A Huddersfield think tank has urged Kirklees Council to pause plans to demolish the town’s “flourishing” piazza shopping centre as part of a mammoth regeneration project.
Same Skies says re-purposing existing shops as exhibition space could add to the “cultural heart” of the so-called Huddersfield Blueprint.
The organisation has encouraged council bosses to “take a step back” and to “recognise their own success” as the piazza continues to attract arts groups.
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It has been described as “an alternative, low-cost approach to regeneration” that goes beyond the “traditional” method based on demolition and new buildings costing hundreds of millions of pounds.
Formed in 2015 and based at the Media Centre in Huddersfield, Same Skies set up a regional think tank in 2019.
A study by the group says exhibition audiences in Huddersfield have trebled and new arts activity has brought national attention to the town since local arts and community groups began using empty units within the 1970s shopping centre.
It says the piazza is acting as “an incubator” for new organisations, giving them access to a space where they can develop ideas and find an audience.
Kirklees Council bought the piazza and adjacent buildings for £3.25m as part of its land assembly for the £250m blueprint scheme. The complex along with the ribbon of shops around the Queensgate Market is earmarked to be bulldozed.
It will be replaced by a new library and art gallery, museum, food court and urban park with a link through to the University of Huddersfield campus.
However the Same Skies study recommends the model pioneered in Huddersfield for other towns such as Dewsbury and Batley, and is calling on the council to rethink its proposals to knock down the piazza.
Andrew Wilson, co-director of Same Skies, said: “The piazza arts centre is flourishing. The council should adapt their blueprint to put it at the centre of the regeneration strategy rather than knocking it down.”
Among the organisations based within the re-imagined piazza are CollaborARTi and the Climate Emergency Hub. A collective of local artists, CollaborARTi took five empty shops and turned them into colourful creative spaces.
Over six days, the Climate Emergency Hub hosted a programme of 28 events all focused on engaging the wider public in the climate and ecological emergency including a talk by international climate justice campaigner Farhana Yamin.
Organiser Mike Prior and Kath Wright, co-founder of CollaborARTi, said the architecture of the piazza - particularly the big glass shopfronts - contributed to the success of their activities.
The Same Skies study identified the piazza’s separate-but-connected style as “ideal for arts and community activities”.
As well as CollaborARTi and the Climate Emergency Hub, the piazza arts centre also includes Dark Horse, a dance group for people with learning disabilities, West Yorkshire Print Workshop, Huddersfield Caribbean Carnival, the Children’s Art School, Sangam Festival of South Asian Arts, Huddersfield Art Gallery, Huddersfield Literature Festival and Parley art development agency.
Kirklees Council has been approached to comment.
