Work completed to transform former Post Office building in centre of town

A major regeneration scheme in the heart of Bury St Edmunds town centre, designed to maximise footfall and which had strong public support, has now been completed.

West Suffolk Council has confirmed completion of its redevelopment of 17-18 Cornhill (pictured above). The council bought the redundant site for £1.6m after the Post Office decided in 2017 to relocate its business next door.

It followed on from the town centre masterplan in 2017 which was shaped by 8,000 public comments and called for improvements to Market Thoroughfare and St Andrews Street South.

The purchase also meant that the council could ensure the unlisted Victorian Cornhill front, an important part of the town’s heritage, was kept and that the overall site would be redeveloped in line with the public’s ambitions shaped in the masterplan

Councillors from across all political divides backed a £6.72 million investment in the site in April 2018. Then in June 2018, a public exhibition showing concept drawings for how the building could be transformed, received overwhelming public support. Those designs eventually led to a planning application which was approved in November 2019 and construction began in September 2020.

Throughout the project the council has sought input from the Bury Society, Bury St Edmunds Town Trust, Our Bury St Edmunds and the Arc Shopping Centre, as well as other key stakeholders all with the view of delivering a cost-neutral scheme to benefit the town and its businesses.

And the results are a redevelopment that:

• Brings the Victorian Cornhill front back into economic use while improving access and replacing windows to improve energy efficiency.
• Turns an “unattractive yard” area at the rear of the old Post Office into a new commercial front onto St Andrews Sreett South. In time, it is hoped that the redevelopment will encourage other landowners and developers to improve the street scene, better connecting the Arc Shopping Centre with the historic town centre.
• Helps maximise the potential footfall across the town centre by widening Market Thoroughfare by more than 50 per cent, achieved by giving over ground floor commercial floor space to the public realm.
• Delivers 12 new apartments (11 of which have been reserved) in line with the masterplan’s aim for more town centre living.
• Creates two new-ground floor commercial units.
• Benefits from an array of environmental improvements including solar panels and an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) which uses the reversal of a process that works in people’s refrigerators at home, to provide heating. On top of this, residents in the flats will also benefit from the council’s green energy procurement policy where all electrical energy will be supplied from a dedicated “green” energy supplier, Ecotricity.

Leader of West Suffolk Council, John Griffiths, said: “I’m proud and delighted to see this latest redevelopment completed and would like to congratulate and thank everyone involved. It is another significant investment and development for the lovely Bury St Edmunds town centre – new and old – and one for which we have had strong both public and political support.

“It improves and enhances the town and protects the beautiful Victorian architecture on Cornhill, while maximising footfall, and can only further benefit our residents, businesses, and visitors. It also demonstrates our confidence that, even given current challenges, Bury St Edmunds will continue to be a wonderful place where people want to come to live, to work, to visit and shop – and to enjoy its rich mix of culture, amenities and heritage.”

Susan Glossop, cabinet member for Growth at West Suffolk, said: “This is the culmination of a tremendous amount of work to deliver some of the improvements that the public asked for in the town centre masterplan. We have saved an important part of the town’s heritage in the Victorian Cornhill frontage which may have otherwise been at risk, we have widened Market Thoroughfare to help footfall between the Arc and the Cornhill, and we have turned an unattractive yard at the back of the building into a new commercial front which can encourage further investment to improve this street.

“I want to thank everyone who has helped with this scheme from those who shaped the masterplan, to those who came to the public exhibition and all of our town centre stakeholders, whose input has been so important to the success that we see today.”

And Sarah Broughton, cabinet member for Resources and Property, added: “While this marks the end of construction it also marks the beginning as the new building is formally handed back to us. It means we are able to progress the sale of 11 of the 12 apartments and the fact that we have had such strong interest even with some of the delays to the scheme, shows how much market interest there is in Bury St Edmunds town centre. We have also had significant interest in the two commercial units, and I look forward to further announcements on this as and when tenancy agreements are signed.”

The project continues to be modelled as cost neutral with the sale of the apartments, the leasing of the commercial units and the final accounts now to be agreed with its contractors.

New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership was awarded £32.1 million through the government’s Getting Building Fund, including £2.75 million for the Cornhill project.

For more on the project see www.westsuffolk.gov.uk/cornhill