The Regeneration of Camborne, Pool and Redruth

The Camborne / Pool / Redruth (CPR) region is the largest urban area in Cornwall.  Once among the richest mining regions in the world, it suffered greatly when the mines closed and experienced a long period of economic decline. 

However changes are now underway with the development of the CPR Regeneration Team -  an Urban Regeneration Company set up to bring prosperity back to Camborne, Pool and Redruth.  The team works with partners in the public and private sectors to reinvent the area as a place of innovation, quality and wealth.

Some of the projects currently underway in the area include the following:

Trevenson Road Implementation Plan

There are a number of developments taking place in and around the Trevenson Road area of Pool.  The overall scheme is known as the Trevenson Road Implementation Plan, and within it there are five separate projects.  These are:

. Pool Innovation Centre - a new state of the art, energy efficient building for growth companies on the eastern edge of Cornwall College campus
. Trevenson Park North - homes and space for business surrounding the Pool Innovation Centre
. Heartlands - the creation of a superb park, creative sector employment space and World Heritage Site gateway
. Trevenson Park South  - homes and space for business surrounding Heartlands
. Trevenson Gateway - office space, flats and a hotel around East Hill junction.

A number of parties are funding these projects, including the South West of England Regional Development Agency, the Homes and Communities Agency, the Big Lottery Fund and Cornwall Council. In addition a number of specialist construction firms including Sir Robert MacAlpine, Midas and Cormac are undertaking work at any one time. In the middle of all this work sits CPR Regeneration, helping to ensure that the funders are able to keep everything on track and to budget. 

As part of the overall improvements between the A30 and Pool, the plan at East Hill is to create a traffic light controlled junction that will manage traffic flows on and off the A30 effectively - keeping that moving - and allow traffic to safely negotiate the busy East Hill area as they seek to access the facilities of Camborne, Pool and Redruth.
 
The junction will have filter lanes for traffic wishing to turn across the main flows, which coupled with the traffic lights and improvements for pedestrians will help to make East Hill safer.

The works are now well underway and it is expected that by Christmas 2009 the permanent traffic lights will be in place and operating.  This should significantly reduce the amount of disruption currently being experienced.  Other works will continue into the spring to complete the project.

Pool Innovation Centre

A development of Cornwall Council,  the Pool Innovation Centre is a three storey building with a floor space of 2,310m² (25,000 sq.ft.).  It will provide high quality workspace and business support to start-up businesses with potential for growth, and provide a physical resource for local business support providers to assist people in the wider area thinking of starting a business. The Pool Innovation Centre is a £12 million development - £9 million of ERDF Convergence investment, and almost £3 million from the South West RDA.

When it opens its doors in June next year it will offer 50 offices of five different sizes, six shared meeting rooms and a conference facility.  It has been designed to provide flexible accommodation with units ranging in size from 25m² to 90m², and deliver shared facilities (including reception, meeting rooms, conference facilities, toilets and kitchens) to help tenant circulation and networking.

The centre has achieved a BREEAM excellent standard for pre-construction and will achieve the same standard for post construction - one of the highest levels of environmental accreditation available for new buildings. It will use 60% less energy than a conventional office building thanks to a biomass boiler and natural ventilation, with 'wind catchers' on the roof to channel fresh air into the building. Many of the materials are also being sourced locally, including cedar cladding and Delabole slate.

The Elms

A Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Hub for Cornwall will be created from an unused building and almost £950,000 of ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) Convergence investment.

The Elms, in Redruth, will provide Voluntary and Community Service (VCS) organisations, grassroots community groups and social enterprises with 450 square metres of floor space to use for meetings, courses and as office space. The project has been developed by Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change (CN4C) with assistance from CPR Regeneration and Coastline Housing Ltd who originally purchased the site two years ago.

The project will be delivered by CN4C with the support of a broad coalition of VCS organisations and other key partners including both Cornwall Council and the Learning and Skills Council.

It is estimated that the project will cost £1,375,880 with £947,231 of that approved for ERDF Convergence and the balance coming from CN4C.

Tarn Lamb, Chief Executive of CN4C said: "This is great news for grassroots community groups across Cornwall and for the people of Redruth.  The Elms will demonstrate partnership working in action by regenerating a dilapidated building in the centre of Redruth into a state of the art community hub providing facilities for groups and individuals of all ages."

The project will create 16 jobs over a five year period.  It will also support the growth of the VCS as a sector in Cornwall's economy by giving security of tenure to CN4C, and other smaller voluntary sector organisations.  It will enable the sharing of key back room resources such as ICT, HR and finance. It will also create a community resource to support the most disadvantaged in the area to gain skills and create employment opportunities.