Motherwell Mini-Masterplan

Tender description

An external design team will be procured to undertake a mini-masterplan to look at an area of Motherwell around the Masonic Hall. In October 2020 the owners of the Masonic Hall approached the council to enquire as to whether we would be interested in purchasing the building as it had become unsuitable for their purposes. In January 2021 the Growth Team appointed Page Park architects to undertake a feasibility study to provide designs to convert the building to social residential accommodation and options for inclusion of an active travel hub within the building (although the latter was unviable). City Deal have more recently looked at operating models for an Active Travel Hub close to Motherwell Train Station and the results of both studies will be fed into the completed masterplan. The purchase of the Masonic Hall was finalised in March 2022 and the project was handed over to New Supply in June 2022. New Supply have recently appointed Coltart Earley Architects to provide a design for façade retention with a new build behind allowing for a maximum of 14 new residential units. Early discussions were also held with the owners of the Orange Hall (on Milton Street) who were also keen to sell this property (although not taken forward at this time as a ‘stand-alone’ project). The Growth Team would now aim to procure a design team to lead on a mini-masterplanning exercise to consider the future options for redevelopment of this wider area of Motherwell looking at options for residential accommodation (both private and social housing), provision of an active travel hub, streetscape and frontage improvements, improved park and ride facilities, and an improved entrance/gateway into Motherwell. Existing works and studies undertaken for the above properties will be incorporated in the mini-masterplan to provide a cohesive overall development of the wider area. Moreover, the mini-masterplan, supporting the aim of the council’s Economic Regeneration Delivery Plan (ERDP) to reshape and repopulate NL’s town centres, will also be closely aligned with the Town Vision which proposes residential expansion across much of this area. It is also proposed that the proposals developed through this mini-masterplan, where non-confidential, will be fed into the emerging Town Action Plan for Motherwell. This will mean that if proposals are brough forward to committee to demolish the Aquatec, then alternate plans/opportunity will have been considered and developed to replace this facility with new town centre housing.