Coventry Market future addressed in regeneration
The future of Coventry Market has been addressed amid the major upheaval of the City Centre South scheme
The future of Coventry Market has been addressed amid the major upheaval of the City Centre South scheme.
Currently engulfed by all the redevelopment work and accessed only via a narrow arcade of shops in the Lower Precinct, the indoor market will get a far more conspicuous presence once the £450m city centre transformation is complete.
The named priorities of the Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change, Cllr Lynnette Kelly, include “securing investment to deliver improvements to Coventry Market and its operating environment”, and working with developers the Hill Group to “bring forward the delivery of the City Centre South scheme and the wider regeneration benefits it brings.”
Steve Weir, the council’s interim director of economic growth, confirmed to the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board that the market will be in a very different, more visible and more accessible setting once the new residential and commercial quarter is complete.
Mr Weir told councillors: “We’re working to deliver improvements to Coventry Market. If you’re familiar with the City Centre South scheme, which is another one of these priorities, Coventry Market will be in a very different context once that scheme opens for business.
“The market will be opened up and more visible next to the new development. It’s really important that we make the most of the market in that new context, it’s very, very important to local people.”
The circular structure, which opened in 1958, was listed in 2009 on the recommendation of English Heritage.
The Government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport reviewed the listing in 2010 after a request from an unnamed party and said it would not change the decision, which means the market is protected from demolition and must be incorporated into the City Centre South scheme.
The Government ruled that the market has “special architectural and historic interest as an interesting survival of a post-war market adopting a 1950s Festival of Britain style architecture, resulting in a innovative design, contains good quality artwork and is an early and innovative example of a rooftop car park.”
The city council hopes English Heritage will support a proposed exterior and interior revamp of the market as part of City Centre South. It will bring forward a planning application for the exterior works at first, after consulting with traders about its ideas.
City Centre South, originally focused on retail, underwent a radical shift amid changing retail habits and and is now a residential-led development of 1,575 homes but will still include more than 50 new shops and restaurants in the first phase.
The project will cover 6.4 hectares, or 15 acres, which is the equivalent of nine football pitches, including Bull Yard, Shelton Square, Market Way and City Arcade.
The first new homes will be delivered by early 2028 and the first phase as a whole should be complete by 2033. For the second phase of the scheme, the council says a detailed planning application will be submitted later this year or early next year.