Alsop Architects has unveiled plans to regenerate Bradford by redeveloping its centre as Yorkshire’s answer to Geneva.
At the heart of the masterplan is a proposal to create an artificial lake and urban park in front of the City Hall.
Alsop also wants to reopen some of the canals and waterways which were drained and filled as the city expanded.
The proposed regeneration programme will also highlight the city’s many architectural landmarks, such as The Wool Exchange, St George’s Hall, Eastbrook Hall, The Alhambra, and the Cathedral.
The proposals went on public display in Bradford’s Dillons bookstore on Wednesday at the start of a three-month consultation period. If approved, the masterplan will be implemented over 15 years.
Alsop has outlined three other areas for development in central Bradford:
· The Market area, which runs from Queen’s Gate to Kirkgate through the Rawson Quarter to the John Street Market, would include new community health and meeting facilities in Westgate as well as new retail.
· The Valley area, which stretches along the Thornton Road corridor, would be regenerated as a wetland area with a playground and a “multi-sensory garden”.
· A reopened waterway called “The Channel” would link into the new Broadway retail scheme and become a location for residential development.
Stannifer recently won planning consent for the £200m Broadway scheme, although the URC and Yorkshire Forward are demanding improvements in the design and scale of the scheme before they will help finance it.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister declined to call in the scheme, but insisted that Stannifer and the council review the proposals in the light of the masterplan before crucial European funding is released.
Urban Regeneration Company Bradford Centre Regeneration commissioned Alsop Architects to draw up the masterplan. Earlier in the year, Alsop published proposals to reinvent Barnsley as a Tuscan hill town.
References: EGi News 16/10/03
