Thursday, October 5, 2017

News: First look at town's £12m bus station

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A long-awaited revamp of the bus station in Rotherham town centre has moved closer with the submission of new plans addressing "a below standard customer experience and one in which levels of personal safety are compromised."

Now architects at Jefferson Sheard have submitted a planning application focused on refreshing the concourses with upgrades to flooring, plinths and glazing.

Partners decided last year to focus on refurbishing the car park and bus station rather than a large scale redevelopment. Opened in 1971, the multi storey car park has since developed widespread defects. It is underutilised and "nearing the point of being beyond economic repair."

The bus station, which has associated public safety issues, suffered a fire in 2016 which caused significant damage.

The South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) has a long term lease for the four-storey car park and interchange which sits between Frederick Street and the River Don. The Sheffield City Region Combined Authority (CA) is preparing to borrow £12.5m so that refurbishment of the important town centre asset can be carried out.

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Construction works to undertake the car park refurbishment scheme commenced on site in May 2017. The approved plans included internal improvements to increase usage and proposals for new highly durable anodised mesh panels to replace the poorly implemented current external cladding.

The latest application explains: "The overriding objective of this project is to develop a repair and refurbishment programme for the interchange to enable SYPTE to comply with its health and safety obligations in respect to the operation of the interchange and to comply with its lease obligations, together with the desire to improve the customer offer."

The plans add that many of the fixtures, fittings and components inside the bus station have exceeded or are nearing their end of life and are showing signs of significant visual and physical degradation following 22 years of operation.

New finishes, fixtures and fittings are proposed to refresh the interchange, replace failing components and improve the customer experience. This includes new glazed facades, replacing the existing floor surface in its entirety, new concourse and runway ceilings, replacing all of the current seating, new signage and a new, high quality and integrated customer service desk.

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The main pedestrian entrances are also set to be revamped. The plans show that a new automatically operated, polyester powder coated, aluminium framed, glazed entrance door is to be installed onto Bridge Street. A new glazed entrance lobby is also planned for Drummond Street.

The number of bus stands will remain at 24 and the overall arrangement will remain largely unchanged. A plan to reconfigure the bus station from a drive through operation to a Drive in Reverse Out (DIRO) interchange has not been followed through.

Some amendments are planned to improve circulation and reduce passenger congestion including restructuring waiting areas, improving lighting levels and adding new information hubs at each pedestrian entrance.

It is proposed that the interchange refurbishment works are completed in parallel to the completion of the car park works, minimising the duration of disruption to users of both facilities.

Work could take up to two years to complete.

SYPTE website

Images: SYPTE / Jefferson Sheard


7 comments:

Mr me October 5, 2017 at 1:06 PM  

So its technically beyond economic repair,yet they're going to waste £12m on it??Cant help but think,if this was in any other South Yorkshire town it would be demolished and site have a shiny new development on it !

Anonymous,  October 6, 2017 at 11:08 AM  

Cheap option yet again, look at Donny & Barnsley way ahead of Rotherham

Anonymous,  October 7, 2017 at 11:01 PM  

Why not just demolish it,why keep throwing money at it, it cheaper to build a new station it a eyesore get rotherham back on the map

Anonymous,  January 13, 2018 at 8:18 PM  

I would have thought the bus station would have been completely demolished and wiped out due the wrong doings of the CSE abuse scandal that happened in that bus station! Get rid of it and start from fresh with a new bus station like Barnsley Doncaster and Sheffield!

Anonymous,  January 16, 2018 at 12:20 AM  

Why does everything have to he associated with the CSE 😡

Anonymous,  May 1, 2018 at 12:01 AM  

I totally agree with the first 3 comments here. Wasting money on a waste of money to start with. Nobody is gonna use the carpark anyway cos nobody comes into the town centre if they can avoid it. Clean Rotherham up of the lowlives that hang around 24/7 and make some jobs for us, give us our Rotherham back.

Anonymous,  June 19, 2018 at 6:29 PM  

when I was in the building trade I was told that concrete lasts 50yrs then after that it starts to decay and rot, this bus station and car park is coming to a end pull it down and save 12million on repairs and build a new one near the railway station.

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