{"id":28736,"date":"2020-12-29T17:20:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T17:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=28736"},"modified":"2020-12-29T17:20:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T17:20:18","slug":"historic-coventry-city-centre-streets-transformed-as-part-of-an-ambitious-2-million-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=28736","title":{"rendered":"Historic Coventry city centre streets transformed as part of an ambitious \u00a32 million project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Two historic streets in Coventry city centre have been transformed over the last few months as part of an ambitious \u00a32 million project ahead of the festive season.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2026 [Burges is] One of the few surviving traditional \u2018high street\u2019 areas in Coventry\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

\u2026 transformed, thanks to \u2026 the Historic Coventry Trust, their partners and \u2026the business owners\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) writes:<\/p>\n

One of the few surviving traditional \u2018high street\u2019 areas in Coventry, the Burges is one of the city\u2019s earliest medieval streets with the buildings on the eastern side retaining much of the medieval fabric behind 18th-century frontages. The street\u2019s name, the Burges, is a corruption of \u2018the Bridges\u2019, as the street runs over the River Sherbourne its tributiary.<\/p>\n

Hales Street was created in 1848 to improve traffic flows around the medieval city and historic photos show it has been a home for independent local businesses for generations.<\/p>\n

The locally listed buildings in both streets have been expertly restored over the last nine months by local companies Heron Consultants Ltd, Symon Construction Ltd and Tooth Joinery Ltd to designs drawn up by conservation architects Corstorphine + Wright.<\/p>\n

The historic fronts of 16 buildings and shops have been restored after Historic Coventry Trust (HCT) was given a major grant by the Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) as a national demonstrator project for its \u00a395 million High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme, led by Historic England.<\/p>\n

With the Government funding through Historic England, support from Coventry City Council and match-funding from the owners, Historic Coventry Trust has repaired the buildings, restored lost historic features such as sash windows and fitted new traditional shopfronts.<\/p>\n

At the same time, many of the business owners have refurbished the inside of their shops and restaurants.<\/p>\n

The project has been carried out in partnership with Coventry City Council and Coventry BID and is part of the wider regeneration work ahead of the city hosting UK City of Culture from May 2021.<\/p>\n

Carol Pyrah, Executive Director of HCT, said: \u201cHales Street and the Burges are packed with great, independent local businesses and it\u2019s an ideal place to go for your post-lockdown Christmas shopping, for taking a break in one of the restaurants, or sprucing yourself up for Christmas in one of the barber shops or clothes stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transformation really has been astounding \u2013 we started off with one of Coventry\u2019s ugly sisters, but in true panto style there was a Cinderella waiting to be revealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe restoration of the buildings has brought out their beauty and allows the businesses to shine. It\u2019s time to #RediscoverYourCoventry \u2013 this historic high street is certainly alive and well and ready to go to the ball this Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe buildings really deserve their locally listed status and we\u2019re incredibly grateful to our funders \u2013 DCMS, Historic England, and our core partners Coventry City Council and the Coventry BID for helping us make this transformation a reality.\u00a0 It has been a privilege to work with the businesses who have shown amazing creativity and adaptability during this difficult year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councillor Jim O\u2019Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration at Coventry City Council, said: \u201cThe change in the Burges really is astounding and it is now a great addition to the massive investment underway in the city centre. This has only happened thanks to the innovative partnership between the Council and Historic Coventry Trust, which is bringing our heritage up to scratch across the city centre in time for UK City of Culture and as a great legacy for local people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louisa Moore, Partnerships Team Leader for Historic England, said: \u201cThe Burges and Hales Streets are hidden gems of Coventry, and watching the buildings return to their former glory has been a joy and a privilege. This part of Coventry has survived many changes over the years \u2013 and people will now have a chance to rediscover it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistoric England chose the Burges and Hales Street as a \u2018national demonstrator\u2019 for our national High Street Heritage Action Zone scheme and Coventry is showing the rest of the country just what heritage led regeneration can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trish Willetts, BID Director, said: \u201cWe have so much to celebrate and be proud of in our great city, despite 2020 being a tough year for everyone. The redevelopment of the Burges and Hales Street is another fantastic project which has seen an area of Coventry transformed, thanks to the hard work and dedication of both Historic Coventry Trust, their partners and, of course, the business owners themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delighted to be a partner in this National Heritage Action Zone Demonstrator, showing how heritage and business working together can have such a positive outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two historic streets in Coventry city centre have been transformed over the last few months as part of an ambitious \u00a32 million project ahead of the festive season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28738,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28736\/revisions\/28738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}