Aztec West is a

business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, situated in the north of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, near

Bradley Stoke Bradley Stoke is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, situated north-northeast of Bristol city centre.OS Explorer Map, Bristol and Bath, Keynsham & Marshfield. Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). ...

and

Patchway Patchway is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, situated north-north west of central Bristol. The town has become an overflow settlement for Bristol and is contiguous with Bristol's urban area, along with the nearby towns ...

. It is close to the M4 and M5 motorways and the Almondsbury Interchange. Adjacent is the A38 trunk road.

History

The park has been developed since the early 1980s, but some land is still available for future development. The name is said to derive from 'A to Z of Technology' and it was conceived as a science park. It was developed by the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme then sold to Arlington Securities in the mid-1980s.

Architecture

The buildings are in the

high tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the state of the art, cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the ...

and

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

styles and were designed by practices including

Nicholas Grimshaw Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (born 9 October 1939) is a prominent English architect, particularly noted for several modernist buildings, including London's Waterloo International railway station and the Eden Project in Cornwall. He was President of ...

, Michael Aukett, SOM and CZWG. In 2018, selected buildings on Aztec West were listed.

Companies

Aztec West is home to over 100 companies, and 7,000 people work there. The Aztec Centre was opened by

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

on Friday 15 December 1989 and there is a plaque to commemorate this in its entrance. The park includes warehouse/factory units, the four star Aztec Hotel, several office villages, a central retail area and a

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

connected to a bar in a hotel, the first such facility in the UK. Included in the landscaping are three lakes. Nearby are the aerospace industries at Filton and the large business parks at the edge of Bradley Stoke. Companies include

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

Liverpool Victoria Liverpool Victoria, trading since May 2007 as LV=, is one of the United Kingdom's largest insurance companies. It offers a range of insurance and retirement products. History History The first known meeting of the Liverpool Victoria Friendl ...

, HSS Hire, EE, Aardman,

Imagination Technologies Imagination Technologies Group Limited is a British semiconductor and Computer software, software design company owned by Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, a private equity fund based in Beijing that is ultimately owned by the Chinese government. ...

Broadcom Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational designer, developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data cen ...

, Sondrel,

Allianz Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...

, Hoare Lea, Atkins, The Co-operative Legal Services, CGI, Babcock,

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

Handelsbanken Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a leading Nordic countries, Nordic bank with international operations, providing a comprehensive range of financial services including corporate banking, investment banking, trading, and consumer banking such as loans, ...

, Regus, Zuken, Vaillant,

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

, Taylor Wimpey, SCC, SmartStream Technologies Limited and

National Highways National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in Eng ...

Transport

Aztec West is less than half a mile from the M5 Junction 16, and a mile from the Almondsbury Interchange with the M4. It is also in close proximity to the new housing project in Cribbs Causeway. Public transport links are quite limited, although a number of bus services from the Bristol area do run on to Aztec West. The main services are: * 3X Bristol City Centre to Aztec West via Redland and Horfield (operated by Stagecoach West) * 10 Avonmouth to Thornbury via Southmead Hospital and Bristol Parkway Station (operated by Stagecoach West) * 74 Temple Meads Station to

Cribbs Causeway Cribbs Causeway is both a road in South Gloucestershire, England, running north of the city of Bristol, and the adjacent area which is notable for its Out-of-town shopping centres in the United Kingdom, out-of-town shopping and leisure facilitie ...

via Bristol Parkway and Bradley Stoke (operated by First West of England) * m1 Hengrove Park to Cribbs Causeway via Bristol City Centre, UWE and Bradley Stoke (operated by First West of England) * T1 Bristol to Thornbury via Bradley Stoke (operated by First West of England) All buses stop at the various bus stops located around the Aztec West roundabout just outside of the business park. Currently the only bus to run around the business park loop road (Park Avenue) is the 3X, although certain journeys on service 10 also serve Park Avenue. The nearest railway station is , located about 1½ miles away. However, Bristol Parkway, which is located around 3 miles away, can be reached more easily and two bus services (10 and 73) run at frequent intervals throughout the day connecting Aztec West to the station. Bristol Airport, south of Bristol, can be reached in about 40–45 minutes by car or bus.

References

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External links

Belles Express Timetable & Fares
South Gloucestershire District Business parks of England Postmodern architecture in the United Kingdom