Bristol

Coastal Management 2025 will take place in Bristol in the southwest of England.

Having started life as Brigg Stow, the Old Saxon for “meeting place at the bridge”, Bristol has evolved from a village on the banks of the River Avon into a thriving modern city and next September it will host Coastal Management 2025.

91-m long Castle Bridge in central Bristol

About Bristol

Home to nearly 500,000 people, it’s renowned for its creative, media, aerospace and electronics industries. It also boasts a wealth of civil engineering projects that provide a direct link to the ICE.

Bristol’s location on the lower reaches of a navigable river has meant that maritime industries have played a key role in the city’s development. Avonmouth Docks, part of the Port of Bristol, remain an important shipping terminal to this day, attracting significant private investment in recent years.

SS Great Britain, built by Brunel and now located in Bristol’s waterfront

About Bristol

During the conference, we’ll be hosting the gala dinner aboard SS Great Britain, one of the first iron-hulled vessels to be powered by a screw propeller. When it was launched in 1843, it was one of the largest and most advanced ships in the world.

Both SS Great Britain and Bristol’s iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge, towering high above Avon Gorge, were designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The bridge was unfinished when Brunel died in 1859, but his fellow ICE members raised more funds for the much-delayed project, ensuring the bridge’s completion as a fitting memorial.

Pastel-coloured terraced houses in Bristol

About Bristol

Coastal Management 2025’s offsite visit will give delegates the chance to venture out of the city centre to Avonmouth Dock.

Situated on the north bank of the Avon where it meets the Severn estuary, the dock was created in the late 19^th century to accommodate large ships that struggled to navigate upriver to Bristol Harbour. Along with Royal Portbury Dock on the other side of the river, it forms the Port of Bristol, which serves as an important deep-water freight terminal to this day.

The visit will include talks from representatives of the Bristol Port Company and the Environment Agency, followed by a tour of assets forming part of the Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area’s ecology mitigation and flood defence project.