Plans for new entrance at Bristol Temple Meads

The main entrance to Temple Meads could be moving as plans to redevelop the station progress.

Last year council heads finally started the process of regenerating one of the city’s most historically important buildings after years of promises and failed bids.

At the time Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority appointed a consortium of architects to draft a masterplan for the redevelopment of the 19th century station.

Now more details of the scheme have been revealed to stakeholders during a ‘workshop’ event held by consultancy firm Mott MacDonald which are heading up the consortium.

And according to Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways, which had representatives at the event, one of the big changes in the masterplan is the location of the main entrance.

The current entrance is located at the top of Station Approach, however a large number of passengers actually use the side entrance which passes across the front of the Midland shed and connects to Friary and Temple Back.

And if the masterplan goes ahead, this will become the main entrance to Temple Meads.

There are also plans for a new entrance to the east of the station which will provide access to the proposed Bristol University development on the former sorting office site.

According to FOSBR hardly any details have been revealed about this new entrance, other than there would be no public right of way under the station it would just be used as an entrance.

It comes as plans have been approved for a new walkway that will connect the Floating Harbour with Temple Island.

Proposals released this month show a new pedestrian and cycle bridge along the southern bank of the Floating Harbour between the Temple Meads ferry landing and Cattle Market Road.

This new route will pass under Brunel’s railway viaduct and into Totterdown Basin, where the Floating Harbour meets the Feeder Canal.

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The walkway will end at Cattle Market Road going behind the former Royal Mail Sorting Office which has been demolished to make room for a £300m campus for the University of Bristol.

The new walkway forms part of the infrastructure programme planned to facilitate the development of the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone.

The walkway will be four-metres wide and about 450 metres long.

Plans also include a 1.4m safety barrier that would be fitted to the river side of the pontoon and a ramp would also be provided close to the ferry landing to provide access to the walkway.

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