56 PRESTONIN VIEW
STATION VISION IS FAR FROM DERAILED
The Winckley Square business district
Chris Blackburn is confident. “The Station Quarter will go ahead. It will happen,” he predicts. “We will get that grade A office space.”
John Bridge Director, Studio John Bridge
About us
We are a crafted team of architects mixing innovation, imagination and experience.
Based in Preston and led by our Chartered Architect and director John Bridge, we are experts in commercial architecture such as city living and regeneration of vacant buildings and spaces and residential design.
Our ethos is strongly toward eco design. Uniquely, all of our team are UCLan alumni.
Our achievements
We have become specialists in computational design to manufacturing having recently created machined furniture, which is an R&D project turned into reality.
We were shortlisted for the International AJ Design Competition for Kew Gardens Tree House 2022. In the past John won a Civic Award for the Preston Market regeneration.
Why we like doing business in Preston
I am strongly passionate about interrogating the ‘in-between spaces’ and ‘forgotten sites’ in and around Preston City Centre.
All with a strong focus on sustainability and viability for both our clients and the communities we serve. Our hope is to grow our business and thrive in the North West.
studiojohnbridge.co.uk
The confidence expressed by Preston’s head of growth and regeneration will be music to the ears of those who have long been highlighting the disadvantage the city has because of its lack of quality office space.
Chris pulls no punches. He says: “It’s not a headline that we like, that there’s been no new office floorspace delivered in the city for a few decades. We know that’s absolutely appalling for a place like Preston and that’s our focus.”
The Preston Station Quarter plan aims to change all that by steering development in the area around the railway station, aiming to capitalise on its transport links by bringing in jobs and investment.
The blueprint is based on delivering high quality grade A office space to provide both public and private sector organisations with the kind of facilities in the city that they currently lack.
The quarter centres on an area around the station as well as the areas around the Fishergate Shopping Centre, County Hall and a corridor stretching towards the university. The city and county councils and the university have all been involved in its early planning.
Part of the argument for investment was the station becoming a main stop for HS2 services in the future. That has disappeared as a result of the government decision to scrap the section of the high-speed rail project that would have linked Birmingham with the North West.
Chris is undeterred. He says: “HS2 was certainly, let’s say, the icing on the cake for the station regeneration, but it wasn’t the basis upon which it was built. It was an added benefit but it wasn’t what it was hinged on.
“At the end of the day the connectivity to Preston railway station is fantastic, London within a few hours. Really, that’s great.
“The railway station itself does need a lot of investment and we’re working very hard with Network Rail to try and coordinate what that looks like.”
He adds that the owners of the Fishergate Centre have aspirations to deliver Grade A workspace on what is currently its car park. They are also looking at existing floorspace in the centre itself.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
