Rugby Revitalised

03 Opportunity area

St Andrew’s Quarter

St Andrew’s Quarter is one of the opportunity areas identified in Rugby’s Town Centre Delivery Plan. The area includes St Andrew’s Church, St Andrew’s Gardens, The Pleasance and the former Herbert Grey College site. It sits close to Market Place and Church Street.

St Andrew's Church on a winter day: a pale stone tower and spire and a large traceried window rise behind bare trees, with silver honeycomb sculptures on a paved circle and a lawn running to the shops on the street beyond.

The Delivery Plan identifies an opportunity to improve this area while respecting its heritage and character.

Framework plan for St Andrew's Quarter. A full description follows.

Key

  • Site boundary
  • Listed building
  • Locally listed building
  • Positively contributing historic buildings
  • Retained building
  • Listed building landmark
  • Proposed residential development
  • Church Walk
  • Green pedestrian movement
  • Pedestrian movement to Rugby railway station
  • Town centre link
  • Event square link
  • Rugby railway station link
  • Key view to St Andrew's Church
  • Key view to the listed building
  • Sensitive facade
  • Existing tree
  • Public green space
  • Private green space or car park
  • Trees in conservation
  • Public Realm Priority Project 3
  • Residential or mixed use beyond the site
  • Town centre use beyond the site
  • Potential community, food and drink uses in the listed Herbert Grey College
  • Potential homes on the listed Herbert Grey College site (2 to 3 storeys)
  • Potential homes at the St Andrew's Church House site (2 to 3 storeys)
  • Potential homes (2 to 3 storeys)

Framework plan for St Andrew's Quarter.

Read a full description of this plan

The plan shows St Andrew’s Quarter inside a red site boundary. It runs from Little Church Street and Market Place on the left, along Church Street at the top, to a point on the right, and down to Eastfield Place at the bottom. The Church of St Andrew sits just outside the top left of the boundary and is marked as a listed building landmark. The numbers and colours follow the key.

  • 1: potential community, food and drink uses in the listed Herbert Grey College, shown in yellow below the church and marked as a listed building landmark.
  • 2: potential homes on the Herbert Grey College site (2 to 3 storeys), an L-shaped building below the college, with a private green space or car park in the angle of the L.
  • 3: potential homes at the St Andrew’s Church House site (2 to 3 storeys), to the right of the college.
  • 4: potential homes (2 to 3 storeys) near Eastfield Place. The building to its south is marked as a sensitive facade.

Along Church Street, inside the boundary, are one listed building and two locally listed buildings. The Masonic Hall, near site 4, is a listed building. Other buildings are positively contributing historic buildings or retained buildings.

The right half of the site is St Andrew’s Gardens, a public green space with many existing trees. A triangle on its upper edge, by Church Street, is Public Realm Priority Project 3. The tree-lined walk below site 2 is marked as trees in conservation.

Movement and views:

  • Church Walk runs north to south past the college and continues south across Elsee Road.
  • Green pedestrian routes run from Church Street down through the site, across St Andrew’s Gardens, and along the tree-lined walk to the left edge of the site.
  • A pedestrian route to Rugby railway station leaves the east end of St Andrew’s Gardens.
  • Key views to St Andrew’s Church point up to the church from inside the site. Key views to the listed building run from Little Church Street to Herbert Grey College, and down the left edge of the site towards Eastfield Place.
  • Large arrows show the town centre link towards Market Place, the event square link to the north, and the Rugby railway station link to the north-east.

Improving public spaces

Work to improve the appearance of St Andrew’s Church as am important landmark within the heart of the town centre is now complete. Works included external cleaning and repairs, replacement window guards, boundary works and lighting.

Wider improvements around the Quarter and The Pleasance would need further design work, funding and approvals. Concept designs for The Pleasance have been drawn up to detailed design stage, though further funding would be required to implement the works. This project is part of the wider public realm priority project

External cleaning and repairs at St Andrew's Church

Supporting Rugby's heritage

Future improvements will need to respect the setting of the church and surrounding buildings. Better public spaces can help make this part of Rugby feel more inviting while supporting its distinctive character, and improve how people move between the church, Market Place and nearby streets.

Herbert Grey College

The former college site is identified in the Submission Local Plan for future residential development through draft Policy C1. It has been hoarded for a long time, and its future is an important part of the wider opportunity. Bringing it back into use could strengthen this part of the town centre. Any future proposals would be brought forward through the appropriate planning and approval processes.

The area today

St Andrew’s Quarter restored

Timeline

What happens next

A longer-term opportunity, with some public realm improvements already moving forward. Further work will be needed to develop proposals for key sites. Updates will be shared as plans progress.

Other opportunity areas

For more information on our work to regenerate Rugby town centre, please contact the Major Projects and Regeneration Team.

Contact the team