The same happened at Kingston retail park and the Odeon and Ice arena. Just as at St Andrews dock the area deserved better than just to be home to sprawling car parks and low-rise sheds. Meridian Quay in Swansea shows how it should be done.
St Andrew's Dock
Sorry - No news on the massive multimillion pound regeneration scheme we are all hoping for - yet - but I thought it might be interesting to start a thread to discuss the history and development potential of St Andrews Dock. The area is large enough and important enough to be given it's own thread rather than be lumped into the West Hull regeneration thread.
What are your views on this prime land close to the city centre, railway and on the main western approach road to the city?
I'm currently working in Salford Quays and it struck me recently that some of the original, relatively small scale developments from the late 80's in that part of Manchester, such as the now abandoned and due for demolition multiplex cinema and chain restaurants that got the ball rolling are pretty similar to what was in place at St Andrew's Dock in the early 90's (anybody old enough to remember the UCI, Megabowl and Jazzbo Brown's will know what I mean) and I realised that there may have been missed opportunities to create something similar for Hull.
Instead of using that initial impetus to attract homes, offices and improved transport connectivity a large tranche of land was instead redeveloped as a horrible big shed retail park specialising in bulky goods. I just wonder if this use of the area underestimated it's potential, and if so...what can be done?
The opportunity is still there to use the legacy of the area to create something really special...a permanent memorial to the city's lost trawlermen must be included - it is shameful that nothing of this nature exists already. Perhaps associated research centre's and visitor attractions should be included in any future plans or development framework?
Some references to help the topic are here...the one showing news headlines regarding the initial plans for regeneration and it's attendant opposition is particularly interesting.
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From the Grimsby Telegraph:
What are your views on this prime land close to the city centre, railway and on the main western approach road to the city?
I'm currently working in Salford Quays and it struck me recently that some of the original, relatively small scale developments from the late 80's in that part of Manchester, such as the now abandoned and due for demolition multiplex cinema and chain restaurants that got the ball rolling are pretty similar to what was in place at St Andrew's Dock in the early 90's (anybody old enough to remember the UCI, Megabowl and Jazzbo Brown's will know what I mean) and I realised that there may have been missed opportunities to create something similar for Hull.
Instead of using that initial impetus to attract homes, offices and improved transport connectivity a large tranche of land was instead redeveloped as a horrible big shed retail park specialising in bulky goods. I just wonder if this use of the area underestimated it's potential, and if so...what can be done?
The opportunity is still there to use the legacy of the area to create something really special...a permanent memorial to the city's lost trawlermen must be included - it is shameful that nothing of this nature exists already. Perhaps associated research centre's and visitor attractions should be included in any future plans or development framework?
Some references to help the topic are here...the one showing news headlines regarding the initial plans for regeneration and it's attendant opposition is particularly interesting.
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From the Grimsby Telegraph:
How St Andrew's Dock brought life, jobs and business to city
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bustling with business: St Andrew's Dock in 1954 with fish being unloaded.
ITS waters are a permanent feature of our landscape... Stuart Russell continues his tour of the River Humber to West Hull...
WEEKEND and the Humber Bank in West Hull is, as they say locally, "heaving."
Cars by the hundred trundle to and from the DIY superstore and assorted barns of places selling anything from three piece suites to bikes to the latest in hi-tech sound and vision, which now grace what was once the western end of St Andrew's Dock.
Just a few yards from all this the murky brown waters of the estuary are capped with white as there's a fresh easterly blowing much to the satisfaction of that hardy breed who sail their yachts along these cold and uninviting waters.
It's a bright day with cloud and on the riverfront a line of fishing rods, their lines extending into the river murk are watched by men and boys who come here not only to fish but to gossip.
Not many years ago the chances of them catching anything half decent were slim to say the least. But now the Humber – as estuaries of its size go – is clean and the fish are coming back.
What will not come back, however, is the type of fishing which helped Hull became the world's biggest fishing port, a claim still hotly disputed to this day by rival Grimsby across the Humber.
Neighbouring the modern trading estate is a place of memories, a bleak and semi-derelict reminder of what once stood here.
Little remains of St Andrew's Dock from which in years past the great Hull trawler fleet left to ply its trade in the great northern waters of Iceland, Norway and Greenland. Most returned. Many did not.
Businesses that became legendary once traded from here, for many years the home of the greatest trawler fleet on earth.
Stand today at the lock head of what was once St Andrew's Dock and there is little remaining to bring a reminder of those glory days when fish and fishing played a key role in Hull's economy.
But in one respect nothing has changed, for the ever-restless muddy waters of the River Humber still flow past this place just as they have for millennia.
Without the river this dock, which opened on September 24, 1883, could never have existed. But that day marked an important milestone in the city's story, for it brought new life, business and jobs to the west of the growing city.
The cost of creating the new dock was £414,707 and the opening was an opportunity for ceremonial splendour. Local dignitaries sailed to it from Victoria Pier to watch as the chairman of Hull Dock Company, Mr J R Ringrose performed the official ceremony.
For the next century St Andrew's Dock was in many respects a town in its own right. Here were coffee shops, offices, banks, outfitters and repair facilities, not forgetting what was at one time the busiest telegraph office anywhere in Britain.
And here, too, were net stores, rope stores, coaling facilities, a fish meal plant from which an un-mistakable smell wafted over the packed terraces of neighbouring Hessle Road, and an ice factory.
All are now but memories.
In the story of the River Humber, St Andrew's Dock has a special place. It may now be gone. It will never be forgotten.
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