THE APEX, BURY ST EDMUNDS
HOW WE GOT THERE Betty Albon
This is based on a presentation by Betty Albon to the ACES Eastern Branch on 1 July 2011, accompanied by her colleague Mark Walsh, who led the project management for the Council.
The Apex is a new multi-functional arts and entertainments venue which is owned by St Edmundsbury Borough Council.
It is an integral part of the arc mixed use, retail-led
redevelopment of the Cattle Market area in the centre of Bury St Edmunds and is the result of many years of deliberation. The whole scheme was finally completed in 2010.
Edmunds, a vociferous public campaign was launched against the scheme, and the Council bowed to public pressure. The developer was bid adieu and we were left with the livestock market and – I have to say – a very profitable town centre car park. we also built our own bus station.
A new approach
By the 2000s, the livestock market had died a natural death and the Council had bought in the auctioneers’ land interest for additional car parking. So, we decided to try a new tactic for redevelopment of the – still affectionately known as – cattle market site. We decided on a developer competition, where the criteria for selection included the proposed professional teams, previous experience, and the consultation processes they would undertake to get the public engaged in a master planning exercise for the site. We specifically excluded any scheme designs and the only financial criteria was for the developers to say what percentage profit level they required out of the completed mixed use scheme.
To cut a very long story short, world renowned Hopkins architects produced a first master plan which was presented to the great and the good of the town.
Fair play to the
selected developer, Centros, they involved all sectors of the community, particularly schools and young people and the emphasis in the master planning was to include a multi- purpose hall which the Council would own, build and operate and which would major on events for young people – a venue for “Battle of the Bands” was the key criteria through this process. Just think of the noise levels that go with that!
The master planning went through 2 phases and the plans changed from this…….
History
The Council had been threatening to redevelop the Cattle Market for around 30 years. A serious attempt was made in the 1990s when the Council went through the traditional tendering route of scheme selection. A developer was duly chosen, based on fairly detailed scheme proposals for a covered shopping development with an anchor store. The brief required the developer to relocate the livestock market to an out of town site (to be suggested and acquired by the developer) and to provide a bus station.
As negotiations progressed, what at first was an acceptable amount of additional shopping floorspace incrementally increased to meet the Council’s requirements, became delayed through negotiations with the auctioneers who partly owned the site, and generally went off the rails mainly due to a public outcry against such a massive ‘carbuncle’ which was going to be adjacent to the thriving historic town, with its thriving livestock and provision markets.
As is usual for Bury St THE TERRIER - Autumn 2011 47
To this – an integral public venue surrounded by shops on the ground floor and flats above……
..and what a good idea that was.
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