Harrogate public realm, North Yorkshire

Harrogate public realm

North Yorkshire

Our work in Harrogate is focussed on improving the pedestrian experience for the benefit of local residents, visitors and businesses.

The town centre is a distinctive well-preserved example of a historic English spa town. It is notable for its elegant Victorian architecture, generous public green spaces and interesting mix of high street businesses. These aspects draw people to the centre of town for shopping, food & drink, site-seeing and general recreation.

Harrogate has the reputation of Britain’s most romantic town, with its fine Victorian and Edwardian architecture, prevalence of stone, ornate shopfronts and arcade giving great civic pride and coherence.

The planned layout of the town with has a strong spatial structure, street pattern and pedestrian-friendly scale. This is complemented by a generous green Infrastructure with incidental green spaces, tree-lined streets and openness of The Stray.

So as to increase pedestrian numbers and dwell, the approach aims to :

Strengthen local identity and the business offer
Refresh streets and spaces
Reduce vehicle dominance
Green streets
Create better opportunities for food and beverages

The quality of the public realm is however compromised in many places by scruffy and cluttered pedestrianised streets, an incoherent palette of hardscape and softscape materials, shabby street furniture and patchy paving materials. The combination of insufficient tree planting and greenery along with street design and condition often detracts from, rather than complements the fine architecture of the town.

With key streets and spaces dominated by roads and parked vehicles there is a lack of opportunities for people-focussed movement, dwell and active travel.

Colour have developed a holistic vision for the town centre through working with the Business Improvement District, its spectrum of local employers and key stakeholders such as North Yorkshire Council and the Harrogate International Festival.