The shaping of a vision for Waterlooville Town Centre has gained local and national media interest and the topic of regenerating faltering High Streets is relevant throughout the UK.
Deacon Design joined a team led by Feria Urbanism to facilitate and co-create a collaborative design process to re-imagine Waterlooville Town Centre. The process was based in listening and interpreting the voices of the community to discover what is valued now, and what would be valued in a regenerated town centre.
During the consultation, community-led walking tours and a Festival of Ideas enlivened the shopping precinct into the evening with workshops and talks and bringing experimental placemaking to the town centre.
The principle of urban greening will underpin the future of the Public Realm, creating multifunctional and sustainable town centre that is flexible to changing use and changing climate.
Key elements include:
- A multifunctional urban Pocket Park for the town centre.
- Rain Gardens
- Multifunctional market/event space that can be used as parking
- Tree planting throughout the public realm to improve appearance, shape space and provide shade and shelter
- Paving and surfacing design – including façade treatments
- An amphitheatre and elevated walkway to elegantly deal with level changes and create new public open space
- A new ‘Church Close’ quarter, opening out the existing green space around the church and better integrating this contemplative and community space into the town centre
- Cycle and active travel infrastructure and wayfinding.
The Festival of Ideas allowed the generation of a collaborative masterplan Vision for the town centre and provided a rich source of inspiration to hone into key principles and typologies to inform a design SPD for the Town Centre Regeneration.
Project Team credits: Feria Urbanism; ArchitecturePLB; Gillings Planning; Storiie; Propernomics; Medhursts Commercial Surveyors Ltd; Beyond Carbon on behalf of Havant Borough Council.
