A major £100m redevelopment is set to create a whole new face for an important part of Chelmsford town centre.

As Anglia Polytechnic University vacates its six acre central campus between Victoria Road South and Park Road to locate entirely on its Rivermead site Countryside Properties will develop a major new urban quarter.

The university and the development company announced this week that they have formed a partnership which will see the sale of the central campus and the completion of the 20 acre Rivermead site, at the junction of Rectory Lane and New Street, in phases by 2005.

The central site which has been historically occupied mainly by educational uses for some decades, is set to become, pending planning approval, a mixed development of new homes, offices, shopping and commercial uses, including bars and restaurants, plus a new arts quarter for the town.

The deal will enable a £19.5m expansion on the university site at Rivermead, which, again subject to planning approval, is aimed to allow the decanting of the present central facilities by the summer of 2005.

University vice-chancellor Mike Malone-Lee said "It will be a new 21st century university campus that will rival any university anywhere. Chelmsford will truly become a university town."

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