Go-ahead confirmed for Crewe’s Royal Arcade
Cheshire East Council has issued a decision notice giving the green light to Peveril Securities for the £48m town centre regeneration scheme.
The council’s strategic planning board this autumn approved a hybrid application for the keenly-awaited project.
Full consent has this week been confirmed for the demolition of the existing bus station and the building of a replacement, along with a multi-storey car park and substation.
Outline permission has been secured for the retail & leisure part of the project, including six café/restaurant units, a gym, 16-lane bowling alley, shops and an eight-screen cinema, which Empire is lined up to operate, having agreeing terms in 2018.
Peveril, which is the development division of construction giant Bowmer + Kirkland, was selected with development manager Cordwell Properties as preferred partner following the council’s purchase of the Royal Arcade and bus station sites in 2015.
Corstorphine + Wright is the architect for the project, heading an advisory team that also includes Q+A Planning, transport consultant Mayer Brown, civil engineer BJB, Environmental Building Solutions, ARC Environmental, Redmore, Delta Simons and Sharpes Redmore.
The Midlands joint venture partners were chosen in June 2017, but securing vacant possession on buildings needing to be cleared took longer than envisaged, meaning the project’s demolition phase didn’t start until November 2020.
Plans for the scheme were then lodged this summer.
Cllr Nick Mannion, chair of Cheshire East’s economy and growth committee, said of the decision: “Receiving planning approval for phase one of the Royal Arcade scheme is hugely exciting news for Crewe.
“Not only does it mark a significant step in seeing this major scheme delivered, but it is also an integral part of delivering a much more positive future for the town and its communities.”
The 10-bay bus station will be accessed via Delamere Street and Victoria Street, while the car park will include electric vehicle charging spaces, solar panels and two panels of ‘living green wall’, which will be seen from Delamere Street.
More than 40 cycle parking spaces will be included in the scheme.
WHEN is the operative word? Are you sure the firm won’t go bankrupt this time as has happened twice before?
By Susan Marsh
This is stage one, the shopping facility and leisure project is not given a timetable why are these not planned for and made public so that the project can be followed by the residents of Crewe.
By David Griffiths
Until I see the work actually being done I still will not believe it. Crewe is home to artistic impression, actual reality does not exist. The real world moves on while Crewe as stagnated
By B. Bentley