News / ss Great Britain
Recreation of Brunel’s Great Western ‘a unique opportunity for Bristol’
SS Great Britain bosses say their latest plans for the Albion Dockyard are “a unique opportunity, and will deliver significant heritage and public benefits for Bristol and beyond”.
At the centre of the scheme will be a recreation of the Great Western, a paddle steamer built in Bristol six years before the propeller-driven steam ship Great Britain.
The latest plans for the ambitious project also include continuing ship repairs in the front portion of the dry dock, , creating access to the dock floor for the first time and moving Brunel’s ‘other’ bridge to the dock.
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Moving the swivel bridge to the site from its current location in the Cumberland Basin has already attracted criticism.
But the SS Great Britain team promise that “specialist Brunel experts and conservers will ensure that the bridge is rescued, relocated back to the Albion Dockyard where it was first constructed and becomes an iconic element of the harbourscape to be enjoyed by locals, harbour users and visitors alike”.
The Albion dockyard clock tower from the 1800s will be recreated, with the interior providing exhibition space and its tower providing views of the harbour and dock – image: SS Great Britain Trust
SS Great Britain Trust director of external affairs, Nerys Watts, said: “The Albion Dockyard project is a unique opportunity, and will deliver significant heritage and public benefits for Bristol and beyond.
“It will enhance the vibrancy of the local and regional economy, and support tourism, educational and skills development, specifically in STEM areas.
“It will enable environmental improvements, and support for nature, with people at the very heart of it.
“The Trust really wants to hear from the public to get thoughts and ideas for taking the project forward, building on the earlier conversations and surveys with local residents, harbour users, communities and organisations.”
PS Great Western was the first paddle steamer built to cross the Atlantic on a regular service, travelling between the Bristol Channel and New York for ten years – image: SS Great Britain Trust
For more information and to take part in the Albion Dockyard project consultation, visit www.ssgreatbritain.org/albion-dockyard-project-consultation
Main image: SS Great Britain Trust
Read next:
- Fears for future of Brunel’s ‘other’ bridge
- ‘So many histories of people are attached to those ships’
- Floating cafe reopens two years after sinking
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