Adver Towers Shelved!
UPDATE: Monday 14 March 2016
Plans withdrawn after public outcry over Old Town development proposal
The architect who proposed a tower block in Old Town as part of a redevelopment plan has apologised for the idea and promised a re-think.
Gary Madgwick, managing director of Quad Group, who put forward a radical plan for a new tower on the site of the old Adver building wrote to local resident Neil Robinson, who had put together a petition against the scheme that attracted over 2,300 signatures in three days.
"We have listened to all the concerns and these plans have been withdrawn from future consideration and we will be re-drawing a new submission taking in to account these concerns" Mr Madgwick wrote (see below) before adding:
"We are sorry it caused so much bad feeling."
Locals think April Fool's Day has come early as new Old Town development plans are unveiled
Saturday 12 March 2016
This is the plan for the heart of Old Town if developers hoping to buy the old Advertiser building get their way.
The proposal, which includes building flats and offices on four different sites, has been submitted by the Quad Group to Swindon Borough Council for pre-planning and were unveiled by the paper on Friday.
“We sat down and said, what would be really stunning, what would put Old Town on the map so that it wasn’t the poor neighbour of New Town?" the Managing Director, Gary Madgwick, said.
Outcry
The news was immediately met by criticism from local residents, with one, Neil Robinson, 27, already setting up an online petition against the scheme which has already received over 1,300 signatures.
"In a nutshell, the plan is to keep the facade of the Adver Building, but throw up a massive tower block behind it. The most outrageous idea ever," he says.
