Heart of Slough

Coordinates: 51°30′38.35″N 0°35′41.96″W / 51.5106528°N 0.5949889°W / 51.5106528; -0.5949889 The Heart of Slough Project is an ambitious plan for the town centre redevelopment of Slough, in Berkshire. The aim is to create a leading European and national focus and cultural quarter for the creative media, information and communications industries. It will create a mixed-use complex, multi-functional buildings, visual landmarks and a public space in the Thames Valley.

Timeline

Recommendations for the £400 million project were approved,^[1] and planning approval was given by Slough Borough Council’s planning committee on 9 July 2009.^[2]
In December 2009, 2 key components of the project were signed, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) signed its agreement to provide £11m of funding for the infrastructure of the scheme and Thames Valley University (TVU) courses which are due to remain in the town have found a new home at The Centre in Farnham Road, Slough^[3]
As part of the Heart of Slough project, construction work on the modern bus station began on Monday, 29 March 2010 following weeks of demolition work to half of the previous bus station and the removal of Compair House near the railway station; it was expected to be completed by January 2011.^[4]^[5]

Heart of Slough Updates

Slough's new Bus Station opened in May 2011, 5 months behind schedule. But while that was under construction, work began all over the town, the new road works were well underway. Redevelopment of the railway station (Network Rail site) started in the early weeks of August 2011 and was scheduled to be finished before the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The rest of the old Brunel bus station was demolished.

The new learning centre (The Curve) was expected to start in early 2012, but was delayed until February 2014. The £1bn Learning centre will be completed in July 2015.^[6] The Curve, library and cultural centre, is due to open on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 September 2016.^[7]

Another development was the Thames Valley Square. This was scheduled to start by the end of 2011. However, as of April 2014, the Thames Valley Square's construction has not been commenced.

The new road system in Slough is complete. Before, it was a roundabout, now it has been successfully been converted to a Cross Road.

Key Components

Bus station

The Learning Curve

The Learning Curve is the new Library for Slough in construction at the moment.

Reception

Bus station

The bus station has met with an overwhelmingly negative reception from local residents, earning the nickname of 'The Slug'. It was labelled not fit for purpose by disgruntled users after opening in May 2011, citing the absence of public lavatories, lack of adequate seating areas, and the near total exposure to the elements, with the shape of the building channeling rainwater directly into the main waiting area. Wheelchair access has also been a major issue. As of January 2014, these issues have yet to be resolved.^[9]

References

Notes

External links

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