Development of the week: The Waterspace project

There are major plans to revitalise Daventry's centre by building a new waterway. Nadia Ghani reports

Look around Daventry and you will see a place in need of revitalisation. Development in recent years has not been strategic. The town consists of several disjoined areas and has no clearly-defined centre.

But the Daventry Waterspace project aims to modernise the town and give it a ‘beating heart’.

The plan is to build three mooring sites that lead into the town, on a new stretch of canal linked to the Grand Union.

The canal will be used to draw people towards the central site and developments will become progressively more commercial as they get closer to it. Shops, restaurants, bars, office space and housing will all be built around the central mooring point.

Chris Over, Daventry Council’s economic, regeneration and employment portfolio holder, says: “At present the town is structurally defined by a series of ring roads, underpasses and dual carriageways.

"The new masterplan shows what an important role the Daventry Waterspace can play in creating a thriving and sustainable town centre.

“This project plan will weld the town together to create cohesion, unity and a new heart.”

In conjunction with the new Waterspace there are plans to build a £30m educational academy. This would be close to the mooring basin at the centre of the town.

An £8.5m technology innovation centre called the iHub, close to the second mooring site, is also being planned. The council hopes both of these projects will establish the town as a centre for excellence.

Daventry Council estimates the project will bring at least 550 jobs and 250 new homes to the town. Over says: “Job losses are happening across the UK at the moment, and Daventry is no exception. It is very important that the Waterspace project provides a real employment benefit.

“The jobs that will be created, by the iHub innovation centre in particular, will be highly skilled jobs for a new high-tech era. We want to raise the bar for a bright and prosperous future. We want to put Daventry back on the map.”