Makeover for Hamilton Town Square

Jun 19 2008 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON’S 10-year-old Town Square is to have a £413,000 makeover.

Work to create an ‘amphitheatre’ suitable for staging street events and markets is due to start next Spring.

An application for planning permission to carry out the work has been lodged.

South Lanarkshire Council say they want to maximise space available in the Square, built at a cost of about £4m.

It follows the loss of space on the square’s lower tier following the construction there of Frankie and Benny’s restaurant.

Work has been underway for some time on the £20m Hamilton Towers development, a mix of shops, offices and homes on adjacent land between Castle Street and Keith Street.

A spokesman for the council said: “Since the Square was completed, developments have taken place in and around it which have impacted on the original concept of how it is used and what the most appropriate uses for the space are and will be in the future.

“The works (planned) comprise a remodelling of the steps to form a semi circular/amphitheatre type stepped arrangement with a new pedestrian ramp created adjacent to the new Hamilton Towers development.”

Lanarkshire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Douglas Millar welcomed the work.

He said it would help to unite the shopping area around Quarry Street with shops in the Palace Grounds.

“It will create the space we have been looking for to hold events such as street markets and festivals,” he added.

“We have had complaints from the farmers’ market that they are not in the best position, and hopefully this may create a new home for them although no decision has been taken.”

He said that the opening of the new shops in Castle Street, as part of the Towers scheme, should encourage Palace Grounds shoppers to walk up into Quarry Street and into Regent Way.

Hamilton Town Square opened in 1998, about the same time as ASDA. Much of the artwork sited there at that time has since been removed.

The £180,000 Holly Stick, a glass and metal fountain that never worked, was junked.

Five ornamental glass panels, sited on the bottom tier, were removed to make way for Frankie and Benny’s.

A metal structure with a canvas covering was also taken down after it became vandalised.

Not long after the Square opened, retractable bollards were installed to control traffic entry into the square. However, they were removed following the start of building work on flats.

Since then, the top tier of the supposedly pedestrianised square has become a ‘rat run’ between the Castle Street and the Top Cross.

The centrepiece of the town is often littered with parked cars, and people working in the area are often dropped off from vehicles driven into the Square.

Council bosses told the Advertiser two years ago that there were no plans to re-introduce the automated bollard system.