Maidstone High Street International Design Competition

Maidstone is Kent’s County Town and provides the central focus for much of Kent’s commercial and retail activity - offering very high quality commercial, retail and leisure services to residents, workers and visitors.

In 2006 Maidstone achieved Growth Point status - over the next 20 years 10,080 homes with the accompanying employment needs will be built in and around Maidstone.  The town centre must keep pace with this development and as the commercial centre of Kent, and its County Town, continue to offer the quality of commercial, retail and community life that sets it apart from the more predominant growth areas of Thames Gateway and Ashford.  Significant investment is already planned in the form of building a new East Wing to Maidstone’s Museum, together with improvements to Mote Park (360 hectares of parkland which was the venue of the 2008 Radio 1 Big Weekend) and investment in Mote Park Leisure Centre.

Maidstone Borough Council believes that public realm improvements in the town centre can increase the attractiveness of this area to shoppers, visitors and residents, and contribute more broadly to town centre investment levels - particularly when it is competing for investment with other locations. In the current difficult economic conditions ensuring that the town centre offers the most attractive physical trading environment possible to support and retain retailers, restaurants and other town centre businesses is important and will also mean that Maidstone is well placed to attract new private sector investment coming out of the recession.

Footfall in the town has risen by 39% since the Fremlin Walk Shopping Centre opened in 2005, but not all streets in the town have benefited.  Shopping patterns have altered and the town is still going through a period of readjustment.  Whilst vacancy levels in the High Street, Pudding Lane, and at the north end of Week Street have reduced significantly over the past 3 years, they could still be improved.  Moreover, the recent work in the town by utility companies has left streets scarred and patched.  A number of local initiatives have already been undertaken in and around the Town Centre aimed at providing an enhanced consumer and business environment - a High Street Ward Master-plan was prepared by Urban Initiatives targeting the Medieval area around the Archbishop’s Palace, the project Elemental commissioned contemporary public art works for the riverside, while Art at the Centre provided specialist business advice for the creative community whilst seeking to enhance the public realm within a demarcated area of the town.  These initiatives have all made a positive impact on the town - footfall in the target areas has improved, while business and consumer confidence remains high.  Undertaking a programme of public realm improvements will ensure that the impact of these projects will not be lost.

http://highstreet.digitalmaidstone.co.uk/