Harnessing heritage to drive South Yorkshire regeneration

Successful regeneration projects should radiate a sense of pride and belonging within the community. The best way to achieve this is by leaning into the values, heritage and identity of our region’s urban centres, explains Tony Shaw, managing director of Henry Boot Construction.

While the term ‘regeneration’ refers to the process of renewing and restoring a town or city, ‘community-focused regeneration’ is renewal and restoration with local people in mind. It’s being aware of the unique history and heritage of these places and sympathetically reforming them in a way that helps to recapture the pride, character, and social aspect of an urban centre. This is something which had arguably been lost a little during the rise and fall of the department store era.

From the numerous urban regeneration projects I’ve been involved in during my time at Henry Boot Construction, I can safely say that harnessing a place’s heritage is not only key to reshaping its economic future, but helps to create true social value and local ownership too.

Without buy-in and support from the people who live and work in our towns and cities, these central spaces won’t be the thriving social hubs they ought to be – places that attract new businesses, inward investment, and visitors from further afield.

Since delivering the £30m redevelopment of the former 28-acre Outokumpu steelworks site in Stocksbridge in 2015, we’ve carried out major urban regeneration projects in Barnsley, including Barnsley Markets and The Glass Works.

The Glass Works in Barnsley is a £200m project revitalising the town’s historic markets. Credit: Henry Boot Construction – Tom Arber

Our work with Barnsley Council included building a new shopping core, cinema, food and drinks offering, and a major public square, which has helped breathe life back into a town whose famous markets have been at the heart of the town centre since 1249.

The Library at the Lightbox forms part of Barnsley’s refurbished core. Credit: Henry Boot Construction – Tom Arber

With such high footfall and a sense of pride and ownership from residents, it was a significant scheme, and one we had to get right.

The Metropolitan Centre needed refurbishing, as since construction in 1972, the building had endured multiple layout changes and become outdated and cramped.

The resulting restoration brought Barnsley Markets under one roof – creating a brighter, more spacious, accessible, and contemporary environment, complete with Food Hall and Market Kitchen. The outcome was a space that attracted more people to the town centre and stimulated economic growth.

Although it was a big challenge, we worked around the clock to successfully keep more than 100 market stalls trading during the refurbishment.

By delivering welcoming, open, accessible, and well-lit public spaces, alongside genuine community attractions, Barnsley town centre has started to attract more of the families and age groups that were otherwise travelling further afield. This has dramatically transformed the town centre into a busier, vibrant, and more inviting destination.

While many towns and cities moved their markets to the periphery of their urban centres during the 90s and 00s, The Glass Works put Barnsley Markets at the very heart of the new look town centre – championing heritage and the unique character of the market traders.

The new public square is a destination in its own right – an active and vibrant hub that hosts regular community and cultural events. The square is where everything comes together as one – a place for shared moments and experiences. This is what community-focused regeneration is.

Barnsley is a fantastic regeneration blueprint for what other market towns and cities across the region can achieve – either scaling it up or down to suit their needs.

While each town and city has its own unique identity and legacy, these projects have a lot of similarities. The same values apply – a melting pot of cultures, communities, demographics, communal sharing, vibrancy, and character.

The work we’re doing with Rotherham is an example of this. We’ve recently been appointed by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council to deliver the £36m redevelopment of Rotherham Markets and an adjacent new library.

Henry Boot Construction won the much-anticipated Rotherham Markets revamp project in May of this year. Credit: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

This project forms a  crucial part of the wider town centre masterplan and will breathe new life into this key location.

The library will be about far more than books. It will become a true community anchor for the town – a place to work, host community groups, and events, for families to enjoy.

We, together with our local subcontractors and suppliers, form part of the communities that will enjoy these reinvigorated places. As a result, there’s an extra layer of commitment and involvement with these projects.

We take pride in the places we live and work, and we want to leave a legacy.

While urban regeneration is definitely a journey, we’re really proud of being able to help shape the future identity of South Yorkshire and be at the heart of the region’s dynamic new era.

• Tony Shaw is managing director at Henry Boot Construction