Heritage Project Rejuvenates Bigg Market, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Located in a city centre corridor, Bigg Market boasts some of the finest architectural heritage in the area. However, over recent decades, this part of the city had gained a poor reputation and the hard landscaping fallen into disrepair.

With the aid of £1.6m Heritage Lottery funding, Bigg Market has now been revitalised and this £3m public realm project has totally transformed the area. By using inspirational hard landscaping to create sociable spaces that complement the surrounding area, including terracing, stepped landscaping and pedestrian areas, the rejuvenation of Bigg Market is helping local businesses to thrive.

Commissioned by Landscape Architect, Southern Green, who BBS has worked with on numerous projects in the North East, we were asked to provide a mix of high quality natural stone appropriate for a conservation area with a high pedestrian footfall. As well as Portuguese Granites, the palette included Caithness natural stone which is extensively used throughout the city.

With 1300m of natural stone commissioned, the resulting palette of Silver grey / dark grey / Toranja Rosa / Tempestade /Concha Rosa and Blanco from BBS’s Portuguese Granite range were used for kerbs, setts, edging and steps in numerous sizes. Caithness slabs were used, in sizes from 500mm to 1000mm lengths. All natural stone products were chosen for durability, heritage and versatility and perfectly fitted the complex brief.