Work starts on tunnel for new £23m Bristol Temple Meads entrance

The new eastern entrance will cost £23m to build

Building work on a tunnel for a new £23m entrance to a railway station has started.

Initial work on the site of Bristol Temple Meads' new eastern entrance started in 2021, and is expected to be finished by 2024.

The project is part of the Temple Quarter regeneration programme.

West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris said the entrance would bring money into the city, but added "we've got to get it right".

Work to create the tunnel began on Tuesday, and will see around 250 cubic metres (88 tonnes) of material removed to form a subway.

"This is the important first stage," Mr Norris said.

The development is part of the Temple Quarter Regeneration Project

The Bristol Temple Quarter programme has been allocated £94.7m of government funding and will include new homes and a hotel.

It is a joint venture between Bristol City Council, Homes England, the West of England Combined Authority and Network Rail.

In January, a new company will be set up to lead the project, then a developer will be assigned in the spring.

Workers started removing material to create a new tunnel into the station on Tuesday

The new entrance will open into a new university campus.

Bristol University chief property officer Barra Mac Ruairi said the work at the campus next to Temple Meads Station had already "been a challenge".

"We had to lift the ground more than 1m in terms of flood plain and there was a lot of stuff in the ground that we had to deal with," he said.

"We're right next to a really important historic railway and a new entrance, the floating harbour and also the Avon, so how you integrate through that and plan a very tight site at that scale is a challenge.

"It's a technical challenge but we've overcome it."

The eastern entrance is set to open in 2026, when a new university campus nearby should be ready.