Whatever your thoughts about the toppling of the Colston statue, and sadly it has polarized opinion locally and nationally, we can all agree he made a hell of a splash when thrown into the city docks. The ripples have taken the name and spirit of Bristol around the world, like nothing else has been able to do since Cabot discovered Newfoundland over 500 years ago. … Continue reading Bristol in the Dock

The return of destructive planning Bristol’s history, special character and environment are under assault from more damaging development than we have experienced in the past 50 years, but we are in danger of sleep walking through it.  Soon after I had qualified as an architect, Times journalist Adam Fergusson published The Sack of Bath (1973), a slim but hard hitting book that has been credited … Continue reading The Sack of Bristol 

As published in the Journal of the Academy of Urbanism, Winter 2016. This is a story of a very personal mission in placemaking and real regeneration that I have undertaken over the past 20 years in my home city of Bristol, well before becoming its first elected mayor in 2012! What is now known as the Tobacco Factory, built in 1910, is a 4 storey, … Continue reading Bridging the divide in Bristol