Regeneration of Bristol’s docks

Dick Penny, MBE

Thirty years ago, before this building was converted to Watershed, the whole area was derelict; a lot of jobs had been lost and many jobs had moved out of the city centre due to its dereliction. There was a real move to regenerate the city centre and it was cultural organizations like Watershed that made the area desirable and got people to use the city centre again. Because of the rehabilitation of spaces and the creation of new destinations, other businesses began to grow here as well. Around Watershed we now have an environment that is very vibrant, full of life and that's economically very buoyant, with cafes, bars, lots and lots of businesses, hotels. Watershed hosts a lot of international film festivals that bring people from all over the world to Bristol. We showcase films from all over the world and bring the creative talent behind them to Bristol. Critically, we showcase local production – which may well be shown internationally but Watershed is the place where people come together to celebrate what's happening in their the city. The regeneration of the docks area, which followed on from the regeneration of the Watershed buildings, has brought a multimillion pound investment into the city centre. Watershed itself has increased its own economic impact: we now have a turnover of about 5 million Euros a year, we employ 74 people and we play an active role within the community. Together with one of the local universities and with Hewlett-Packard we set up an innovation lab, housed in a nearby building, which brought in a million Euros for research and development to local businesses. This way we act as a catalyst to help set up new creative businesses. Watershed has thus had a double impact on Bristol. The first was to catalyse the regeneration of the derelict area around the docks. The second was helping to catalyse innovation in the creative media sector, which has led to a rapid growth in the number of businesses based in the city, and also in the number of people employed in the area.

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Dick Penny, MBE

Dick Penny, MBE

Managing Director of the Watershed Media Centre in Bristol, United Kingdom

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