NEWS
BUILDING A
BETTER BORO
How leisure , jobs and town centre living will transform Middlesbrough
PICTURES : TOM BANKS
Vision - Andy Preston on derelict land that will soon be home to creative office development Boho X .
While it may have been quiet in Middlesbrough town centre of late , time certainly hasn ’ t stood still . The impact of Covid-19 has turned routines upside down and confined most people to their homes .
But the centre of the town is set to be transformed in the months and years ahead .
Leading the change will be the imposing new campus of the Northern School of Art , which is already sprouting up next door to Sainsbury ’ s .
The art college , due to welcome students from September , will be one of the first completed works of a bolder Middlesbrough .
The town centre and nearby digital zone , Boho , are merging , with a new emphasis being placed on urban living and leisure time .
This reimagining of central Middlesbrough was the focus of bids to the Towns Fund and Future High Streets Fund .
The vision of mayor Andy Preston and Middlesbrough Council is for thousands more homes and a revamped leisure offering on the doorstep of a thriving digital sector .
Taking centre stage will be the repurposing of Captain Cook Square . Plans for the retail square are being fine-tuned following the council ’ s successful £ 14.1m bid to the Future High Streets Fund .
Put simply , Middlesbrough town centre is going to be a place people want to go to .
Mayor Preston is excited to see a remodelled town emerge .
“ A successful 21st-century centre needs three activities on a big scale : living , working and leisure ,” he said . “ So central Middlesbrough will do all of those in a big way and be very successful – watch this process start in the coming 12 months .
“ Nowhere will put this money to work better than us – we will create new jobs , new energy and a new spirit .
“ The council has already bought Captain Cook Square and we now have the money to transform this key part of Middlesbrough town centre .
“ We have plans for empty units in and around Captain Cook Square and the heart of the town centre . We are in detailed discussions with a cinema operator and bowling alley operator and are developing a really exciting concept focused on food and music .
“ This is an idea that ’ s proving a huge success in some of the bigger cities and we ’ re learning from them , with the aim of improving on it to drive hundreds of thousands of people into the centre of Middlesbrough for leisure .
“ We ’ ve got the money , the ideas and the interest from investors and operators . It ’ s a massive opportunity .”
When the world returns to a sense of normality , hundreds of workers will get their bearings in new offices in Centre Square . Employees of First Source , XPS and Causeway will be the first to set up camp in the shadows of mima .
Among the plans are for the old Captain Cook pub “ over the border ” to be saved from falling down and to complement new homes and businesses in that part of town .
Middlesbrough Railway Station is subject to a £ 35m transformation that will include direct trains to London and a brilliant environment for travellers .
86 | Tees Business