Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire is seeking lottery money to restore buildings left derelict following industrial change. There are 2.02 ha (five acres) of boarded up buildings left behind by its former rubber industry.
Professor Richard Frewer, head of architecture at Bath University and James Cornish, a Bath architectural graduate, have prepared a plan which envisages a riverside walk and garden, a courtyard of artisan workshops, serviced offices shops and houses on a third of the site.
A bid for about £5m of lottery money will be submitted to the Millennium Commission in November. Avon Rubber, which retains its corporate headquarters in the town is prepared to contribute land and buildings as part of the required matching funding. It hopes the scheme would then unlock the way for commercial and residential development on the rest of the site.
Avon is seeking residential use planning consent for Abby Mill, another disused riverside site nearby in a separate joint venture.
- Financial Times 2/9/96 page 8
