How it was
Between its construction in 1971 and the present day, the Centenary Market presented increasing problems. Its physical condition steadily declined as a result of water penetration and vandalism. As the expectations of both shoppers and traders rose, the market was unable to compete with better facilities in Barnsley, Doncaster and elsewhere: it lacked lifts or escalators to help less able people from bottom to top levels, the toilets were substandard, and the open market could be a thoroughly miserable place to both shop and work in winter and on wet days.
Finally, with the decline of the coal and steel industries and the advent of out of town shopping centres, trading conditions declined along with those of the rest of the town centre as the occupancy rate of outside stalls fell from 95% in 1989 to 60% in 1996.
Capital Challenge
In 1996 the opportunity arose to bid for a new Government funding source called Capital Challenge. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council submitted, and won, two related projects which would together contribute to regenerating the town centre in Rotherham. One of these was a £550,000 scheme to install closed circuit TV in several district centres to complete the CCTV cameras already being installed in Rotherham town centre. The other was a £3 million scheme to redevelop the Centenary Market.
The work was be phased over three years, with everything except landscaping work and heating and ventilating improvements completed by the spring of 1999.
Work in Progress
All the work was carried out without the Market actually closing. Some disruption was unavoidable, and involved the use, over the summer of 1998, of the first tower crane seen in Rotherham for many years. Late in 1998 a team from the Millennium Dome at Greenwich came to consult the Rotherham site engineers about their achievement in keeping the market operating normally while this was done.
The finished market
The completed market incorporates:
- A startling, high quality roof to cover the outside market;
- A scenic lift to link the ground floor with the first floor inside market;
- A second lift to link the first floor of the inside market with the top deck of the outside market;
- A covered escalator to link the lower deck and the upper deck of the outside market;
- New stalls for the outside market;
- Rotherham Advice & Information Network - a one-stop shop for information about voluntary and official organisations;
- Public artwork and performance space;
- Refurbished public toilets;
- Re-opening of Henry Street as a market access route;
- Major improvements to the Drummond Street access;
- Heating and ventilation improvements;
- New entrance foyer.
A thriving town centre for the 21st century
Now the market is complete, it is hoped that the equivalent of 40 new full time jobs will have been created, and another 240 existing jobs safeguarded. Two thousand more people will be using the market every market day, crime will have been reduced by 20%, and 7,000 sq meters (75,000 square feet) of floorspace will have been improved.
Simultaneous improvements are taking place in the rest of the town centre: the new Interchange is handling record numbers of travellers; street entertainment and shopping initiatives are burgeoning; the Churches Tourism initiative is beginning to have an impact; the canalside has been revitalised; and improvements to signing, interpretation and landscaping are making the town centre a safer and more exciting place to visit. The new Centenary Market will have a major part to play in this renaissance.
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