Greengage is part of the design team led by Allies & Morrison and Avison Young working on the regeneration of Luton Town Centre. Our aim is to redevelop the town centre so that Luton Town becomes a flexible, smart and resilient place with biodiversity, climate resilience and energy efficiency at its core. The following priorities underpin the vision to deliver change in the masterplan:
- Authentic and characterful
- Affordable and inviting
- Economically diverse
- Sustainably accessible
- Greener and Healthier
- Successful Delivery & Implementation
As part of our work, we fed into the development of a framework which will inform how the town centre can develop in line with the sustainable aspirations of Luton Council. The ambition of the framework is for the eradication of poverty and attainment of net zero carbon by 2040, in line with Luton Council’s targets and the climate emergency declaration.
The aspiration of the design team is to reimagine the town centre at Luton whilst augmenting the strong elements of community and entrepreneurship that make Luton the vibrant place that it is. The new town centre will meet the needs of the local people and deliver a diverse range of spaces that enable the residents to thrive socially, academically and commercially.
Areas of Luton will be connected together both physically and in terms of the community; whilst smart technology will help in facilitating and strengthening these connections. The sustainability and biodiversity of the Town Centre will also be enhanced through significant greening and improvements to the existing building stock.
The design team are working to realize the following key interventions:
Re-Stitching the town centre – by reinstating the key desire lines and improving connections for pedestrians
Knitting it in – Breaking the barrier of the ring road and making the town centre more accessible
Revealing Luton’s True Nature – Reinstating the river Lea in the town centre to create a new riverside park, and bringing life back into the underutilised historic buildings.
Our intention is to ensure that the interventions align with the development of a town centre at Luton that is resilient to the impacts of climate change, reduces carbon emissions on a pathway towards net zero in 2040, and significantly increases biodiversity and access to nature.
