Spaces for trees and flowers begin to emerge in city centre

Works to pedestrianise swathes of the city centre continue, and many of these pedestrianised areas will have new raised planters and green areas.

In the past few days work to install these planters and beds has been underway, and large raised areas can now be seen on Broadway and Hall Ings, alongside the new paving.

And on Bank Street and Market Street “soil cells” are being installed.

A spokesman for the project, which is being carried out by Balfour Beatty, said: “As part of ongoing paving works on Market Street, granite kerbs have been installed and soil has been placed this week to create new ground level planting areas, before the soft landscaping can be installed later this year.

Planters being built in the city centre (Image: Balfour Beatty)

“After the planting areas are completed, work will follow to install more paving around them to increase the pedestrian footway area on the east side of the street.

“At the junction of Bank Street and Broadway, work has progressed this week on the installation of the new planter wall units. These walls will provide some bench seating space while also supporting raised beds for grass and flower planting.

“On Bank Street, paving is being laid from Broadway towards Market Street, which will provide a wider pedestrianised area.

“Near the Market Street junction adjacent to the HSBC building, soil cells have been installed which will support trees and ground level soft landscaping.

“Work has continued on Bridge Street this week to install drainage and ducts for underground cables around the Hall Ings junction, before the planter units can be installed in this area.”