Northgate - the Chester Renaissance ready to start

20 March 2007

Work will soon begin on the much heralded Northgate Development - a new vibrant quarter for Chester and the largest and most ambitious redevelopment in the city centre for decades.

Chester City Council is keen to develop and reshape the run down areas around Northgate and Gorse Stacks and this £280m scheme is being seen a once in a century opportunity to boost Chester's ability to compete with best in the Northwest.

Including:

• a new 150,000 sq ft House of Fraser department with a rooftop restaurant and up to 60 new shops and retail outlets of various sizes
• a new flagship performing arts centre catering for more than 800 people
• a modern covered market fronting onto Chester main square
• a library twice the size of the present one
• a new bus station with safe access to the shops
• restaurants and cafes around a new public square
• a 652 space, well lit, modern, safe and secure multi-storey car park
• a new shop mobility unit at Trinity Street car park
• 124 flats, including a number of affordable homes
• improvement to the Town Hall housing a relocated Registrars Office
• a fresh looking Town Hall square with popular local and foreign markets

The new development will blend in with its surroundings while enhancing Chester's special character and local distinctiveness. The proposals also preserve and interpret local archaeology and history.

The scheme depends on the existing council offices behind the Town Hall being demolished. The developer, ING will build new council offices at Gorse Stacks, which have been designed around the needs of the customer. The offices will be accessible from the city centre with bus access and links to the park and ride sites.

The Northgate development is part of a series of projects branded under the Chester Renaissance banner. These programmes amount to £1.4 billion of investment in major developments in the city centre including:

• Tower Wharf - a mixed use development on Chester's canals, which starts shortly
• Gorsestacks - a development of homes and offices together with new underground public car parks starting later this year
• HQ - a development comprising a hotel, offices and homes on the former police HQ site
• Old Port - this is coming to the last phase of its development with homes and new offices presently on site
• The Canal Corridor - The completion of housing and commercial developments along the Boughton Canal Corridor
• Raillands - various developments around the railway station, including homes and offices at Black Diamond Street
• The Chester Sports and Leisure Park - a development which will provide a new arena, Country Park and an enhanced City Baths leisure facility.

The Chester Culture Park - this aims to make Chester a must see European City by 2015 - major priorities are:

• The improvement of Chester Rail Station and surrounding area
• The enhancement of the Rows and city centre streets
• The improvement of the City Walls
• Telling Chester's stories and a story telling centre
• Improving and developing festivals and animating Chester's streets
• Improving Grosvenor Park, the Groves and a amphitheatre centre.

Meanwhile contractors will soon be clearing the interior of St Martin's House, a derelict building and on the corner of Princess Street before its demolition which will signal the beginning of the Northgate development.

City council leader, councillor Paul Roberts and deputy leader, councillor John Price, said: "Chester has undergone many defining changes at different periods of its 2000 year history and this development will help shape the city for years to come.

"We will always protect the best of our past, while at the same time being prepared to seize the opportunities that will secure a bright future for this fantastic city."

"These schemes at Northgate and across the city are part of the magnificent investment and reshaping going on all around us. The demolition of St Martin's House represents the beginning of a new start for this part of the city - a true renaissance."

Demolition of St Martin's House and the Mission Hall in Princess Street is expected to start in the next few weeks. The scheme will then gather momentum with construction starting in September and completion scheduled for 2011.

Chester City Council, Cheshire County Council and developers ING have all entered into legal agreements which commit all the parties to deliver the entire scheme.

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