Harrow Council are about to start works in the £2m town centre revamp that will change the look and feel of St Ann’s Road.
Works will begin on March 4 on creating a “café culture” on the pedestrianised Harrow town centre high street, and will continue until November. In preparation for the planned improvements, 14 trees will be removed from St Ann’s Road. The council plans to replace them with 20 trees throughout the course of the project.
The work will involve the removal of clutter and outdated street furniture in St Ann’s Road, including empty planters, the unused police kiosk, and a reduction in the number of BT phone booths to create a cleaner and more welcoming open space. The streamlined layout of the road will be redesigned with high quality paving and seating areas that the council hopes will encourage shoppers to stay and chat.
The project has been developed by Harrow Council and Design for London in partnership with David Kohn architects.
To complement the changes Havelock Place will be redesigned with access improvements for motorists and pedestrians. Havelock Place and the surrounding area provide an important pedestrian connection and service delivery route between the main shopping centre and surrounding residential streets.
Harrow Council Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regeneration, Cllr Keith Ferry, said: “The town Centre is the economic driving force behind the borough. If our local economy is to prosper it is essential that we have a modern town centre which attracts businesses and shoppers.
“The Town Centre has become outdated and tired-looking and these plans will ensure we create a vibrant town centre that we can all be proud of. We want to support our town centre and secure its future and this ambitious project is part of a package of measures that will transform Harrow into a modern 21st Century town centre.”
A budget of £1.9m has been made available to fund the St Ann’s project from the Council’s Capital Programme from 2012 to 2014. This will be supplemented by a further £182,000 for Havelock Place from the Mayor of London’s Outer London Fund.
The St Ann’s regeneration project is one of several interrelated projects to improve the network of public spaces in and around Harrow Town Centre as part of the ‘Heart of Harrow’ project. The regeneration of Lowlands Recreation Ground, by Harrow-on-the-Hill Station, is part of the Heart of Harrow blueprint and will see the ground turned into a landscaped town centre park which will host cultural and artistic events in a live performance space.
