Irvine, Scotland: restoring the town centre

There are huge opportunities in Irvine partly because the new town was never completely finished. Today, the regeneration of Irvine, located on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland, is well under way. There are exciting and diverse plans to develop the harbourside, as well as a dynamic new vision for Irvine town centre.  Plans to refurbish Bridgegate House  and the surrounding Bridgegate Public Realm are taking shape. New uses for older buildings in the town centre, such as Trinity Church, are also being explored and the Southern Gateway will become a key site as plans for the new leisure centre develop. Irvine, Scotland will be transformed.

Part of the vision for Irvine town centre is to overcome the new town legacy and to restore its historic character. The amount of housing around the centre will be significantly increased and the shopping centre itself will be redeveloped and revitalised. 

Joanne Londie, resident, Irvine:

I think Irvine could be a lovely place to stay, as it was years ago!! Irvine has so much history (Mary Queen of Scots, Robbie Burns!) and this should be the main focus of regeneration, along with better facilities for elderly and younger members.

A long history

Irvine has long been a bustling town on an important crossing point over the River Irvine. The main town stood to the north of the river and its history includes Celtic and Roman roots. To the south of the river was the village of Fullarton that was to develop into one of the most important ports and ship building centres on the west coast. However the port is shallow and prone to silting up so that gradually the harbour was overtaken by Ardrossan and Largs.

The historic town of Irvine, Scotland was changed forever by the designation of the new town in the early 1970s. The masterplan for the new town was undertaken by the architects Wilson and Womersly and is typical of the modernist plans of the period. The most prominent development was the Riverside Shopping Centre that replaced the old bridge and was intended to link to the station and beyond to the harbour. The shopping centre and the Magnum Centre are the only elements of this mega structure that were completed. The remainder of the town was laid out as a series of neighbourhoods connected by landscaped roads and certainly at the time the view was that the new housing built was bold and imaginative. Although spending locally has declined, the town or Irvine remains busy and has a strong community with an intense sense of belonging.

The vision for Irvine in Scotland is therefore to overcome the new town legacy and to restore its historic character by intensifying the amount of housing around the town centre and redeveloping the shopping centre.