Specialist market and food hall development consultancy Market Curators has been appointed by four local authorities to provide bespoke advisory support for eight town centre market redevelopments.
Market Curators will be working with the councils in Walsall, Westmoreland and Furness, Stevenage in England and Blaenau Gwent in Wales to provide operational guidance and review each location’s existing offering. The consultancy will also work with their own internal as well as external architects to support each of the market and food hall’s designs and layouts, as well as their pre-letting strategies and detailed financial forecasting to ensure adequate return on investment for each local authority.
The works with Westmoreland and Furness will see Barrow Market be redeveloped to create a unique food and retail destination with events and entertainment for locals to enjoy. As well as supporting the market’s existing traders, the pre-letting campaign also hopes to attract new entrepreneurial artisans to the region.
In Wales, Market Curators will work with Blaenau Gwent on its three town centre locations in Abertillery, Brynmawr and Tredegar, with the works expected to take place in 2024. This trio of developments will seek to establish an aspirational mix of tenants for its kitchens, retail and servicing offerings.
Commenting on the consultancy’s stream of new business, James Wrigley, Director at Market Curators, said:
“It’s amazing what a thriving market can bring to an area, and we’re looking forward to bringing each of these local authorities’ visions to life with their upcoming developments. We have proven experience of delivering catalyst projects for town centre redevelopment, and we’re looking forward to making a success of these eight projects to provide residents with new and exciting shopping and food destinations.”
The works taking place in Stevenage will hopefully see the town’s indoor market transformed into a vibrant hub of food retailers, service vendors and clothing and beauty stalls. Stevenage Market’s existing cohort of traders would be relocated into a new state of the art market hall closer to Stevenage’s retail core. The project is expected to be completed in 2024.
As well as ensuring each destination offers a range of retail, hospitality and event facilities, Market Curator’s initial focus for Walsall Market will see the firm develop a strategic 10-year plan for the venue, ensuring the demographic composition of the local area is considered alongside its potential customer base.
Cllr Adrian Andrew, Associate Leader and Portfolio holder for Regeneration at Walsall council, added:
“We want to transform Walsall Market into a prosperous hub for the town centre that locals want to visit and enjoy. We were immediately impressed by James and his team’s experience in supporting market and food halls to achieve their commercial objectives and most importantly ensuring the longevity of the market space for the coming years.
“We look forward to supporting our existing traders and welcoming new ones to support the market’s growth and offer residents and visitors with more variety. Whether people visit the market to do their weekly shopping or to catch up with a friend over lunch, Walsall Market will become a central hub that serves the local community.”
The principals of Market Curators have provided specialist consultancy support to over 250 market and food halls throughout Europe and firmly believe in fusing markets that serve a wide demographic, food halls populated with independent kitchens and bars and co-working spaces for the local community.
Its latest stream of new business and further pipelined projects follows the firm’s recent announcement to support the Duchy of Cornwall with its hospitality-based market hall in the new town of Nansledan, Cornwall.
https://www.marketcurators.uk/