Designs for the £80m revamp of a former Norwich shoe factory and its surrounding area have been revealed for the first time.
Outline plans to transform St Mary's Works shoe factory and the nearby area into a number of houses, offices and car park spaces were given the green light on January 11 by Norwich City Council's planning committee.
The updated, in-depth plans include new links between St Martin's and St Mary's and development between Oak Street, Duke Street, St Martin's Lane and St Mary's Plain.
On Friday, members of the public were able to see the initial outline of the new development at a consultation meeting at St George's Works in Colegate.
New buildings will be built around the shoe factory to house a number of offices, hotel, restaurant and other commercial units, with open spaces giving new views of the churches.
The designs show more homes would be built than originally planned - 160 instead of 151, which will range from one, two and three-bedroom flats to larger homes for families.
Developers Our Place will be contributing £2m to the council to go towards the community infrastructure levy (CIL), affordable housing and renovation of both churchyards.
The lack of affordable housing was a contentious issue which drew a lot of criticism from councillors, some of whom described the unfulfilled provisional target of 50 affordable homes as setting a dangerous precedent.
Dominic Richards, chief executive of Our Place, said: 'The local authority wanted a focus on jobs and that is the approach we took.
'We are committed to contributing as much as we can and we want to give back to the community.'
Laura Hattrup, head of design, added: 'If you just had houses all over there it becomes a drain on everything else - places that are purely residential become nowhere places.'
The number of car parking spaces has also reduced from 120 to around 75.
'We believe people are moving away from using cars,' Mr Richards said. 'There will be pedestrian areas so people can walk all over the site with no danger whatsoever, and electric charging points and bicycle spaces.'
Mr Richards said work could begin in the last quarter of this year and could take around three years to complete.
Designs are now available to view at shoequarter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/BOARDS-COMBINED-SMW-.pdf
A full planning application for St Mary's Works will be submitted by early March. The public will be able to submit their views via a council online portal. In the meantime, you can email your views to hello@our.place
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