation events include webinars on Wednesday 21 February at 6.30pm and Thursday 22 February at 12.30pm and a walking tour talking of the site with the Deeley Freet team on Wednesday 21 February at noon.
