Architecture students from Queen’s help build vision for Richhill
Chairman of Richhill Buildings Preservation Trust, Councillor Jim Speers, second from left, ipictured with, front from left, Keith Gilmore, project manager for Richhill Townscape Heritage Initiative; Dr Alan Turtle, chariman of Richhill and District Improvements Assoication; Clive Gordon, member of the Trust; and architectural students from Queens University Belfast. INPT14-020
A NUMBER of options for Richhill Castle and a service road to alleviate traffic are just some of the innovative ideas being put forward for the village by a group of architecture students.
The students from Queen’s University Belfast have just completed the week-long ‘Street Society’ project as part of their degree course, with the brief being to prepare a master plan for their client, Richhill Buildings Preservation Trust.
The trust is currently preparing its own plans to revamp Richhill and it is hoped that some of the students’ ideas will end up on the final draft.
Chairman of Richhill Buildings Preservation Trust, Councillor Jim Speers, gave the students a brief history of the town and outlined the trust’s vision for the village.
The students heard how Richhill has many 18th and 19th century historic buildings which are of a high architectural quality but have suffered through a combination of lack of proper maintenance and increasing levels of vacancy.
He said, “Add to this the traffic problems caused by lorries loading and unloading and you begin to understand why a master plan and fresh ideas are so necessary.”
The students spent three and a half days looking at the problems and then drawing up their ideas and solutions followed by a presentation to the trust members.
The members, including Dr Alan Turtle, Clive Gordon and Peter Lyness, were impressed by the quality of design and ideas produced by the architectural students.
Richhill Buildings Preservation Trust’s masterplan will be published in the summer when it will be revealed to the public, who will have an opportunity to comment on it and put forward their own ideas.
The trust believes that instead of being labelled as a rural outpost Richhill needs to reinvent itself as a thriving market town with cafes, galleries and specialist shops.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Portadown
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North west
