Unlock the centre of Northampton with a free tram service between four vibrant new 'cardinal' hubs. From each of the hubs a free, exciting metro style shuttle service will be ready to transport people through the town centre bringing a metropolitanized ambience and truly giving Northampton the city feeling that is currently missing.
Abington Street Project, Urban linkage and The Fifth Element
Local sculptor Nicolas Moreton ARBS has devised a system of sculptural elements which enhances and involves our town centre. Humanist sculpture that reflects upon historical links with the town in a contemporary context. A regeneration of Abington Street creating spaces for open air activities and addressing the need for intimacy and weather protection.
The sculptural monuments and water features, designed to safely create meeting places and communal seating, pay homage
to our past and echo Northamptonshire’s spires and rolling country. The scale is intended to create a life statement to
Northampton people and a unique attraction to people from far and wide. Design plans and the concept for this scheme were first developed and appeared in March 1999.
The need to reduce the number of stalls on Northampton Market to a sensible and viable level was a necessary step towards rationalising the centuries old custom of shopping outdoors to meet today’s demand. With the many design options and peoples tastes to consider, let alone the ergonomics of a working market, a restricted budget was never going to be helpful. After competitions, consultations and much discussion, NBC’s Market Square Client Group agreed eighteen months ago, to create a smaller, but high quality and flexible open market on the Market Square and to use the remaining part of the square as a civic space.
