Work on Kettering’s new Restaurant Quarter started this week with the preparatory works for the Market Place Restaurants.
Over the last few days the site has been secured with fencing and a site compound has been established on the Council’s staff car park. Archaeologists are currently on-site to oversee the necessary underpinning, demolition and excavation works. Come July, the steel structure will rise from the basement level as the building will start to take shape.
The development – which will be complete in Spring next year - will house two ground floor restaurant units and ten high quality apartments, with parking at basement level.
The new building will also see part of the town’s history being restored. Old photographs of the town show the buildings that used to flank the Market Place. The new buildings will bring both businesses and residents to the area contributing to the feel of the Market Place as place that people enjoy and want to return to.
The building marks the second phase of works in and around the historic Market Place. The first phase saw the Market Place refurbished as a focal point for family events, with this second phase comprising the new restaurants and a second phase of Public Realm works (which is due to start in the summer). The scheme is being funded through Growth Fund from the Homes and Communities Agency with support from Northamptonshire County Council and North Northants Development Company (NNDC).
Martin Hammond, Deputy Chief Executive at Kettering Borough Council, said:
“We are pleased to have started this landmark development which will help the regeneration of this part of the town centre.”
Simon Evans, Chief Executive of NNDC, said:
“After all the hard work that has gone into planning this exciting project, it is great that people will now be able to see work get underway. This will be a high quality development in an historic setting. It will provide a safe and attractive family friendly destination in the heart of Kettering, delivering increased footfall for neighbouring retailers and a welcome boost for the town’s evening economy.”
John Sisk & Son Ltd (Sisk) is the lead contractor for the development. Speaking about the project, Chris Dyer Director Midlands Region, Sisk said:
“It’s really pleasing to start work on site having worked closely with the council on the planning permission. We are thrilled Sisk is part of this new scheme that will help shape the next chapter in the historic Market Place of Kettering, as a welcoming setting with distinctive buildings for local people and visitors.”
~ENDS~
Notes about the Project
The Market Place project has been paid for using Growth Fund from the Homes and Communities Agency allocated via Northamptonshire County Council and with the support of the North Northants Development Company. This funding has been ‘won’ by the Council effectively bidding for the money – as such it is only available to be spent on the scheme itself. Had the Council not bid for the funding it is likely that the money would have been made available elsewhere in the County.
The Market Place, the site for the proposed Restaurant Quarter, has recently undergone significant public realm works including the creation of an amphitheatre, tree planting and public art. These works are anticipated to be the catalyst which attracts the new uses and regenerates this currently under used space.
The approved Market Place Restaurants will see the reintroduction of buildings on the southern side i.e. the Market Place Buildings. Historically the space has been enclosed by built form on three sides. This sense of enclosure has been eroded by the demolition of the previous buildings on this site in the early 20th century. The human scale of the space has been lost leaving the feeling of an open, desolate area with car parking, dominating the southern side. The aspiration is that with the reintroduction of the buildings in this location a friendlier more intimate space will be created which complements the proposed uses.
The Market Place Buildings has been identified as a priority project, within the Suite 16 Programme, by the Council and its funding partners. The Council recently completed the redevelopment of the Market Place area through improved public realm which will provide a focal point in this area and the development of the new Market Place Buildings, which will comprise restaurant and residential accommodation, will be a catalyst to the regeneration of the town centre.
Sisk were appointed as contractors for the scheme in 2009.