We are thrilled that our project at St Nicholas Square in Colchester celebrated its grand opening this weekend. The site was formerly the churchyard to a Sir George Gilbert Scott-designed church (demolished in 1955), and had become an unloved left-over space dominated by ad-hoc parking. It has now been transformed into an open and welcoming square for markets, events and the spill-out of the cafes, restaurants and bars that surround it.

It is remarkable to think that it is nearly four years since the project was tendered for construction, and seven years since the original feasibility study was commissioned. This timescale is testament to the complexity of the site, and of the processes required for the renewal of the public realm within historic city centres. The square includes adopted highway land, diocesan land that was transferred to Colchester City Council as part of the project, privately owned land, and Council land leased to the nearby shopping precinct. Below ground, the team negotiated the services undercroft of the shopping precinct; medieval graves; Roman streets and buildings; and a congested tangle of pipework and cables, both live and disconnected. Four Traffic Regulation Orders were required along with a range of legal agreements and technical approvals which required us to demonstrate compliance with highways standards designed for new-build sites rather than historic cityscapes.

Despite this complexity, we have achieved a space which feels effortless - natural, open and generous. Our office lies just minutes away from the site, and it is truly special for us to be able to contribute to improving a space we use every day. We were able to work with a local visually impaired user group, wheelchair users, and cycle campaigners to understand and balance their accessibility needs, and - as city centre residents and workers ourselves - contributing our lived experience of different times of day and night. During construction, we could inspect the works closely and at short notice when required. The quality of finish in the final result attests to our team’s care and attention to detail.

St Nicholas Square is the first of a number of city centre spaces to be revitalised through the public realm strategy that we produced for Colchester City Council in 2018. We are shortly completing the technical design for Trinity Square - another deconsecrated and complex historic churchyard - and construction will start on site in 2026.

St Nicholas Square in numbers

7 years since we were commissioned for public realm strategy and feasibility study
5 years since we were appointed for full design
4 years since the project was tendered for construction
2 years since the construction contract was signed
17 months since the start of construction
2250m2 site area
Over 12,000 emails
Over 250 meetings and site visits
14 burial chambers uncovered and reburied, with remains left in situ
Bone and skeletal remains found during excavations will be reburied with due care and ceremony at Colchester Cemetery.
2 Roman gold rings discovered along with fragments of Roman marble and a North African amphora
First use of structural soil tree pits in adopted highway land within Essex