Nottingham City Council’s wide-ranging plans to dramatically transform and regenerate the Broadmarsh area of Nottingham city centre, which were unveiled last week, are now on display in Lister Gate Square in intu Broadmarsh.
The proposals, including four possible designs for the Collin Street public space, will be on display until Tuesday 22 December.
The scheme is expected to boost the local economy by over £1 billion a year, create nearly 3,000 jobs for local people and attract an extra three million people a year to the city. Alongside intu’s proposed redevelopment of Broadmarsh, Nottingham Castle’s redevelopment and the Skills Hub scheme, it will transform the southern end of the city centre into a top-class destination for retail, leisure and education. Collectively, these schemes represent a £250 million investment in the city.
At the centre of the council’s new proposals are plans to redevelop the current Broadmarsh Car Park and Bus Station into a 21st century facility. Opportunities will be created for cafés and commercial units on the ground floor, as well as 1,150 improved parking spaces being provided on the upper floors, transforming the current layout of the bus station and introducing state-of-the-art public transport information facilities to better serve the thousands of bus passengers who use the station each day.
Significant changes to the streets in the Broadmarsh area include:
• Creating a brand new public space on Collin Street linking intu Broadmarsh with the new cafés and other commercial outlets on the ground floor of the car park building and creating a pedestrian-friendly street
• High-quality paving with landscaping, public art, a water feature and outdoor cafés, transforming Collin Street into a safe and attractive space for people to enjoy
• Making the public space on Collin Street capable of hosting major events in the day and night, helping to further boost the city’s reputation for hosting top-class entertainment and activities
• Improving pedestrian approaches from the south with upgraded streets, safer junctions and better pedestrian flows in the area
• Rerouting traffic currently using Collin Street and Canal Street onto London Road, Queen’s Road, Sheriffs Way and Waterway Street West and moving buses currently stopping at Collin Street onto Canal Street to better connect with the transformed bus station; relocating the car park’s vehicle entrance / exit to Middle Hill.
The core development area is book-ended by Nottingham Castle to the west, poised for a £24 million transformation, and a new Skills Hub to the east, due to be developed by Central College and New College Nottingham as a new flagship building just off Middle Hill. These developments, combined with intu’s plans for the shopping centre and the council’s plans for the surrounding area, are expected to attract an extra three million visitors a year, bringing with them an estimated £25 million increase in spending.
Councillor Jon Collins, Leader of Nottingham City Council and Portfolio Holder for Strategic Regeneration and Development, said: “We unveiled our plans to transform the Broadmarsh area last week to key partners and the media and published them on our website, but we wanted to give people chance to view the plans in person and are grateful to intu for providing the space for us to do that. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform this part of the city, to grow the city as a whole and to boost the city centre economy and I would like to encourage people to take a look at what we are planning.”
Councillor Nick McDonald, Portfolio Holder for Jobs, Growth and Transport, said: “As well as our overall plans for the area, this exhibition includes more detailed proposals for Collin Street. We will see what people have to say about the Collin Street area and then make a decision about which elements to incorporate into our overall plans as they develop over the next few years. We want visitors arriving in this part of the city to get a good impression of Nottingham so they will keep on coming back and we want to create a scheme that residents can be proud of.”
Work to transform the Broadmarsh area will start early next year and will be delivered through a co-ordinated and staged programme of improvements, estimated to take around four years to complete. The planning application for Broadmarsh Car Park and Bus Station, further information about the scheme and artist’s impressions can be viewed at www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/broadmarsharea. Comments can be sent to broadmarsh.area@nottinghamcity.gov.uk. Further consultation will be carried out on various aspects of the scheme as they come forward over the coming weeks and months.