Aztec West
Aztec West is a business park in South Gloucestershire, situated at the northern fringes of Greater Bristol, near Bradley Stoke and Patchway. It is close to the M4 and M5 motorways and the Almondsbury Interchange. Adjacent is the A38 trunk road.
Public transport links are generally poor, although some bus services do run to Aztec West, the main service being 73. The 73 is operated by First Bristol, and only enters the main complex at peak times, with connections to Cribbs Causeway Bus Station (marked Cribbs Causeway) and Bristol Parkway, MoD Abbey Wood, Gloucester Road and Bristol City Centre (marked Centre). The Park has no direct rail links. The nearest railway station is at Patchway about a mile and a half away. The mainline station, Bristol Parkway, is about three miles away and has a cab rank.
Bristol International Airport, south of Bristol, can be reached fairly easily via the M5 by car.
Aztec West is home to over 100 companies, and more than 7,000 work there. The park includes a number of warehouse/factory units, the 4 star Aztec Hotel, Black Sheep pub, several office villages and a central retail area. Included in the landscaping are three lakes. Nearby are the aerospace industries at Filton and the large business parks at the edge of Bradley Stoke.
Companies featured include Orange, Interroute, Atkins, LogicaCMG, Aardman and RAC. Aardman Animations have won 4 film Oscars, the most recent being for "Wallace & Gromit:The Curse of the Were Rabbit" in 2006, the filming of which was entirely done in the Aztec West studio.
The park has been slowly developed since the early 1980s, but some land is still available for future development.
The name is said to derive from 'A to Z of Technology' and it was originally conceived mainly as a science park - it was funded by the 'Electricity Supply Nominees' on the half of the Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) pension fund.