TOWN PROFILE - Lewes
LEWES’ NORTH STREET QUARTER DEVELOPMENT
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orth Street Quarter is a £180m regeneration scheme to provide Lewes with much needed affordable housing along with employment space, including space for creative businesses, a brand new health hub and public car park. The landowners, North Street Quarter Ltd and Lewes District Council, have taken great care to ensure the development is sympathetically designed to complement the character and heritage of Lewes and its industrial past. Planning permission for the development has been granted by the South Downs National Park Authority, and the land owners are currently working towards discharging the planning conditions before work begins on the site. The development is to be built on a 15-acre brownfield site between North Street and the River Ouse, including the area formerly known as the Phoenix Industrial Estate. Flood defences to protect the North Street Quarter and the Pells area will be constructed as part of the scheme, completing the town’s flood defences. The development will create new public access to the Computer generated image of the new ironworks building in North Street Quarter river with a footbridge and riverside promenade. This will provide Lewes with an attractive riverside leisure area, for residents and visitors to enjoy. North Street Quarter will be developed in three phases over the next few years. The first phase will comprise the health hub, the car park, employment space and 243 of the 416 houses, including the majority of the affordable homes. The scheme has already enabled several local projects in Lewes, including a new skate park at Malling Fields and a state-of-the-art new factory for John Gosnell & Co, the Lewes-based soap and cosmetic manufacturer. Councillor Andy Smith, Leader of the Lewes District Council, said: “North Street Quarter will transform Lewes, not just in terms of the built environment, but also in the opportunities it creates for economic, cultural and social prosperity. The project will see 416 new homes constructed, 40% of these will be affordable, a health hub for 26,000 patients, 140,000 sq. feet of business space, a riverside promenade and underground public car park. This once in a generation development, will change lives for generations to come.”
Left: Computer generated image of North Street Quarter’s riverside access and public square
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