Plans inspired by a wealth of influences

ARCHITECTS commissioned to regenerate the heart of Huddersfield have looked to buildings across the world for their inspiration.

The team from Manchester-based firm Leslie Jones aims to bring a cosmopolitan feel to any redevelopment of the library and art gallery.

Schemes for wholesale re-building of the area around the piazza would incorporate influences from the jewel-like glass dome of the Reichstag building in Berlin while the bridge could mirror lines found in the famous Gateshead Millennium Bridge spanning the River Tyne.

A number of their hugely-ambitious schemes involve a facelift of the entire south-eastern quadrant of the town centre.

That means the piazza, library, art gallery, indoor market and Queensgate multi-storey car park could make way for a stunning new shopping and cultural quarter within five years.

The public have been invited to give their views in a major consultation lasting well into summer.

During the planning process, there will be a second chance for everyone to have their say.

Unveiling the seven schemes yesterday, Leslie Jones' associate director Richard Green said: "We are trying to emphasise the quality of the town and enhancing that."

Many more shops and civic spaces would be created for people to enjoy as well as a network of squares or forums with bridge links to the University of Huddersfield campus over the ring road.

Mr Green visits many other countries, particularly the United States and Europe, to pick up ideas on "new wave urbanism" and the impact developments have on the local economy.

"In its effect it would transform this area bringing in new investment but at the same time recognise the heritage."

Incredible structures such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, could have an electrifying effect on a town's fortunes.

"It led to a wider regeneration of the city, a new tourist influx into the city.

"Buildings and architecture can change peoples' perceptions of a town."

THE OPTIONS

OPTION 1: Repair the library and art gallery building

Cost to the council: about £3.75m

OPTION 2: Repair, refurbish and extend the library and art gallery and development of 12 shops

Cost to the council: about £1.15m

OPTION 3: New library and art gallery with some shops

Cost to the council: about £650,000

OPTION 4: New library and art gallery behind the façade of the existing building together plus small number of shops