Newport High Street Heritage Action Zone

Newport is the historic market town of the Isle of Wight and is home to some remarkable historic buildings, a medieval street pattern and two market squares. Sadly it is suffering from retail decline, empty shops and some buildings are rundown and showing serious signs of decay. Traffic dominates many parts of the town, and the quality of public spaces could be much improved.

The High Streets Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) will seek to build on the work already carried out by the community to shape the regeneration of the town. Working with partners, it will also look to make the High Street a place that everybody living here wants to use and visit, and to increase residential accommodation within the town centre.

Our team was appointed to produce a four-part design guide that addresses the high street’s urban design context, provides conversion guidance for empty properties, offers a range of new use case studies and the sets out ways to overcome the barriers to repurposing heritage buildings.