YTL’s Brabazon to convert 450-acre Bristol airfield into mixed development

A YTL Corporation Bhd project in the UK is set to revamp a 450-acre former airfield in Bristol, England, turning it into a mixed-use development which will include thousands of homes, schools, office buildings, an arena as well as three hotels.

Located several miles north of Bristol’s city centre, the Brabazon project is an urban redevelopment of Filton Airfield, the birthplace of several iconic aircraft, the Financial Times reported.

This includes the Brabazon airliner after which the project is named – one of the largest ever during its maiden flight in 1949 – as well as the UK Concorde.

“We spent a lot of time talking to the local community, and the site needed to reflect the area’s aerospace history,” said Colin Skellett, group chief executive of YTL UK Group.

The project will convert the historic Brabazon hangars into a 20,000-seat arena that will open in early 2029. The development will also boast a 15-acre park with a three-acre lake.

Some 1,700 people currently live on the site, including about 600 students who moved in two months ago. YTL is working to revise the master plan to quadruple the number of homes from 6,500 to 25,000.

Skellet said there would be connective paths and greenery throughout the development, and that YTL is aiming to design for the next 10 to 20 years, when people move about without a car.

As the project continues to expand, the development will benefit from more public transport links, with a new rail station opening this month.

Last year, Brabazon was named one of 12 “new towns” by the UK government, giving the project access to government support for transport links.

Newly appointed prime minister Andy Burnham is, however, moving away from his predecessor’s approach to give local mayors oversight over these new towns.

Skellet was unfazed by losing support from the central UK government, saying YTL’s plans remain unchanged and the project has the backing of the West of England Combined Authority.

“The combination of us as a long-term developer and long-term investor working with a really good combined authority and mayor can make these things happen,” he said.

YTL has poured some 1.25 billion pounds (about RM7 billion) into the project, and is set to spend a further two billion pounds (about RM11 billion).

Brabazon offers double-height ceiling houses and apartments under purchase or build-to-rent schemes, with a two-bed unit selling for 455,000 pounds (about RM2.48 million) and a four-bedder priced at 675,000 pounds (about RM3.69 million).

Baldip Singh, who oversees Brabazon’s development, said many projects in the UK had been hampered by a surge in building costs, but Brabazon was not as affected thanks to YTL’s established presence in the construction industry.

Baldip said most new residents in Brabazon were expected to come from Bristol and London, particularly workers at nearby companies like Airbus, Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.

He said Hongkongers currently comprise 20% of homebuyers, attributing this to word of mouth among the community after Bristol drew large groups of Hongkongers in recent years.

Baldip, who relocated from Malaysia to the UK for YTL in 2022, said YTL is exploring offering laminate floors on top of the traditional carpet flooring to replicate Hong Kong designs, given the demand from Asian buyers.

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