Shropshire Star

Southwater opens up bright future for Telford

The transformation of Telford is depicted in these striking images taken ahead of the opening of the first stage of the £250 million Southwater redevelopment next week.

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Just four years ago, where the development now stands, was a lake and park land.

Now it marks the future of the economy and night life of Telford - making it a destination for people from across Shropshire and the West Midlands.

The redevelopment of Southwater will create a new vibrant heart for Telford town centre and will be complemented in time by the planned £200m redevelopment of Telford Shopping Centre.

On Monday the soon-to-be iconic, gold Southwater One building will open to the public - the first major section of the regeneration of the Southwater area of the town centre to open for business.

Southwater One houses a new library alongside Telford & Wrekin council's customer First Point as well as a Costa Coffee outlet.

The library is located on the first floor and has a quiet reading area overlooking the park as well as spaces to work, meet friends and enjoy events and activities.

The Southwater Library is the third of three new libraries to open in the borough in the space of three years.

It will have 25,000 books available to suit customers of all ages as well as a range of audio books.

Visitors to First Point will be able to access a number of council services alongside partner agencies such as the Prince's Trust, the Royal British Legion, armed forces charity SSAFA, Citizen's Advice Bureau, the Red Cross and the Healthy Lifestyles Hub.

This is just one small section of the major development, with further grand openings scheduled for the year.

As well as Southwater One, from Monday the high quality public spaces around it will also be open. This includes the new lake, which features an urban beach, footpaths for lakeside strolls and a games area.

A 600-space multi-storey car park has already opened up for use, as has pan-Asian buffet restaurant Mimosa and a FairShare Credit Union.

Next on the agenda is a new Premier Inn, with the 11-screen Cineworld Imax cinema scheduled to open its doors on August 7.

Phil Jones, Cineworld Telford General Manager, said: "We're absolutely thrilled to be unveiling the cinema, bringing a new and exciting entertainment option to Telford.

"At Cineworld, we want to offer a great experience for all our customers, making their trip as unique and memorable as possible.

"Imax offers a truly unique cinema experience and we're excited it's a part of our new cinema."

Restaurants including Pizza Express, Harvester, Chimichanga, Zizzi, Bella Italia, Nando's and Wagamama are all scheduled to open to the public later this year.

Councillor Bill McClements, Telford & Wrekin Council's cabinet member for finance and enterprise, said: "This has been years in the planning and months in the construction and Monday represents a very significant and exciting day for the whole borough.

"Southwater One will give the council and a number of partners a frontline presence in the town centre and also mean a fantastic state of the art library opening for the public to use.

"The entire space already looks fantastic and it will be perfectly complemented by the planned regeneration of the shopping centre.

"The whole development demonstrates that Telford is well and truly on the up and that major companies are believing in and investing in the borough, which is a direct result of our drive to attract inward investment.

"This is also evidenced by stories of expansion by companies elsewhere in the borough including Staubli, Faccenda, Pickstock and CLM.

"We are committed to creating more jobs which in turn means further growth and investment and a boost for the economy."

LAST Southwater Development in Telford. Picture by Sam Bagnall
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