4^th July 2008

Issued on behalf of The Concorde Trust

by The Mall at Cribbs Causeway

Permanent home for Concorde gets the green light from planners

The campaign to secure a permanent home for Concorde 216 has taken a big step forward after South Gloucestershire Council today granted outline planning permission for an Aviation Museum at Cribbs Causeway. The next priority is to raise the £10 million needed to complete the project.

Once funding is in place, a Museum to house the supersonic airliner will be built on a three acre site behind The Venue at Cribbs Causeway and just north of Filton runway where the iconic plane was originally constructed and is now situated. The site will be leased from JT Baylis Land Development Partnership.

The proposed 40,000 sq ft visitor centre will be housed in a stylish new building with space to 'show-off' the historic 200 feet long airliner plus room for supporting exhibits and displays, a shop and a café. Around 100,000 people are expected to visit the Museum each year.

The site includes space for car parking, a coach drop-off area as well as easy access for those travelling by public transport or arriving on foot from elsewhere within Cribbs Causeway.

As well as providing an all-weather opportunity for the public to see Concorde 216, the new visitor centre aims to engage and inspire future generations to continue Bristol's proud engineering traditions.

The Aviation Museum has been championed by many local organisations including Airbus UK, Atkins, JT Baylis & Co, Bristol Aero Collection, Bristol International Airport, British Airways, Rolls-Royce, South Gloucestershire Council and The Mall at Cribbs Causeway. In 2007 a charitable trust, called The Concorde Trust, was formed to push the scheme forward. The Trustees have welcomed today's announcement.

Trustee Jon Edwards, commercial director at The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, said: "Obtaining planning consent for a site within a successful retail and leisure destination is a big piece of the jigsaw in securing a permanent and fitting home for Concorde. We are delighted.

"Our next major challenge is to appoint a Project Director and secure the necessary funding. We are confident that there is strong support to enable us to achieve this."

Edward Whelan, managing director of JT Baylis & Co, the property development firm founded by the late Jack Baylis, said: "We are very proud to support this initiative to build a permanent home for this iconic masterpiece of British engineering, alongside its birthplace and the attractions at Cribbs Causeway."

Concorde 216

Concorde 216 made the final flight of any Concorde anywhere in the world in November 2003 when it flew back to Filton. At present, access to Concorde by visitors is controlled, due to the airliner being within an operational factory site and also because it is too near the runway for a building to be erected over it.

Tours of Concorde 216 remain popular and are conducted by Bristol Aero Collection volunteers on Wednesdays to Sundays. Tours can be booked on line at www.concordeatfilton.org.uk or by telephoning the Visitor Centre (Wednesday to Sunday) on 0117 936 5485.

The new indoor visitor centre with easy access for the public, without the need for booking in advance, will be of great benefit for visitors, for the volunteer guides and for the long term preservation of the aircraft.

Concorde 216 has more historical significance than any other Concorde, being the final supersonic airliner to be built, having made the final flight of any Concorde in the world, the final supersonic flight and the final Concorde landing. In more local terms it is also the last whole aircraft to be produced on the Filton site. In its visitor centre Concorde 216 will be within easy sight of the runway from which each of the British-assembled Concordes made its first flight and the hangar in which they were assembled.

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