Earlier this summer saw HGGT partners, Harlow Council, begin work on a new Sustainable Transport Interchange and Hub that will not only replace the existing bus station but become a focal point for the wider Harlow Town Centre regeneration and development.
Funded by Government, the project is being overseen by the Council’s Assistant Director for Regeneration & Commercial Development, James Gardner.
And in this blog for the Garden Town, James explains how the Sustainable Transport Interchange and Hub will be central to making Harlow a go to destination in the future.
We’ve got some fantastic plans for regenerating Harlow Town Centre, creating an Arts & Cultural Quarter, a redesigned Market Square and redevelopment across the main high street/Broad Walk area.
Alongside this is our new Sustainable Transport Hub and Interchange which will create a true gateway into the town centre, enhancing the existing retail offering in Terminus Street while providing the opportunity to support new retail, leisure and hospitality tenants.
We’re really excited to be moving away from the bus station’s unwelcoming, dark and concrete design, which created a harsh looking area, with something that is fit for the future.
What people will see is a new modern canopy, glazed with green landscaping throughout, designed to give space and fresh air while the glass frontages will protect people from the wind and inclement weather.
The footbridge to Terminus House, such a dominating structure in the area, suffered from anti-social behaviour and has now been removed as part of the early works to accommodate the new canopy design, that will stretch across the whole of Terminus Street.
Creating a far more welcoming environment that is safe, green landscaped and family friendly is a real priority for us.
That’s great news for shop owners in the area because we want to encourage that flow of people to use the retail units there and create a real sense of place.
We’ve called it a Sustainable Transport Hub and Interchange because we’re delivering something that is multi-use and can support Harlow & Gilston Garden Town’s aspirations for bus and active travel as an alternative to cars for local journeys.
People will see opportunities for things like cycle hire and it will feed into the new travel route, known as a Sustainable Transport Corridor, that is currently being constructed in Harlow between Burnt Mill roundabout and the town centre.
With the new Sustainable Transport Hub and Interchange will come changes in the way that buses leave the facility day to day.
Currently, buses arrive and leave the bus station via the north and there will be a slight change to this moving forward with buses exiting to the south towards Crown Gate instead.
This new exit will create a much better flow for the buses as they move onto the road network.
People have asked why we’re spending the money on the bus station when it could be spent on other things like road improvements.
But this money has come from central Government funding specifically for town centre regeneration in Harlow.
We hear the concerns of previous plans for the town centre from years ago that didn’t work out.
What’s different this time is how we’ve approached regeneration, both as a Council, but also within our partnerships to ensure delivery.
It’s ironic that we’re starting our regeneration with the bus station transformation because we’re all on a real journey to creating something new.
We’re seeing it with the Garden Town project and it’s one of the reasons Harlow Council purchased the Harvey Centre, we want to be influential in the town centre and lead on developments in the area that benefit our residents and support it’s evolution, creating a more sustainable and flexible town centre.
It is so important to build facilities that are attractive and can inspire people to use them on a regular basis and can support us in attracting more visitors to the centre, that in turn will improve the opportunities to encourage investment.
And that goes for the wider town centre regeneration as well.
What we’re trying to do is build a phased approach to the town centre development and create an opportunity for the private sector to also come on board with us.
Companies will see the regeneration of the bus station and how it links into the whole-place town centre redevelopment.
It will give them the confidence to start investing their money into Harlow and the Garden Town.
Another priority is looking after our existing bus users while we build the new Hub and Interchange.
We have looked at a variety of options but the most user friendly is moving the bus station operation elsewhere within the town centre.
To do this, we have looked to the past and revisited the 1990s when the current bus station was developed, and a temporary bus station was created at Post Office Road.
We are looking to do this again and have submitted a planning application to create a temporary bus station at Post Office Road car park.
The question we get asked in the Discover Harlow hub all the time is when will the new Transport Hub be open and operational?
The good news is that the final bits of civil engineering design are just being finalised at the moment, so construction works should recommence this Autumn, starting with the creation of the temporary bus station, subject to planning.
And then people will see a huge expansion of works being undertaken towards the back end of this year with everything coming to a conclusion towards the end of 2025 to early 2026.
