Regeneration In Lights

Regent Revival

Some of the latest pictures from onsite at Swindon's Regent Circus development, including the Swindon Bear in the cinema.

Get the Meccano Out

Things are moving quickly at Swindon's Regent Circus development. Take a look.

Swindon's Regeneration : Now and Soon

We're nearly at the end of the demolition phase at Regent Circus, making now a good time to show what will be occupying the space soon. Developer Ashfield Land has produced an online brochure, with a detailed floor plan for the new development, click this link and scroll to the bottom of the page to download the plan. 

Here's some of the artist's impressions, with best matches from the pictures I've been taking, helping to give a visual reference point for each image.

This picture is slightly too far to the left, with the matching point for this view across Regent Circus being at the crossing point in the lower right of the photograph.

An artist's impression of the Regent Circus development, viewed from the crossing at the corner next to the Central Library.

The crossing points and roadways become what's called 'shared space' where roads and paths are not distinctly defined, heightening drivers and pedestrians attention. The building will only be around half the height of the tall college tower.

Taken from Western Street, looking down towards the corner of Rolleston and Edmund Streets.

The same viewpoint, showing the tallest block as the cinema, with the spiral allowing access between floors on the  450 space car park.

The road layout remains the same, with an entrance to the multi-storey car park and pedestrian entrance to the main development at the corner of Rolleston and Edmund Streets.

On the corner of Rolleston and Edmund Streets.

On the corner, at 45 degrees to the above photograph, the corner of the Cineworld building should be in line with the nearest wall of the single-storey workshops. One of three entrances to the car park will be on this corner, along with one of the main pedestrian entrances.

Immediately behind the white gates, looking directly towards Regent Circus.

Along the same line, the main pedestrian street of restaurants will link the back of Edmund Street and the main pedestrian and meeting place on the edge of Regent Circus, seen in the distance where the round tower is.

I hope this gives you a better idea of what the finished Regent Circus development will look like.

Swindon's Regeneration : The Legacy

Curiosity across the generations at the former Swindon College Regent Circus site.

Often the legacy of regeneration is the least sure thing to predict or plan for. It's not exactly measurable or a tangible result, but the above picture I caught earlier today sums up one thing regeneration can do, it can spark an interest, a curiosity, maybe even a passion, in places around us.

The view looking north from the corner of the Beehive pub on Eastcott Hill.

The wider view of the Regent Circus site from the Central Library side.

Jumping Off A Cliff

A small piece of paper sellotaped to a graffitied sign is not how you'd expect a project involving £50 million to start, but it just did.

Swindon has been late to the game when it came to rebuilding the town centre. The lateness was compounded by the recession, but finally, things are happening. Two schemes, Regent Circus and the Union Square project at Fleming Way will begin within months of each other. 

The old Swindon College site at Regent Circus is possibly a great metaphor for regeneration. Sitting right at the bottom of Eastcott Hill, it marks the border between Old Town and New Town. Back in the 1800s, when these two areas of town warily-eyed each other, distrustful of the new people flooding in. The college building has sat as a buffer between them since the sixties. The established Old Town and the new young upstarts building houses from the railway works closer towards the hill.

The Regent Circus plan will get rid of the wall between Eastcott and the town centre and create a new space for leisure. The sixties buildings will go and the original Victorian college building restored for new use. 

I'm intending to photograph the work from start to finish.

Updates to follow!