Bristol City Council - Invest in Bristol

Reasons to Invest in Bristol

1. People & Skills: Employers have access to a 600,000 workforce and the greatest proportion of highly qualified workers of comparable English cities. 

2. Business Success: Bristol is rated as the most competitive English Core City. International companies in Bristol include Airbus in the UK, Rolls-Royce, Aardman Animations, Garrad Hassan, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba.

3. Communications: Bristol offers excellent access to other UK and European cities via its road and rail network, Bristol International Airport and the Port of Bristol.

4. Science and Innovation: Bristol, an officially designated Science City, contains the UK’s third most powerful research cluster.

5. Green Capital Status: Bristol was the only UK city to be shortlisted for the European Green Capital Award.

6. Office and industrial premises: Bristol has over three million sq metres of office and industrial floor space. Total office occupancy costs in Bristol at £38 sq.ft.p.a. are less expensive than comparable cities including Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.

7. Temple Quarter Eco-Cluster offers occupiers BREEAM “excellent” offices and unrivalled transport links.

8. Quality of Life: Bristol offers the best quality of life for employees among the English Core Cities (Cushman and Wakefield’s UK Cities Monitor 2008).

9. Shopping: Cabot Circus, Bristol’s new award-winning £500m retail and leisure development, provides an excellent choice of high quality stores.

10. Corporate Relocation Assistance: Bristol City Council’s Reception Service and Investor Development Service offer dedicated support tailored to your needs.

Assistance and Support For New Business Investors

Reception Service for Major Investors

Bristol City Council and our partners are committed to providing your company with high quality tailored support to ensure your investment in Bristol is successful.

Bristol City Council's Reception Service can help you to:

• Find business sites or premises
• Make the business case for investing in Bristol
• Link to key networks and agencies able to provide support services including staff recruitment and training
• Deal with statutory and regulatory issues including planning, health and safety, employing people, business rates, etc.
• The Reception Service is part of a suite of services that Bristol City Council provides to encourage, facilitate and support major investment in the city.

Other elements include:

• The Planning Protocol: This provides a clear protocol for applicants and Bristol City Council to work together to effectively process major planning applications.
• The Investor Development Service: Our aftercare service for major investors ensures that your move continues to be supported in the long term.

Existing Business Base

Bristol is a major European business location and the most productive of the English Core Cities with a GVA per head of £26,675.

 Key Sectors

• Aerospace and Defence
• Creative & Media Industries
• Electronics and Telecommunications
• Environmental Technologies and Services
• Financial and Business Services
• Further and Higher Education
• Public Sector
• Tourism and Leisure

Bristol was the only UK city to be short-listed for the EU Green Capital Award and was rated as the most competitive English Core City in the UK Competitiveness Index 2008.

The city is home to many renowned foreign owned companies and more than a third of UK owned FTSE 100 companies have a significant presence in the Bristol area.

Leading companies include Aardman Animations, Airbus in the UK, AXA Sun Life, BBC, Burges Salmon, Constellation Europe, GKN Aerospace, Garrad Hassan, Hargreaves Lansdown, Hewlett Packard, Lloyds Banking Group, Orange, Rolls-Royce and Toshiba Research Europe.

Bristol is celebrating a series of recent high profile investments including Cabot Circus, the award-winning (MAPIC 2008) £500m retail and leisure development in Bristol city centre, the construction of Hargreaves Lansdown's new £30m HQ on the City Harbourside and the building of Burges Salmon's new HQ in Temple Quay.

Central government organisations are also a prominent feature of the local economy. The Ministry of Defence's Defence Equipment and Support Agency, the Environment Agency and the Planning Inspectorate are among Government agencies with HQ functions in the city.