Have your say on new vision for Civic Centre

CONSULTATIONS AS PLAN IS UNVEILED

- By ALISON STEPHENSON Local Democracy Reporter

A VISION for the transformation of Plymouth’s iconic Civic Centre building has been unveiled and people will be asked to give their views on proposals at a series of events this month.

The £50 million scheme is predicted to spearhead the biggest regeneration of the city centre since it was reconstructed after the second world war.

Communications and engagements experts ECF have been commissioned to help with a consultation which starts this week as part of a pre planning process.

The company was responsible for the consultation on the Armada Way works in late 2023 to order to make it “robust and inclusive” following the tree felling debacle.

Residents of Plymouth have been waiting a decade for the redevelopment of the Grade II listed Civic Centre after Urban Splash, who regenerated the Royal William Yard, purchased the former council headquarters in 2015.

Planning permission was secured for 144 homes, office and leisure space five years later but the scheme never came to fruition and Urban Splash sold the site back to the council for £1 last year.

With modern city centre living still planned for the top floors of the 14-storey building, the city council is also working in partnership with City College Plymouth to deliver a blue-green skills hub on the lower floors, training thousands of students each year in sustainable technologies and marine innovation.

And it aims to create public spaces and ground-floor activity that reconnect the Civic Centre with the city around it, including Civic Square, the Theatre Royal and Royal Parade.