TV personality and architect George Clarke will be helping us finalise our £1bn town centre transformation masterplan when he takes part in an expert panel at the property event, MIPIM.
The host of Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces will moderate a panel of experts, which also includes Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff – former England cricketer and director of Logik developments – as well as celebrated property faces from the north west at the Manchester Pavilion on Wednesday 14 March.
Our masterplan for Bolton town centre comprises five core schemes:
• Trinity Quarter – a mixed Grade A office and residential development with a new hotel, office block and multi-storey car park. There will be a new pedestrian route through Trinity Quarter, anchored by open space via four interlinked squares.
• Cheadle Square – housing and apartments on the former bus station site, including student housing on Queen Street, a mixed-used development to complement cultural venues such as the Octagon, Library and Museum, and a pedestrian route between the Town Hall and Le Mans Crescent with Queens Park.
• Crompton Place – transforming the empty BHS store with an upper floor food court overlooking Victoria Square, possibly expanding the Primark site and a new pedestrian access between Bradshawgate and Hotel Street.
• Church Wharf – a new town centre ‘quarter’ with apartments and town houses, and pedestrian route along the River Croal.
• Croal Valley/Central Street – houses and flats overlooking an improved river frontage with ‘pocket parks’ along the river.
Bolton Council is committed to providing £100m of development funding and the total value of the masterplan will rise to £1bn as private sector partners are secured. We believe that the redevelopment of these five sites will unlock the true potential of our historic town centre, creating 1,800 mixed-use homes, 7,400 jobs and economic activity worth an additional £412m to the Bolton economy up to and beyond 2030.
George Clarke said: “My time as an architect has included much time spent in the north west of England, and the transformational potential of Bolton Council’s Masterplan represents a key element of the wider regeneration of Greater Manchester at the centre of the Northern Powerhouse.”
Bolton Council’s Director of Place, Stephen Young, added: “With the guidance of George, we look forward to sharing with an international audience our ambitious plans to revitalise Bolton town centre, and also to hearing of the plans and progress being made in Stockport and Oldham.”
Also taking part on the panel next week are Caroline Simpson, corporate director for place at Stockport Council, Tom Stannard, director of economy and skills at Oldham Council and Mike Horner, regional director for Muse Developments.
You can find out more about our plans for the city centre here.