Development – Appraisals, Delivery Plans, Development Management, Partnerships and Regen Cos

Town Centre Regeneration and Masterplanning

Valuation

Chesterfield Borough Council

Objectives

AspinallVerdi and architects WCEC Group were retained by Chesterfield BC to review and update the masterplan for the historic town centre of Chesterfield.  The previous masterplan was produced in 2009 by Urbed which itself was an update of an earlier Scott Wilson masterplan from 2004.

The objective was to establish whether the vision was still relevant in the post credit-crunch era; to establish a clear set of priorities for projects to be delivered; and to address the structural challenges facing the High Street given the pace of technological change.

Tasks

The work was required in a short timescale and the whole process was completed in 5 weeks.  Working with WCEC we – 

• Carried out extensive survey work on-site to establish the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints facing the town centre;
• Reviewed the property market in detail for the town centre;
• Sense checked the projects and ‘quarters’ from the previous masterplan;
• Completed a public consultation event to obtain feedback on the emerging vision; and
• Rationalised the projects and developed clear priorities for delivery – particular enabling projects which would add value and be a catalyst for further development.

Outcomes

We identified a series of cross-cutting themes including: town centre management; public realm projects; major projects and gateways; and ‘big changes in small spaces’ (small projects that would have disproportionate impact).  

 In order to maximise the potential for success, we recommended all of the themes should be continually considered and brought forward in parallel across the town centre.  We also established a series of ‘delivery principles’ to be applied to all projects coming forward in or to help facilitate development.

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