How Wolverhampton is hoping to emulate other Box Park success stories
A welcome attempt to bring life into the city, or a project destined to end in failure?
The planned box park development for Wolverhampton may have divided opinion, but the hope is it will act as a spark in an area of the city centre that is currently disused and deserted.
According to council chiefs, the site, which sits at the bottom of the Victoria Street pedestrianisation scheme, will attract thousands of visitors and create “invaluable employment and business opportunities”.
It is a bold claim, particularly in a part of the city where many businesses have struggled.
Box parks are nothing new, and elsewhere in the country there have been some notable successes – as well as the odd high-profile failure.
In Sheffield a container park has just been dismantled having been widely regarded as a failure, with the city council criticised over its spiralling cost and delays. The eight units were set up to house food, drink and shopping outlets, but some remained empty. It reportedly cost double the original budget and saw its opening delayed by four months, prompting Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake to call the scheme a “debacle”.
But the concept can work, especially if it can tap into the hipster culture that thrives on local brews and street food.
In Newcastle, the Stack boxpark, made out of shipping containers on a former cinema site in the city centre, drew more than three million visitors during its four year run, and became a focal point for locals heading out for a night on the Toon before closing down to make way for an office block.
Stack, which is based in the North East, also has a site in Sunderland and is looking to expand to other areas including Durham and Lincoln.
London has a number of boxparks, including one in Shoreditch that has been a fixture for more than a decade having opened as the world’s first pop-up shopping mall. The venue is still going strong to this day and currently features outlets including The Argentinian Grill, Beatbox Bar and Biju Bubble Tea.
To the south of the city Croydon’s Box Park has also been a success, and appears to be a regular haunt of grime legend and local lad Stormzy, who has performed pop-up shows there.
It remains to be seen whether Wolverhampton’s effort, due to open next year at a cost of £6 million, will be a success or a failure.
For now, all eyes will be on whether the city council can manage to get it completed on time and to budget.
