Bristol Channel

The Underfall Boat Yard

The Underfall Boat Yard is owned and managed by the Underfall Restoration Trust.  It was originally built by the dock company in approximately 1880 as a maintenance base.  Members of the Trust rescued the slipway and buildings from derelection in the 1990's, with support from Bristol City Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the South West Regional Development Authority and volunteers.  The yard is a scheduled ancient monument.

Following the restoration, the yard was set up as a working boatyard with individual tenants and small businesses, including a number of Start Up small enterprises.  Most of the tenants are focused on the Classic boat market, but there are also tenants working on leading edge fibre composite applications.

All income from the tenants and the slipway is put back into maintaining the yard and buildings.  Current tenants include shipwrights Win Coops, John Raymond-Barker and Tim Loftus.  The waterside forge is run by Royal Navy trained blacksmith John Perks, and Independent Composites is run by Dan Emuss.  The Trust also takes a keen interest in Bristol Docks as a whole, and in maintaining Bristol's maritime heritage.

New Build Projects 

Current new build projects include a new Bristol Channel Pilot cutter to be launched by John Raymond-Barker in early 2011, while Win Cnoops is building a new gig for the Clevedon club to compete against the two already built for Bristol.  Win has also recently received a new order for an Andrew Wolstenholme designed gentlemen's launch, a slightly longer version than the one shown at the Southampton Boat Show 2010. 

Dan Emuss has just started on the moulds for a new 2.4M design, with an initial production run of 10 boats.

The Underfall Boat Yard's 140 tonne capacity patent slipway is busy well into 2011 with maintenance and repair work on local ferry boats, the Matthew and the various house and restaurant barges based in the harbour.  Elsewhere in the yard a number of private owners are working on projects.

For more information and contacts see www.underfallboatyard.co.uk

Or email: info@underfallboatyard.co.uk

Bristol people urged to participate in Harbourside consultation

Bristol residents will be able to have their say on the development of the Habrourside over the next decade when Bristol City Council's City Centre Action Plan is released for public consultation on 24 February 2012.

The City Centre Action Plan is the blueprint that will chart the development of Bristol Harbourside for the next ten years.

Heritage specialist James Edwards of the real estate advisory organisation Colliers International has said that it it's important that the city's remaining boatyards and working dry docks are given special consideration when the plans for the Harbourside's future are being decided.

Mr Edwards has said that surviving marine operators such as the Albion Dockyard and Underfall Yard play a vital role in preserving the city's maritime heritage and that their operational requirements must be balanced against any commercial, leisure or residential based development schemes which are submitted to planners.

The Bristol public will be able to make their feelings known from 24 February; anyone with concerns about the size, shape and style of development at the Harbourside should ensure that they have their say on future strategies.

^{Guide 2 Bristol news, January 2012.}

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