A Bristol-based packaging firm has outlined plans to move to a new factory in Yate, create 100 new jobs and build 260 new homes on its current site.
Graphic Packaging International says its 1930s factory in Filwood Road in Fishponds, is no longer fit for purpose. The company did get planning permission 12 years ago to demolish it and build new homes there instead, but couldn’t find a suitable location in or around the city to move to at the time, so never moved.
But now the company has found a new site, on the Great Western Business Park, and says the move there will trigger an expansion which will create 100 jobs in the medium term. And bosses at the firm have unveiled what it would like to do to the current factory site, with plans unveiled for 260 new homes.
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The GPI site at Filwood Road is one of three industrial sites in the heart of Fishponds that are being grouped together for major urban regeneration - clearing factory units away and building new homes in their place. The overall project was first unveiled by Bristol Live last week - read more about that here - but now, more detailed plans for one of the three sites has been unveiled, along with the plans for the firm itself to move seven miles away to South Gloucestershire.
Workers at GPI have been told of the proposed move - it’s long been on the cards since the firm first obtained planning permission for new homes back in 2012. That planning permission has lapsed now, so a new planning application is being submitted, for 260 new homes.
Two-thirds of the new homes - around 175 - would be two, three, or four-bedroom houses, and the rest, some 85-90, would be apartments.
GPI said if it obtains planning permission for the new homes, it will then sell the site to a housebuilder, which would then apply for detailed planning permission. The firm is holding a public consultation event at its Filwood Road base on Monday, March 27, from 2.30pm to 7.30pm and is inviting all local residents to come and check out what it wants to do.
“We’ve been at this site for a long time, but it was built in the 1930s and is simply no longer fit-for-purpose,” said Graphic Packaging International’s general manager, Martin Sheppard.
“We’ve planned this move for a long time and – finally – have secured a bespoke building on a long-term lease that will allow us to invest in significant growth that will create 100 new jobs in the medium term.
“Our Filwood Road site sits in the middle of a mainly residential area, with a primary school among our nearest neighbours. Running a large industrial business – with lots of HGVs coming in and out throughout the day – is not ideal. This location if far better suited to new homes.
“Securing planning permission for 260 new homes will allow us to invest in growth and job creation. It will also free up a large, urban, brownfield site for much-needed new homes to help address the ongoing housing crisis Bristol faces,” he added.
The GPI site is one of three sites in the area that last week were unveiled as a major urban regeneration project that’s been called ‘Atlas Place’, which could see thousands of new homes built. As well as Graphic Packaging International, the Castel Ltd site on Goodneston Road and Central Fishponds Ltd - the industrial buildings north of Filwood Road around Verona House - are included in the scheme, which has the backing of Bristol City Council planners to develop a masterplan for the site.
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