More Information
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- Urban Renaissance
- The Doncaster Renaissance Town Charter 2002
Design and Conservation- Archaeological Excavations and Surveys
- Doncaster Renaissance Masterplan 2003
- The Minster Quarter Regeneration Project
Design and Conservation
The Minster Church of St. George is one of the most beautiful and important buildings in the region. The Grade I listed church, designed by George Gilbert Scott and constructed between 1853 and 1858, is the highlight of Doncaster's skyline. Unfortunately, the space surrounding the great church is less of a highlight.
The process of regenerating the Minster Quarter began in earnest with the publication of the Doncaster Renaissance Town Charter in 2002 and the Doncaster Renaissance Masterplan in 2003. These documents set out a vision for the Minster Quarter that aimed to: increase accessibility to the area, improve the public realm of the gardens, and to enclose the space by constructing high quality buildings on the edge of the site, in order to create a true Minster Quarter.
In November 2004, the Council organised the St George's Minster Community Briefing Workshop, which gave the public a chance to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the area. In January 2005 the St George's Conservation Plan was published, which provided a policy base for the area, outlined how best to conserve the area, and highlighted important constraints to development that would affect any potential regeneration scheme.
The Minster Public Engagement Day took place during September 2005 and saw over 500 people come through the Minster's doors to have their say on how they would like to see the Minster develop. It also gave the public a chance to see the excellent design proposals drawn up by Design students from Leeds Met University.
Having collated all the public's responses, as well as the views of the Parochial Church Council, we hired West Yorkshire Archaeological Society (WYAS) to perform an archaeolgical dig in order to ascertain potential constraints to public realm work on the Western Graveyard. WYAS have now completed that work, and have created a Desk Based Assessment for the Minster which details all known archaeological history for the area.
The area around and including the Minster was designated a conservation area in 1997. The area has been recently assessed and a draft appraisal is now out for consultation. Further information on the draft appraisal can be found here.
