Lakeshore, Bristol

Lakeshore is located in Bishopsworth 2.5 to 3 miles from Bristol City Centre, 2 miles from Temple Meads railway station and 6 miles from Bristol Airport. There is a cycle route into the city centre via Crox Bottom Park, Hartcliffe Way and Bedminster.

The site is irregular in shape and comprised 4.5 hectares (11 acres) in total. It is bordered by the road to the North and the soon to be called ‘Lakeshore Drive’ to the East, Hengrove Way to the South and Crox Bottom Park to the West. The current buildings are on a site occupied, until the 1960s, by Crox Bottom farm. The farm stopped its activities in 1962. Crox Bottom is a public open space at the edge of Hartcliffe and Headley Park and has been proposed as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest in the Bristol Local Plan.[2] The Pigeonhouse Stream runs through the site.

The main route through the site is part of the Malago Greenway, a cyclist/pedestrian route which connects South Central Bristol with Hartcliffe and Withywood.[3] Crox Bottom is a destination for the local Healthy Walking Group. Bristol City Council has undertaken a regeneration programme for the area of South Bristol to create a range of facilities to residents and opportunities for businesses and employment.[4] Imperial Park is next to Lakeshore and contains shops, restaurants and a health and fitness centre. Nearby is also the South Bristol skills academy and Knowle West Media Centre, a charity that develops and supports cultural, social and economic regeneration. Zion is a local community centre nearby offering a range of community facilities and events. 2012 has seen the opening of the Hengrove leisure centre and South Bristol Community Hospital.

Lakeshore was commissioned in 1967 by Imperial Tobacco whose empire included Bristol tobacco company W.D. & H.O. Wills. They announced the relocation of their Tobacco Factory from Bedminster to Hartcliffe in the late 1960s. The building was designed by Chicago architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as well as UK architects Yorke Rosenberg Mardall.[5] They were inspired by modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who designed the Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago.[6] The clean sculptural expression and rationality of the design are key features of his style.[7]

Imperial Tobacco imported the office architecture of Skidmore Owings Merill and built a state of the art factory for preparing, packing and storing cigarettes, along with an HQ office building with ancillary facilities for the staff. Wills acquired the Hartcliffe site and in 1974 started operation of Europe’s largest cigarette factory.[8] It was of futuristic design being clad in Cor-Ten steel, a material with an 800 year design life. The HQ office building housed a variety of facilities for the 4500 employees, ranging from restaurants, a bank, a supermarket and post office to a film theatre.[9]

The Wills Imperial Tobacco Factory has an established history with art and it was Wills' policy that the building should always reflect contemporary art of its time. In the 1970s large banners were commissioned by six artists; Valerio Adami, Richard Smith, Jack Youngerman, Harold Burchman, Joe Tilson and Robyn Denny. They hung in offices throughout the building.[10] Old photographs of Bristol were enlarged and a selection of pipes, old cigarette, tobacco and cigar label were hung in private offices in vacuum-formed Perspex box frames, all on coloured fabric mounts to match coloured chair upholstery. The Wills collections were works by 20th-century British artists and were hung in the director’s suite. A collection of contemporary prints hung in various offices alongside a selection of oil portraits of past employees.

By 1990 the factory and office had closed following a takeover by Hanson plc, 16 years after it was opened. The factory was demolished in 1998 and made way for the current retail park; Imperial Park. The building was left and became subject to vandalism and arson. An attempt was made to demolish the building but English Heritage stepped in and listed the Grade II building for its architectural qualities in 2001 and it was placed on the Buildings at Risk Register.[11] All that remained was the Cor-Ten steel frame and concrete structure and the neglected lake and landscape.[12]

Urban Splash acquired the site in 2003 for £45 million,[13] with £17.5 million of financial support from the Homes and Communities Agency.[14] It received planning permission in 2006.[15] Redevelopment commenced in 2007 and was slowed in October 2008 due to the economic crisis.[16] Following a successful Kickstart Housing Delivery application, work restarted in February 2010 and is progressing to be finished by end of 2012. As of 19 February 2015, Urban Splash sold the freehold of the site to Adriatic Land 3 Limited.

Lakeshore won the Housing Design Award (NHBC, DETR, RTPI, RIBA) in 2007 for its design and sustainable features.[17] It has also been shortlisted for the Guardian Sustainable Business, Best Practice Exchange[18] and Sunday Times British Homes Awards[19]