The historic market town of Newbury in Berkshire has been transformed with a new vibrant retail-led mixed-use town centre scheme designed by BDP. The town and its residents now benefit from a new streetscape of retail stores which opened in late 2011 with more than 30,000 people flocking to explore the new facilities on its first day of its opening. The scheme, called Parkway, was developed by Standard Life Investments with development managers Shearer Property Group.
Parkway provides nearly 28,000 sq m of retail space at street level and includes two anchor stores along with over 50 shops and public realm space surrounded by al fresco cafes adjacent to the River Kennet. The scheme includes underground car parking for over 750 cars under two-thirds of the footprint and separate surface level servicing areas for goods deliveries.
Two-level retail units front the new Middle Street within the managed centre with linked access to the existing high street shops. Above the retail podium, a landscaped piazza is surrounded by over 180 residential units with a seven storey landmark residential tower fronting onto the adjacent Victoria Park.
The development is sensitively integrated into the surrounding historic fabric, and focuses on high quality places and creates a series of formal and informal spaces in the town centre that are varied in character and use. The separate building blocks provide a coherent and legible pedestrian environment that recognises and responds to the destinations and other quarters in the town. Building forms respect and reinterpret the character of the historic architecture using high quality materials that relate to the town.
↧