Opinion | Much a do about Temple Meads

By Euan Merrilees, Second Year Philosophy

The University is moving forward with its new Temple Meads campus. Some people have a lot to say, and not all of it good. But, should we be taking some of these criticisms with a pitch of salt?

Until last week, the only thing that I knew about the new Temple Meads campus and accommodation was that it was bad. I heard vague murmurs that it was ugly, inconvenient to locals, a stupid idea, so I decided to believe that it was bad. When it came time for this week's article commissions, I decided to put on my controversy pants and see if I could defend this mess that I heard so much about.

What is so bad about a planned campus and accommodation that is replacing the ugly and dilapidated royal mail sorting house?

However, when I started reading about the development, I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. What is so bad about a planned campus and accommodation that is replacing the ugly and dilapidated royal mail sorting house? The much ado and complaints about Temple Meads are, although very valid,  not anything to worry about.

Firstly, I’ve heard that construction will bother the locals. I took one look on google maps and realised that there aren’t any locals living nearby. All you have there is a marble factory, a local tyre shop, and motion, which would bother most locals with their noisy student patrons. Besides, they probably don’t live there because of the trains.

What is so bad about a planned campus and accommodation that is replacing the ugly and dilapidated royal mail sorting house?

Secondly, there’s the argument that the £300m the university is spending on it would be much better spent somewhere else. This is the argument I’m most sympathetic with, and honestly, you’re preaching to the choir if you say to me that we should spend the money on our mental health services instead. Unfortunately, the University of Bristol seems to be going ahead regardless.

Thirdly, that it’s too darn ugly. I’m not an art critique, neither am I a concept art critique. However, there is a more interesting question at play here; that of modernisation and identity. It is argued that the act of smashing down and rebuilding old buildings, applied on a large scale, would condemn the history of Bristol and many parts of the country into rubble. This was a strange thought for me at first coming from Singapore, a country that would knock down a building and build a new one if it was 20 years old.

There is truth in it. There is a rich history in the aesthetic qualities of Britain's buildings, which is why the nation is so afraid of modernity, which is why we have so many protected buildings.

If the University of Bristol keeps to its promises that it outlines in its commitments of the new campus, then we should see a boom in local businesses around the area.

However, the cold fact of the matter is that this development would bring about a whole lot of good, notwithstanding aesthetics. How? How about 1000 student homes. Sure it is far from the university, but it is closer than Stokes Bishop. It is far closer than Newport. So long as there are adequate transportation and infrastructure then there is no problem. If anything, huge tower blocks of new student housing will be better for rent prices across the board. Not only for students, much to the relief of Bristol Cut the Rent, but also for locals, as an increase in dedicated student housing will free up supply on the housing market.

If the University of Bristol keeps to its promises that it outlines in its commitments of the new campus, then we should see a boom in local businesses around the area. If the promises are kept, then we shall see have a campus that will be the model of an environmental and sustainable future, a place that all other places of learning across the country and the world can look to and learn from.

The sentiment that it is time to stop living in the past and be conscious of the future, is something that most young people share. It is time that we started putting that sentiment into action.

Featured: University of Bristol press office

What do you think about the new campus build?