Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor Dinny Adem encouraged shoppers, traders and visitors to take a look at some of the concepts being presented and provide comment and contribute other ideas.
CLICK HERE to see the Spiire concepts and have your say on the future of the Maude Street Mall
In February 2014 Council resolved to postpone further consideration of the reopening of the Maude Street Mall to traffic and instructed Council officers to explore the viability of both activating and improving the amenity of the Maude Street Mall.
Activating the Mall aims to drive increased foot traffic by giving people additional reasons to visit and stay in the area, increasing the likelihood of visitors undertaking shopping and spend their money. To explore activation ideas a budget of $350,000 was allocated by Council.
Aware of the decision to activate the Mall, Spiire (a local multidisciplinary urban design company), took the initiative to present Council with a series of vibrant and exciting concepts presenting new and different reasons to visit, stay and play in the Mall.
Cr Adem said “the Spiire concepts are just a starting point to get ideas of what can be done to revitalise the Mall. If you have any different ideas or thoughts on the Mall we want to hear about them too.”
Spiire Director Michael Lewis said “Spiire do not have a position on whether the Mall should remain closed or be open to traffic, the activation ideas are just a way to increase visitation and movement sooner rather than later. These ideas could be introduced with a range of other activities or strategies to revitalise the Mall.”
“The Spiire ideas presented intend to stimulate reactivation of the mall in the short term and test new ideas and immediate change in the space and could be adopted independently or in conjunction with future directions in relation to the mall,” said Mr Lewis.
“The next step will be to decide the future direction of the mall longer term in which this test could assist in shaping that direction. The option of reopening the mall to traffic will not be impacted by these Spiire concepts,” said Mr Lewis.
To help you to visualise some of the concepts we're considering, join us on a walking tour of the Mall, leaving from 189 Maude Street Mall (formerly Valley Booksellers) on Thursday 15 December at 1pm or Tuesday 20 December at 11am. Bookings are not required.
We have set up shop in the Mall, 189 Maude Street Mall (formerly Valley Booksellers), so drop in and tell us what you think; or follow the link at http://bit.ly/MaudeStreetMall and fill out the survey online.
