Going green and blue - what’s next for Hull city centre?

New masterplan maps out future development options

Welcome to 2045.

Assuming I’m still around, this could be the day I head into Hull city centre to check out the Prospect Triangle and complete the Blue Loop before going for a stroll through the Humber Park to enjoy views of the sun setting across the estuary.

What I am taking about? They are just some of the ideas included in a new masterplan simply called Hull City Centre Vision.

Before I dive into the detail, it’s fair to say we have been here before.

Albert Dock bullnose

A Plan for the City and County of Kingston upon Hull by Edwin Lutyens and Patrick Abercrombie, two of the foremost town planners of their day, was commissioned by the city council in 1941 to map out a future Hull free from the constraints of war.

It was published in 1945 and while some of the suggested ideas became reality much of the plan would never transfer from the page, including the proposed re-siting of the main railway station and the creation of a new shopping centre based in Osborne Street. Writing 50 years later, one critic put it: “No other wartime plan was so ignored or so apparently ineffective.”

Other city centre plans would follow, right up until 2004 when the Hull City Centre Masterplan was launched by the now defunct urban regeneration company Hull Citybuild, a joint venture between the city council and the also now defunct Yorkshire Forward.

That plan identified five “strategic development areas”. As it turned out, only one of them - the Fruit Market - has actually been fully delivered.

Of the others, Humber Quays is effectively half-done, Albion Square is still awaiting full demolition, the East Bank residential scheme on the River Hull has yet to see the first brick being laid and Quay West - an extension of Princes Quay - was subsequently shelved.

While many of the ideas proposed by Lutyens and Abercrombie were later stymied by vested business interests and the prevalence of surviving buildings after the Blitz, most of the the 2004 plan was blown off course by events ranging from the 2008 financial crash and government austerity policies to traditional retail being eclipsed by online shopping and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now we have Hull City Centre Vision, or at least a draft of it due to go before the council’s planning committee next week.

At this stage, it’s important to stress HCCV aims to guide regeneration in and around the city centre over the next two decades by setting out a series of key objectives. Once approved by the council, it will help steer the shape of future development rather than dictate what must happen. As ever, events will inevitably overtake some of it and the availability of finance will dictate a lot of it.

Having reported on this sort of thing for many years, I notice the obligatory reference creating something “vibrant” pops up almost immediately. That word has become a cliché in these types of planning documents but it’s probably never been more relevant because of the current state of the city centre. Despite some bright spots, vibrant it ain’t.

Anyway, enough from me and by way of an introduction, here are some words from Anna Couch, studio director at urban design practice Planit which led a team of specialist companies to draw up the HCCV masterplan for the city council.

“The wide-reaching spatial plan aims to deliver a diversified city centre that will bring forward new and enhanced residential developments and neighbourhoods, unlock investment, and provide opportunities for local people. It will cement the city’s maritime cultural and visitor identity.

“The vision is underpinned by a handful of key strategic drivers, including innovation, resilience to climate change, health, productivity and re-establishing a residential population and strong workforce within the city centre.

“It will deliver healthy and playful green spaces for all, build a liveable and active city centre with vibrant neighbourhoods, and fosters culture and creativity. Twelve catalyst projects across the city with the potential to deliver transformational change have been identified. Those that are already in the development pipeline include Albion Square, East Bank, Paragon, Hull’s college site, and an emerging Innovation Corridor along Ferensway.”

Albion Square - not exactly a hive of activity at the moment

That’s probably enough planning-speak for now so let’s have a closer look at what’s in the HCCV and, to make it easy to digest, I’ll skip on-going or immediate projects such as Albion Square and the East Bank Village because they’re already quite well-known.

Here are the remaining so-called Catalyst Projects not currently in any development pipework. In other words, the interesting stuff.

Ferensway Innovation Corridor: A facelift the entire route with sustainable transport in mind, including enhanced pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. Improved public and green spaces and a re-designed “arrival experience” in the area directly outside the Paragon Interchange. Extending these design principles on the route will include the new road due to span the A63 underpass to reach the Humber waterfront and a new park on Albert Dock’s bullnose. New commercial workspaces will also be encouraged along the route.

The Blue Loop: A collection of new and existing pedestrian and cycle-friendly routes brought together as one continuous circular leisure route looping around the city centre. Using water and the history of the Old Town as themes, it includes the re-opened boardwalks along the West Bank of the River Hull, a new path through the Hull College campus and through the revamped Queens Gardens before heading towards the Humber along the dockside route of the Old Town walls.

‘Re-balancing’ Freetown Way: Building on the imminent dual carriageway facelift with a series of new and enhanced green spaces with tree planting and sustainable urban drainage systems.

Princes Quay: An interesting one to say the least. A range of options are being floated, from reconfiguring the existing building to move away from retail use and creating boardwalk lower level boardwalks to re-establishing parts of western quayside of the dock. The most striking idea is to remove the existing car park to create “new development opportunities”. As the car park is currently a big revenue-generator, it would be a huge step to pull it down. What is clear that, as it currently stands, most of PQ’s existing offer just isn’t working as the recent closure of the Iron Lillies restaurant after just 12 months and a £750,000 Levelling Up grant illustrates.

Myton Street Regeneration Area: Inextricably linked to whatever might happen with neighbouring Princes Quay and bordering Ferensway, it’s being lined up for new workspace, hotel and residential uses. Interestingly, the Connexin Arena, which sits in the middle, didn’t feature in the 2004 masterplan.

The re-built Earl de Grey in the middle of the Myton Street Regeneration Area.

Prospect Triangle Regeneration Area: Another zone where change is on the cards with the former Debenhams store lying empty, an undeveloped plot of land front Ferensway, the derelict former Circus Circus bar next door in Spencer Street and the potential to re-invent the existing Prospect Centre. Like Princes Quay, there’s a radical option to remove the shopping centre’s existing car park to reflect a wider theme running through the plan to reduce car use in the city centre. New residential is also being encouraged here.

Western Docklands: A new park at the Albert Dock bullnose is another idea originally put forward in the 2004 masterplan and is now included in a wider brief to transform the wider neighbourhood stretching from Hull Marina to the Daltry Street flyover with new housing, public areas and walking and cycling routes.

The above is just a snapshot of of the the HCCV and is certainly not exhaustive. There are also new development ideas for the Charterhouse, Anlaby Road and Beverley Road neighbourhoods which border the city centre.

Some of it might happen, a lot probably won’t but it’s going to be worth a read once the final version appears in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, there’s more from Anna and Planit here