Invitation to produce development proposals for Shrewsbury’s Riverside area

Specialist companies have been invited to put forward their proposals for developing Shrewsbury’s Riverside, with Shropshire Council seeking an expert team to produce a ‘Strategic Development Framework’ (SDF) for the area.

A tender document has today [Wednesday 2 October 2019] been published for the work, and can be viewed on the council’s website here.

The Riverside Development Area (RDA) covers approximately 9.5 acres and includes the Riverside Shopping Centre, medical practice, Raven Meadows multi-storey car park, Shrewsbury bus station, the bus layover site, Raven Meadows, Smithfield Road and the river frontage.

The council is seeking a team that can offer masterplanning, transport, design, planning, commercial and heritage expertise to produce a SDF that will guide development in the area in terms of indicative development plots and infrastructure to support and shape the future of this area of the town.

The  deadline for submissions is 30 October [2019].

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for assets, economic growth and regeneration, said:

“This is a big step forward for our proposed development of the Riverside area, which has been made possible by our purchase of Shrewsbury’s shopping centres last year. We now have a huge opportunity to shape the redevelopment of a large part of the town centre and we’re hoping and expecting strong bids for this exciting and significant piece of work. I encourage any companies and specialists with the necessary skills, experience and ideas to read the brief and submit their tenders.”

Shropshire Council hopes to appoint a successful consultant team by early December 2019 for production of a Strategic Development Framework by early May 2020. The framework will then inform the council’s consideration of the options for delivering the redevelopment.

Over the course of the next 12 months, Shropshire Council will also start preparing the site for a phased demolition which it hopes will begin at the end of 2020, by which time the council should be clear on its preferred delivery strategy for the Riverside area.

The Riverside development work will be closely aligned with the Shrewsbury Big Town Plan (BTP) and is an important element of delivering the key ambitions and themes within the BTP. This is an opportunity to shape the future of this important area of the town, enhancing the river frontage and creating a sustainable and vibrant town centre.

The Riverside Shopping Centre will remain open for business as usual while this work is carried out.

To see the tender document, click here.

For more information about the Big Town Plan, go to: https://shrewsburybigtownplan.org/