The Market Place is set to be revitalised to create a new Culture Hub, a new flagship building and an attraction for the whole community and visitors to enjoy.
The new venue will be operated by Jam Jar Cinema, who have operated an award-winning cinema in Whitley Bay for over a decade. The Culture Hub which has now secured planning permission will provide:
The design by FaulknerBrowns Architects is arranged in a simple, double-gable form, echoing the former central cinema and music hall which stood on the site until 1974. The material palette uses red brick in recessed and projecting patterns, with masonry details in a complimentary red tone. A zinc standing seam roof will withstand the marine environment and incorporate photovoltaic panels.
With active uses located at ground level and the cinema screens on the first floor, the building is designed to open itself up to the town; glazed sliding doors to both studios can be opened, allowing people and events to spill out into the Market Place.
The project is funded by the UK Government’s Future High Street Fund and Northumberland County Council and is part of the £90m Energising Blyth regeneration programme that aims to revitalise the town. The investment will provide a significant boost to Blyth’s culture and leisure offer, creating a new ‘anchor’ development which will attract more people into the town centre throughout the day and into the evening, providing residents and visitors with new reasons to visit the town centre.
Refurbished public toilets
New seating, lighting, cycle parking and waste bins
Dedicated Christmas Tree location
Public Drinking Stand
Flexible power for events
Market Traders relocated to the North side of Market Place
1000m2 of new green areas (triple the current arrangement)
New planting to Elfin Walk Memorial Garden
New green spaces including different planning species, both native and non-native, a variety of bulbs and tree species to provide resilience to climate change, disease and the sites coastal and urban context
The Market Place will feel more welcoming and safer and deliver that much needed buzz and vitality by bringing more people into the town centre, adding to the town’s current offer, and encouraging further investment.
The Town Centre is in a perpetual cycle of decline, with a poor retail and leisure offer, high vacancies, long term voids and a declining footfall. This is further exacerbated by its disconnection from industrial and leisure investment in adjacent areas including the quayside and South Beach areas.
The private sector will not invest in improving and developing new economic infrastructure, such as new uses that will attract people to use the town centre with more things to do and improved public realm, because the potential returns are not sufficiently attractive. Without public sector intervention, Blyth would not be improved and the potential to reinvigorate the town centre, through culture-led regeneration, would be lost.
The investment will provide a significant boost to Blyth’s culture and leisure offer, creating a new ‘anchor’ development which will attract more people into the town centre throughout the day and into the evening, providing residents and visitors with new reasons to visit the town centre.
The new development will feature 3x the current greenery and biodiversity in the area. Although the council and the design team would have preferred to retain as many existing trees as possible, surveys have shown the poor state of health the existing trees are in (an independent ecologist has confirmed the trees are suffering ash die back), and the limited life span they have. Given the need for removal in the near future and the level of new investment and infrastructure going into Market Place, the council believes that now is the best opportunity to undertake tree replacement to avoid future disruption and secure the long-term benefits of tree planting within the heart of the town.
A total of 27 new trees will be planted in Market Place, with a mix of tree species selected to provide resilience to climate change, disease and the site's coastal and urban context. Large underground tree pits will allow all trees to reach maturity and thrive, whilst providing capacity for surface water attenuation and water management in storm events.
Mature trees will be installed that provide instant visual impact, befitting of the civic setting of Market Place and Market Pavilion. The new trees will provide shade in summer, shelter in poor or windy weather as well as benefiting wildlife and increasing greenery and biodiversity in the town.
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