OUT & ABOUT
Forging ahead with Rotherham town
centre’s redevelopment
Since its inception as a medieval market town, Rotherham’s historic town centre has been chameleon-esque, continually changing guises to fit the needs of an ever-evolving community.
Save for the stoic Minster, the landscape and façade of the town has altered greatly even within our lifetimes thanks to continued investment from both public and private sectors.
The remnants of the old trolleybuses are long gone, replaced with a new modern £12million public transport interchange which opened last year.
The medieval College of Jesus is but another chapter in Rotherham’s history books, making way for the bright educational prospects of future generations with the £10.5million state-of-the-art University Centre Rotherham which opened in 2018.
And our town’s newly promoted championship football team, Rotherham United, play at the £20million New York Stadium built in 2012, just a stone’s throw away from the old Millmoor ground. In recent decades there have
also been many challenges the town has faced, mainly in the form of a change in shopping habits, the growth of out-of-town shopping centres, and huge economic shifts.
In 2017, Rotherham Council unveiled the Town Centre Masterplan which highlighted their plans to revitalise the town centre, with a large focus on leisure and entertainment along with new housing developments and improved public realm.
The new concept for the town is bold but realistic and delivers a proactive approach to diversifying its role within the community. This new lease of life is also important to attracting and securing future investment which can only add to its success. Together with external partners who all share the same vision, drive and end goal, works are now under way and we are pleased to update our readers on the progress being made.
FORGE ISLAND
The location has been chosen, the producer and director have signed contracts, and the storyboard of plans have been given the greenlight as the silver screen finally returns to Rotherham 30 years after the last cinema in the town closed its doors.
Based at the riverside Forge Island site, the new eight-screen cinema is just one component of a new mixed-use leisure hub which is central to the town’s £150million masterplan. There will also be four restaurants, a 69-bed hotel plus ample car parking in the frame under the plans set to be executed by urban regeneration specialists, Muse Developments. But the new cinema is the protagonist in the remake of Rotherham town centre’s narrative, playing the leading role in the ambitious but imperative redevelopment programme to bring more life, activity and spending back into the town centre.
Rotherham has been home to many cinemas over the years, from the early Picture Palace (later Whitehall) and Electric Pavilion which both opened in 1911, to the concluding Cannon which closed its doors in 1990.
A cinema will offer a new market for the evening and weekend economy, particularly with a predicted rise in students, families and workers moving into the new town centre accommodation
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aroundtownmagazine.co.uk currently being built.
The modern hotel will also attract outside trade to the town centre and improve the very limited offer within the vicinity.
Planning permission for the
Forge Island site was submitted and approved in the summer and groundworks to enable the development to go ahead are currently underway by Eric Wright Civil Engineering. This includes essential work along the north and west boundaries adjacent to the canal.
Retaining walls are being fitted, terrace seating is being devised and high-quality public spaces laid which are all necessary preparations to deliver the full Forge Island scheme. A significant part of the works is to complete flood defences with a podium to be constructed on which the leisure hub will be elevated to reduce the risk of flooding. A new pedestrian footbridge will also be built over the river to connect the site with the rest of the town centre. The Forge Island site has had many uses over the years, including industrial heritage as Rotherham Foundary, Providence Ironworks and Rotherham Ironworks.
Some of you will remember the days of Hillards Foodstore and latterly Tesco Supermarket which relocated across town in 2014. Since the building was demolished in 2017, the site has been used as car parking and the temporary bus depot, so it is fantastic that Forge Island is finally getting its time to shine in the spotlight again.
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