A Vision for a
TOWN SQUARE
Lindy Foster Weinreb

Thoughts and Ideas
 

My thinking is first of all environmental and then commercial. It is environmental in the sense that we can create a civic place for the enjoyment of all, around which activity led regeneration can take place. What do I mean by activity led regeneration. Berkhamsted is an ideal venue for weekend antique markets …. The existing Saturday food market, farmers markets, French markets, open air summer evening concerts, open air art exhibitions, a meeting place for the community.

■ A Town Square is an ideal venue for all this and more. The sum of these activities will create sufficient foot-fall so that other retail ventures can capitalise on this and inhabit some of the unused retail area.

■ In other equivalent centres where this has happened an exciting café and leisure retail atmosphere has evolved.

■ The combination of these two is what I mean by activity led regeneration.

What About Car Parking?
■ A number of options have been prepared in this report and the development of the parking lot could and has been treated differently in each case. Each option produces more than the present equivalent car parking.

■ We already have 150 parking spaces within the actual development i have suggested. It is possible to create more in the following way.

■ I suggest that we widen Greene Field Road and cantilever it over the River Bulbourne, splay the entrance out as it reaches Lower Kings Road and create a roundabout. This will make it easy to access the Borough owned car park on the Lower Kings Road side of Waitrose.

I suggest that the Borough Council gives the land to a company like NPC or Euro parks on a very long lease on condition they build a multi-level car park, which I believe would give us a further 300 spaces at least. A total of over 450 spaces – over double what we have at present. This would not only create good parking for town centre shopping but also alleviate the severe parking problems this town experiences.

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Area of proposed regeneration for consideration

I would consider the best position for the square to be is the old Waitrose site, presently part occupied by the Fitness First and the Altered Image. The ownerships of the proposed site are Kingfisher, Tesco, the County Council and a small apron still owned by Waitrose.

My reasons for saying this is that it faces on to the main road and the sun, which is an important consideration for public space.

Secondly this location allows the adjoining sites facing onto the proposed square to have the benefit of a High Street frontage.

To remind you what these adjoining sites are, they are:

■ The current Tesco site
■ The parking lot
■ The side elevation of W.H.Smith
 

The Town Square is to be viewed as an external room, predominantly south facing with a sunny aspect which opens into the High Street.    

This will be the gateway to Berkhamsted for those arriving by car, and parking in the car parks I have suggested,   

It is an ideal venue for farmers markets, French markets, promotional activities, evening concerts, and generally a place to be, with a boulevard atmosphere created by leisure retail shops around the perimeter of the square.

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LEGEND ground floor
a. A mixture of residential and live/work units arranged over three floors.   This space should be viewed flexibly with uses extended to take in other appropriate activities.

AREA - 924 square meters per floor - Total 2772 square meters

COMMENT
The upper three floors are set back 16 Meters from the rear boundary to reduce the impact on the surrounding sites.    Their positioning at the rear of the square means their impact on the High Street is reduced considerably.

LEGEND upper levels

B.    Multi purpose units which can be used for exhibition space, antique units restaurant space or any other uses deemed suitable.

Area 924 square meters including access to the rear terrace.

C.    Leisure retail, as opposed to utilitarian retail.   This can accommodate speciality shops and restaurants aimed at creating a boulevard atmosphere.

Area 768 square meters

D.    The Upper level to the supermarket with escalators down to the lower level (food sales).   This provides a street presence to the supermarket.

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COMMENT

The square has a number of entrances to it.   The main approach is from the High Street with access to the carpark from the area of vertical circulation which houses lifts and staircase.

A high level pedestrian bridge could also form a link to the adjoining W H Smith sit.   Access is proposed at the rear of the development off the terrace, with a further approach to the Square from its eastern boundary.

The square has an opening to the lower court with the covered area extending over this opening.

It is proposed that the terrace to the rear is used in a similar way to that of the square, also having a covered area.

With the range of access and external space provided it is intended that a similar experience to the "Lanes" in Brighton can be achieved, although in a more ordered and geometric form.

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LEGEND lower levels

D1 Supermarket connected to D2 above with escalators

Area 2058 square meters

Total area for D1 and D2 2570 square meters

If mezzanine is added total area 3082 square meters

E  Car park

Arranged on half levels with internal ramps equal to two 'back to back' bays with 60 spaces per floor.

 There are two and a half floors.

Total 150 car parking spaces.

COMMENT

The Lower Court is approximately 600 square meters and is open to the Upper level.   It is therefore generous and naturally lit and ventilated space, capable of taking interesting hard landscaping.

This should be a feature area that is entered from the car park, the supermarket and the vertical circulation from the square above.

The supermarket has escalator access to the upper level fronting onto the square as well as direct communication with the car park through the lower court which provides a special aspect to its frontage.

The loading area is double volume, accessed from the vehicular system to the rear.

The scheme shown is diagrammatic only, so that goods and passenger lifts to the upper floors are not shown.   This can obviously be detailed if we wish to go further with these ideas.