Hull in print

Construction work is expected to begin in the next few weeks on a £6.6 million state-of-the-art bridge (pictured above) which will connect the Museums' Quarter in the old town to The Boom development on the River Hull's east bank.
And the experience of 'riding' the River Hull footbridge, when it steadily swings open to allow boats and ships to pass through, will be a world first.
Designed by architects McDowell and Benedetti, its distinctive whale-back shape will house a café bar when it's complete in October 2009 – allowing diners to ride the bridge while eating.
Pedestrians will be able to stand at the western side of the bridge as it moves out sideways to the west, very slowly.
"We believe the experience will be a world first," says John Holmes, chief executive of Hull Forward, Hull's economic development company.
"The design is so innovative that we're expecting it to become a visitor attraction in its own right."

Booming great

But perhaps more important is where the bridge leads to -The Boom.
The £100 million development will include more than 400 one and two bedroom apartments and 17 townhouses, plus shops, offices, restaurants and cafés.
And anyone crossing the Drypool or Myton bridges will see that the development's 136-bed Premier Inn, costing £10 million, and the adjacent 311-space car park, are already beginning to take shape.
Work started in October 2007, and is set to be completed by the end of this year.

Back to the future

Demolition of the Bonus Electrical site which is now the site of an archaeological dig

Meanwhile, across Castle Street on Blackfriargate, the old Bonus Electrical building has been almost fully demolished as part of preparations for developing the historic fruit market area.
The demolition is being seen as the official starting point of the development of the area into a commercial, leisure and residential zone.
"It will be a new place to live and work, complemented by café bars, speciality shops, restaurants, boutique hotels as well as new public space," added Mr Holmes.
"The demolition of the Bonus building will allow us to get on with some essential site investigations.
"It also temporarily opens up some new views of The Deep from Castle Street, which I'm sure many will find interesting." Meanwhile, an archaeological dig is expected to start on the site this month before contruction work begins.
"Evidence suggests part of the site was used briefly by medieval friars," says Trevor Brigham, project manager at Humber Field Archeology.
"It's clearly a site of historical importance and could help us learn more about how people lived hundreds of years ago."

Other developments

Residential apartments will form part of the The Boom

Nearby, the Freedom Quays luxury residential development on the marina is almost complete.
As this issue of Hull in print went to press, only eight of the 52 apartments were still up for sale, and negotiations were said to be underway on the luxury penthouse apartment, valued at between £450,000 and £500,000.
Across town, the St Stephen's development has won two top awards for best regeneration project in Yorkshire.
The retail and leisure development, which opened just under a year ago, beat other projects from across Yorkshire to win the annual Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Pro Yorkshire Award 2008, and the Yorkshire Property Industry Awards 2008.
"More than 1,300 jobs have so far been created in St Stephen's, including at least 300 for people who were previously unemployed," says Mark Jones, head of regeneration at Hull City Council.
"And many more will have been created when it's fully operational.
There's no doubt that St Stephen's has transformed the city centre and proved highly successful in bringing more shoppers into the heart of Hull."

Competition – win £50 of St Stephen's shopping vouchers

Lots of information about development projects in Hull, including those mentioned in this article, can be found on the Hull Forward website at www.hullforward.co.uk
For a chance to win the vouchers, which can be spent at any shop in St Stephen's, visit the website and find out the answer to the following question: how many jobs is St Stephen's creating?
The answer can also be found by visiting an exhibition on the first floor of St Stephen's which runs until the end of this month.
Send your answer to Sarah Lilly (St Stephen's competition), Hull Forward, 48 Queen Street, HU1 1UU, or email sarah.lilly@hullforward.co.uk
Please mention your address and daytime phone number.
Closing date is August 31.


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