Sparks Bristol, Bristol, for Artspace and Global Goals Centre, with Invisible Circus

Located in a former department store, Sparks Bristol offers visitors retail and education opportunities. Visitors can experience a range of shops, installations, events and more in each curated department. The upstairs is a hub for local artists, offering affordable studios, rehearsal and performance space.

Who is on the project team? (designer, consultants, etc)

Registered charities Artspace Lifespace (1168150) and Global Goals Centre (1187048),

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

Sparks Bristol, emerged as a response to the closure of a much-loved department store, in an iconic post-war building in the central shopping area of Broadmead. The 2022 closure of this former flagship M&S store, first opened in 1952, was widely recognised as a sad loss for the already struggling shopping area. Broadmead is one of four areas which make up the ‘Bristol Shopping Quarter’, the city’s primary retail destination. Despite its long history Broadmead was rather outshone by the opening of Cabot Circus in September 2008. This brand new £500 million flagship retail and leisure destination, advocating for ‘Taking Centre Stage’, drew retailers and shoppers away from Broadmead. Although still a busy thoroughfare, vacant premises speak of Broadmead’s decline, hastened by the covid-19 lockdown. The Broadmead Business Improvement District (BID), just entering its fifth term, is working with local businesses and partners to address serious concerns over anti-social behaviour, rough sleeping and retail crime in the vicinity. In 2022 the four-storey department store, owned by the Council, was taken on by a new partnership. Artspace Lifespace an arts charity recycling vacant buildings and environmental education charity Global Goals Centre, collaborated on a vision to create an arts and sustainability hub. Introduced to the vacant premises by Hammond & Associates the two charities have succeeded in bringing together local, sustainable producers, retailers and creatives to breathe life into this vast space, transforming it into a ‘department store with a difference’ on a meanwhile use basis.

Please share any data or figures that support your entry, for example increased footfall, happiness surveys, event attendance and/or observed changes in behaviour.

Since opening on 13th May 2023 we have had 376,411 visitors to the Ground Floor as of 21st January 2024. There has been strong engagement with Sparks to date and many visitors have expressed their admiration, visitor Caz Milford said, “Each area has its own department, and there’s a strong message of reuse and recycle throughout. It’s very Bristol. I personally thought it was a great use of an empty building, it looks fab”, “I love this place so much, I wish it existed everywhere” said another visitor. “Thank you so so much for letting us showcase our work at Sparks. The vibes were amazing, it was wonderful to see Sparks alive with people passing by constantly. All the workers are wonderful and created such a lovely energy within the building. We were so knackered by the end of the day as it was quite a constant flow of people stopping by” Axel Drioli, Sounding Wild. Feedback from our ‘Sparkler’ Weronika: “a person from New Forest noticed Sparks when they got off the bus, they told me that coming in was the most interesting thing they’ve done all day. They were into nature and conservation and loved learning about what’s being done in that area in Bristol.” 

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? If if it was a temporary intervention, is there a legacy plan? What happened to its tenants, users, materials and programming?

Sparks has saved over 14000 items from landfill not including the repurposed film sets we used for our build and the furniture donations from Collecteco. Meanwhile building projects are always a risk and we consider the community benefit opportunity in any new meanwhile project we agreed to take on. We’ve already seen a strong social return on our investment and have been inspired by the connections and partnerships developed at Sparks, and the potential for independent organisations to drive the revitalisation of the high street and sustainable redevelopment of Broadmead. In December 2023 we were able to announce that our lease term has been extended to December 2025. In December 2023 the City Centre Development and Delivery Plan was approved at a council cabinet meeting. “It was great that the City Centre Plan was also approved, which is as you know references Sparks and is highlighting the value of people, community and culture for future regeneration.” said a Senior Arts Development Officer | Bristol Culture & Creative Industries. Artspace Lifespace recently attended a panel organised by Bristol City Council to support Bristol’s economic strength and diversity, BCC has incorporated a specific policy on affordable workspace within the new Local Plan (policy E6) which has been published. As a meanwhile project, any future development proposals would not be prejudiced. Nevertheless any future development will be mindful of the expectation in the local plan that existing cultural and community facilities will be retained in accordance with the relevant policies in the plan.