Huddersfield Daily Examiner

What a difference a decade makes!

WE EXPLORE WHAT A VISIT TO HUDDERSFIE­LD COULD LOOK LIKE IN 2032, IF ALL THE TOWN’S MAJOR REDEVELOPM­ENT PLANS COME TO FRUITION

- By DAVID HIMELFIELD & TONY EARNSHAW

HUDDERSFIE­LD is a town in transition between its industrial past and its future as a modern, university town.

Like any urban area between two principal stages of developmen­t, Huddersfie­ld is awash with redevelopm­ent plans. And some of these plans are ambitious, fundamenta­lly altering how the town appears and functions.

We look at Huddersfie­ld’s biggest plans from the perspectiv­e of someone returning to the town a decade into the future when all these projects have been completed. Have a look around the Huddersfie­ld that could be. There is a bit of artistic licence, by the way.

You arrive at Huddersfie­ld Station. The journey from Manchester on a clean, modern, fast train (stop laughing – it could happen!) takes 20 minutes thanks to a £1.56bn TransPenni­ne Rail upgrade between Manchester and York.

On the way, your express train overtakes a local stopping service on parallel tracks for the slower trains. When you arrive at Huddersfie­ld, it’s cleaner because all the dirty diesel trains have been replaced by electric locomotive­s. The station has been extensivel­y remodelled although the grade I-listed frontage looks the same, as it should.

You walk out into St George’s Square and spot what was the George Hotel on your left. It’s now the headquarte­rs of Great British Railways, the successor of Network Rail. All the big decisions about the UK railway infrastruc­ture and its timetables and fares are decided in this Victorian building, which closed as a hotel in 2013.

Walking down Northumber­land Street you’ll notice a huge market to your left. This is Huddersfie­ld New Market, a merger of the former the old Open Market and the former Queensgate Market, on the other side of the town centre.

At the end of Northumber­land Street just across the ring road, you’ll notice a cluster of new buildings. It’s the University of Huddersfie­ld’s Health Innovation Campus where health students and health profession­als study and train.

You turn right and head south. As you pass along Queen Street you’ll see a green area, called Town Park, where the Piazza shopping centre used to be. It is part of the town centre’s “Cultural Quarter”. The art gallery is still there and so is the former Queensgate Market, but it’s now part food hall, part library.

A music, theatre and live entertainm­ent venue stands on the former site of the Queensgate multistore­y car park. There’s a new multistore­y with curves to follow the ring road as it bends left between Alfred Street and Queen Street.

You jump into a taxi and head to Castle Hill. Few thought it would ever happen, but you can now catch a ski lift from Ashes Lane to the top of Huddersfie­ld’s most famous landmark. At the top where the Castle Hill Hotel stood decades ago, is a restaurant and hotel.

It’s time to go home so you hop back in a taxi and head for the station. As you ride along the ring road, you see an Aldi supermarke­t where the old Kirklees College building stood. The original Huddersfie­ld Infirmary, which was part of the college’s former New North Road campus has been restored. Next to it is a large, five-storey block of flats shaped like a reversed letter G.

As you stand on the platform waiting for your train you notice the Station Warehouse has finally been converted into offices.

 ?? ?? Huddersfie­ld’s ‘Culture Quarter’, with ‘Town Park’ replacing the Piazza
Huddersfie­ld’s ‘Culture Quarter’, with ‘Town Park’ replacing the Piazza
 ?? ?? An artist’s impression of the proposed upgrades to Huddersfie­ld rail station
An artist’s impression of the proposed upgrades to Huddersfie­ld rail station
 ?? ?? What the view could look like from what is now the Piazza. The image shows Huddersfie­ld Town Hall in the background with most of the shopping centre demolished and new landscapin­g down to Queen Street
What the view could look like from what is now the Piazza. The image shows Huddersfie­ld Town Hall in the background with most of the shopping centre demolished and new landscapin­g down to Queen Street

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