Southampton Guildhall Square Success Story

Award winning Guildhall Square, part of Southampton's Cultural Quarter...

July 2011

Southampton residents can be proud of the all new and very dramatic Guildhall Square redevelopment which stretches from the civic centre to the High Street and the old site of John Lewis in Southampton opening up the main city centre parks to the Guildhall itself..

Contemporary spaces such as these are fresh to many UK cities and the understated yet striking design features provide the perfect environment for meeting friends, enjoying one of the many free performing arts shows and exhibitions that are utilising this great open space within the heart of Southampton.

This project is only the start of what will hopefully become an area for over £75 million worth of investment as your Conservative led council works hard to encourage additional investment to promote improvement and create a stunning cultural quarter in the Northern Above Bar area of the city.

Local Government News which is a prestigious local government publication has chosen Guildhall Square and Southampton’s new Cultural Quarter hub as the winner of the Editor's choice category in their 2011 Street Design Awards. This is a great accolade that brings national attention to our great city and shows Southampton as a city worth investing in.

Councillor, leader of Southampton City Council and also the Southampton Conservative Party, Royston Smith was handed the prestigious award by Laura Sharman, Editor of the Local Government News today publication. (as shown in the picture to the right)

On receiving the award Councillor Royston Smith said:

“Guildhall Square has given residents a lot of pleasure and attracted significant further investment to Southampton.

“I am very pleased and proud people are recognising our public realm and that Local Government News’ editor selected us as winners out of all Street Designs submitted around the country.”

The Street Design Awards are a nationwide competition that has now been running for over 20 years. The goal of the awards are to recognise best practice and the award aims to reward innovation in street design. In 2011 about 150 entries were received for the panel to judge on, so for Southampton to be chosen as the winner by this panel of experts is really great news.

Laura Sharman, Editor of Local Government News, said: “I am delighted to announce that the Guildhall Square has been chosen as the Editor's choice winner of our 2011 Street Design Awards. The scheme was chosen as it has all the elements of a successful public realm project it provides a pedestrian friendly environment, creates a sense of place and destination and will drive forward further regeneration of the area."

Please feel free to click this link to find out about upcoming Guildhall Square events or to enquire about holding your own event there...