Queens Square, Crawley

 

Delivery Body: Crawley Borough Council

Theme: Urban Regeneration

Coast to Capital LGF Allocation: £1.5m

Match Funding Contribution: £1.69m

Project Status: Complete

Summary of Project:

Queens Square, located in the town centre of Crawley was opened in the 1960's by HM Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Square. It is the prime focal point for the town yet it suffered from vacant retail spaces, and was seen as a place for anti-social behavior. Crawley town centre is seeing significant growth of residential development, and it is crucial that these developments are able to attract residents with spending power in order to boost the town centre economic activity.

 

It was made clear that to help attract such residents, new retail / business investment in the heart of Crawley town centre, significant improvements to the quality of the public realm and business space was required. For this reason, Coast to Capital invested Local Growth Funding to the project to enable regeneration works to transform the public realm.

 

The project physically completed in 17/18, and the public realm improvements has created an adaptable and multi-functional space which has helped transform the area into a high quality, distinctive, enjoyable public area.

 

It features high quality paving, seating, lighting and street furniture, along with new planting and a decorative water feature. The transformation of the square has not only attracted new businesses into the area e.g. Metro Bank, but has acted as a as a catalyst for wider regeneration and economic growth in the town to include housing, jobs and commercial space. In addition, the public realm is providing greater opportunities for community events to include a seasonal ice rink, outdoor cinema events, and street markets.

 

Key Outputs:

• 171 jobs
• 3,500 public realm regeneration
• 17,912sqm of direct/indirect retail & commercial space
• 276 residential units

 

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