Teignbridge District Council has unanimously supported a £2m upgrade scheme to Newton Abbot’s Market Walk shopping centre and Market Square, to create an open airy and spacious place to visit and shop.
The improvement plan, which was granted permission on 25 September, will form the first phase of a wider masterplan vision for the regeneration of the town centre proposed by a team including LHC, Montague Evans and Aecom for Teignbridge District Council.
Devised by LHC’s architectural team, the improvement plan will see a comprehensive upgrade of shopfronts and paving involving re-cladding shop units, removing concrete canopies and replacing with a larger glazed canopy, installing more benches and bins in Market Square and re-paving the centre from Courtenay Street through to Market Square.
The shopfront and paving improvement program is set to start in the spring 2018 with further works phased over the next 2-3 years.
Teignbridge District Council acquired the shopping centre to enable it to invest in improvements for the long term benefit of the town centre, and the proposed improvements will be the first significant investment in Market Walk and its surrounding area since its construction in the early 1980s.
Future phases are based around the Market Square as a key civic space and focal point of the town centre. The plans aim to make the most of the iconic Market Hall as a landmark at the centrepiece of the scheme.
