Wrexham
In August 2024 PCUK Wales met in Wales’ newest city Wrexham to undertake a council-led tour of the city’s ongoing programme of regeneration projects - which have a strong placemaking focus grounded in the work of the current placemaking plan, and a high ambition with the work underway towards the UK City of Culture submission.
The visit provided the group with a fascinating opportunity to hear and see first-hand how the council’s efforts have been instrumental in shifting mindsets and attitudes about what can be achieved in the city. It also provided insight into how the city’s regeneration plans have been running alongside the current Hollywood-backed development of Wrexham Football Club, which has given a confidence to this new mindset of ambition within Wrexham.
The group began their walking tour at Wrexham General Train Station which is itself a key regeneration project with the future plan to create an improved gateway to the city, and includes proposals for an improved transport interchange, active travel provision, office and possibly residential developments; illustrating the benefits of collaborative partnerships between Transport for Wales, the Welsh Government, and Wrexham Council. The gateway aims to better connect to the other key areas (e.g. the city centre, hospital and university) by developing improved active travel routes and green corridors which will help to address the common issue of disconnected destinations and facilities within the city.
We continued our tour by walking the proposed active travel route towards the city centre, stopping at the existing Wrexham County Borough Museum and Archives which is currently under refurbishment as part of the ‘Museum of Two Halves’ project, a heritage-regeneration initiative to create galleries to display the Wrexham Museum collections within a modern venue whilst discovering the fascinating and eventful story of the region of North East Wales. It will also be home to the proposed new national football museum dedicated to Welsh association football.
Next on our itinerary was a number of key community-based regeneration projects, including: the Old Carnegie Library on Queens Square which is planned to be transformed into a creative hub for a community of artists and makers; and the former Hippodrome gap site that is being developed into a public space for the local community to gather, grow and play. Within this area we discussed the upcoming artist-led project to produce a series of public art murals which celebrate the culture of the city and supports the ambition to create a lively and interesting public realm.
Next the tour continued through the city centre with a focus on viewing the major ongoing regeneration works which will see significant changes being made to the High Street, Yorke Street, Town Hill and Abbot Street. The proposals seek to provide new green spaces, additional trees and further pedestrianised spaces to the area. This included walking along Bridge Street which has a number of underutilised sites offering opportunities to create a centrally-located local neighbourhood centre supported by improvements to the public realm.
The tour concluded at Tŷ Pawb, a successful regeneration project and multi-award winning cultural community resource. It features art galleries, market stalls, performance space, a learning centre, cafes and bars; and offered an opportunity for the group to have a post-tour cup of tea and chat.
An important takeaway from the tour was the depth of work that has gone into creating layers of placemaking and regeneration strategies that complement each other, acting as a strong catalyst for positive and thoughtful change. There has been other catalysts driving change, such as the new city status and football club ownership, but it’s important to note that many of these strategies and plans were in place before these events. The credit for this forward-thinking approach should go to the council. Additionally, it is important to note that the combination of digital placemaking and post-implementation efforts led by dedicated individuals within the council has been key to some of the successes we observed while walking around the city.
