Salisbury Chequers

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Current Activity
Rationale
Background
Vision Objective
Proposals

Current Activity:

Work on this project is linked to the development and implementation of a city Public Realm Strategy.

Background:

Salisbury is a thirteenth century medieval new town built on a settled plan or grid of five streets from east to west, and six from north to south forming “chequers” or squares. This is believed to be based on what had been the common field of the ancient parish of St Martin. A key feature in Salisbury’s design was the widespread provision of running water through open watercourses along the streets. The city was planned so that water could be drawn from the Avon as it runs southwards, diverted through the town and fed back into the river as it runs from west to east, and this feature explains why the chequers – the quarters bounded by the streets – are not perfectly rectangular.

For the purposes of this project the ‘Chequers’ is the generic name for the streets in the central core of Salisbury.

Vision Objective:

Make the city’s core streets more pedestrian oriented and improve their visual appearance by removing unnecessary signs and street furniture, by using high quality materials and through public art and creative lighting

Proposals:

The new and existing chequers are intended as lively, active and people-friendly streets. They should include a high quality, coordinated set of elements (street furniture, planting and street trees, lighting, signage, public art, paving) which complement the city’s historic character
Make the streets more pedestrian oriented through shared surface treatment, street planting and highway design more geared towards people, cyclists and buses ensuring that existing historic/quality surfacing material are retained
Create a strong reference to the Cathedral on a number of the approaching streets such as Minster Street and Castle Street, Bridge Street and High Street. This may be achieved through public art, signage and lighting
Accentuate key landmarks and facades through creative lighting and emphasise key views to enhance legibility of the city at night, in particular along Castle Street due to the prominence of the Cathedral along this vista
Where possible, provide a strong framework of tree planting along streets and within spaces so that residents, visitors and workers can enjoy communal outdoor places
Use art installations to pay tribute to the rich history of the medieval city core and its importance as a unique planned settlement
Incorporate artistic lighting within the city core to create dramatic effects by night and exploit the environmental back-drop of the River Avon and Millstream

Rationale:

To make the city more attractive for residents and visitors by creating a high quality public realm
To provide a more appropriate setting for the historic buildings within the Chequers area
To help establish Salisbury as a place that businesses want to invest in