Bristol Zoo (Closed) Bristol Zoo - 2022 planned closure of current site, and relocation to Wild Place site.

It seems like this overall plan may have been the direction of the zoos for a while, but I definitely get the sense that the schematics and plans were thrown together quickly (due to their vagueness the lack of answers on the collection). Phase 1 seems to be fairly fleshed out, although I doubt any plans have been drawn up at this point. I doubt much thought was put into phase 3, as much as deciding on what areas of the park will be developed for it. I hope they can eventually whenever this phase happens move the giraffes down to this area, creating a larger Africa zone, but this obviously low priority.

 

I feel sad for the staff of Bristol Zoo. I’ve seen & felt first hand what it’s like having been through the heartbreaking closure of Living Coasts. However, this feels different and could be really positive. Wild Place is excellent and if modern reptile & nocturnal houses were built I think most would be happy.

 

@TriUK I was gutted when Living Coast’s closed. Is there any news on the fate of Living Coast’s moving forward?

 

Wild Place will now have to build a larger car park, entrance, toilet blocks, maintenance stores, food prep areas etc.
I wonder if the huge (unused) metal aviary frame towering above the current Tree Kangaroo exhibit could be re-located, along with some of the more recent Gorilla house fixings?

 

It is interesting what you mention about the barometer of an animals popularity being cuddly soft toys I've never thought of that one before.

Also interesting about the constant interest and attraction for the public being megafauna.

 

Very sad!!! Bristol zoo staff are amazing, we're always extremely friendly whenever I collected animals and would take me on a guided tour of a different area each time.

However I'm pleased that one site will remain, however the clifton site is iconic. Surely most of it is listed, more flats/student accommodation for the city perhaps.

 

All good points. It has excellent easy access from the M5 but will need bigger carparks and all the other visitor infrastructure too. It would be great if they could use that massive aviary frame, I never quite understood what it was built for and its never been used really. As to the gorillas, they will have to build something at WildPlace for them before they move( unless they send them away temporarily) but maybe they could salvage existing materials for a second phase. Lots of possibilities open up here.

 

I recall seeing the original plans for Wild Place on the wall on the way out of Bug World - and as such I am not suprised at this decision and hope that it ensures a future for the collection. I will miss Bristol Zoo - it has been a favourite of mine for a long time - but there is no getting away from the fact there is massively more potential at the Wild Place site for both the animals and visitors. Like it or not, attracting families on a repeat basis takes more than holding a collection that the members of Zoochat can get excited about and what Bristol currently has to offer is obviously not cutting it. I'm sad to hear this news but progress and change is certainly better than closed forever. Good luck to them - I hope it is an unmitigated success!

I don't understand how you can hold this opinion about a collection you have not even visited?

 

Read my subsequent posts made after that comment as they reflect better my views and hopes that Bristol zoo will continue and get stronger as a result of this.

I still think that I would rather that wildplace bit the dust than Bristol zoo but as I've said above I hope they go from strength to strength with this new move (but I would much rather that "Noah's ark" bit the dust than either of these).

Regarding wildplace the Bristol zoo / wild place thing is complicated and I'd rather not elaborate on it or the politics of it either (because it wasn't just an issue of declining visitor numbers).

 

Very little is listed, in fact - just three buildings, the most significant being the entrance building that they aren't selling anyway and the 'giraffe house' (i.e. the current gorilla house). Otherwise the only other listed building is the old Guthrie Road entrance area. The press coverage does indicate that the gardens will remain mostly as they are and new housing will go into existing buildings, interestingly. If that remains the case, although it will no longer be a working zoo, an awful lot of the history could be preserved regardless (which would be very pleasing). I do wonder about the plans for the more overtly zoo-y outdoor sections (Seal and Penguin Coasts, for instance).

 

The BBC report yesterday gave the impression that the entrance would be saved and this article gives more details

Bristol Zoo to be relocated in South Gloucestershire

"The Executive Board and Trustees of Bristol Zoological Society will be leading a planning permission process to ensure that the future of the Clifton site is leaves a lasting legacy.

It will include an ‘urban conservation hub’ in the zoo’s iconic main entrance building to ensure the heritage and story of the Clifton site will continue to be told. This would also become the base of the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project community and conservation programmes, an exhibition of Bristol Zoo Gardens’ heritage and a café."

 

I would imagine that the gardens that remain will form green spaces between the new buildings. The Penguin and Seal coast is obviously an area that has already been built on so that will be demolished to make way for new buildings.

I wish them all the best. It’s an exciting time for the Zoo. They will be moving from a 12 acre site to a 136 acre site. The possibilities are endless, and I hope they manage to rinse any prospective developer for every last £million to maximise the potential they now find themselves with.

 

What about the Monkey Temple...? I imagine among the constructions that would go would be things like Seals & Coasts and the whole ex ZonaBrazil/ former stable areas.

 

Monkey Temple isn't listed, so it's down to the preference of the new owners and the planning people. It could either be kept as a garden feature, or demolished.

 

Would make a fine pagoda...

 

It's not Bristol related but nothing has been mentioned in the local media so far, aside from some vague assertions that they'd like to keep it in a similar use - which is probably not possible given the animals are going and the local zoo failed to run it.

I dare say it'll be a hotel/expanded hospitality complex or luxury flats given the way Torbay is developing. There hasn't been a new tourist attraction built since....Living Coasts.

 

it'll be a shame to see the aquarium building demolished considering it's history.

 

elephants have never been mentioned for wild place even in the original plans ,

 

some present infrastructure could be moved to wild place , i believe the tropical house at marwell not the new one was originally at windsor it taken down and rebuilt at marwell . im sure bristol could do the same .

 

The aquarium and reptiliarium.