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Regeneration Leaders Network Redeveloping Hereford: Old livestock market to retail & leisure destination On 16th October, The

Regeneration Leaders Network (RLN) assembled in Hereford along with the members of the local community to learn about the only major city centre development in the UK scheduled to open in spring of 2014. Presentations from Council Members, developers and architects provided insight to the challenging process of this major development project. The retail and leisure scheme is to be set in the historic site of the 150 year old livestock market which has now been moved to a separate location in Hereford. Presentations from those involved allowed attendees to see the motivation behind the projects design, challenges with its location and the approaches to be used in order to overcome or minimize those challenges. A Q&A session provided an opportunity for members of the community and RLN members to raise questions and challenge assumptions. Stanhope developer, Gary Bourne, explained that a difficult three year process of continuously reworking plans has led to plenty of fine-tuning. Topics of residential space within the development, sustainability of the scheme and succession strategies for Hereford Futures were discussed throughout the session. During a time of low economic activity and in a city that is small in population and isolated from major transport routes, it is easy to imagine how the delivery of this privately funded 90 million retail and leisure development would be challenging. It is true that this project is facing numerous obstacles but the council members and developers are confident in the viability and positive outcome that will result from the development. One of the most significant challenges this project is facing is the lack of accessibility via public, pedestrian and motor transport. With major traffic congestion on the A49, and the street running between the site and the city centre (Newmarket Street) being considered the most unsafe in Hereford, the transport planners and architect had a particularly challenging job of making the retail development both safe and accessible. The agreed strategy is to improve vehicular and pedestrian access along Newmarket Street with signalled crosswalks and to create a link road to the north of the development in order to ease congestion on the A49. The projects architect also acknowledged the importance of the Old Market development being sensitive to the historic area. He explained that it was a huge responsibility to produce a design sympathetic to Herefords historic centre with regard to the scale of buildings and spaces, creating rooftops that blend in with the historic trends in the city and using similar materials for storefronts. Building plans needed to be flexible enough to change with the ever-evolving retail market but sustainable enough to last for the next 100 years. The architect summed up his design goal nicely by stating, [The development] should complement the city, not compete with it.

The event concluded with a walking tour of the development site where attendees viewed the beginning stages of the presented ideas, designs and concepts. The grand opening is planned for Spring 2014. Attendees of the RLN Hereford event were able to get a glimpse into the process of a large scale retail & leisure development in an unlikely city.

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