Colchester's Queen Street former bus depot is demolished

An immersive technology centre will now be built in its wake as part of a £4.7 million partnership aiming to rejuvenate the land in Queen Street.

A pile of rubble is all that remains of the once grand building after it was knocked down and fenced off over the weekend.

The office space set to replace it will bring together cutting edge technologies and facilities to support work in virtual, augmented and extended realities.

Historic - the former bus depot has been vacant since First Bus moved its home to Haven Road 2015 (Image: Google)

Knocked down - the site remains fenced off in Queen Street (Image: Stuart Johnson)It will be hosted by AIXR, a metaverse-based company which allows users to interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.

The project has been funded by a £3.7 million investment from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership and additional Town Deal cash from Colchester Council.

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• Here's when the £4.7m creative hub is set to open in Colchester city centre
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The council’s local economy and transformation boss Adam Fox said he is “excited” about the future of the site.

“It is a really exciting opportunity for Colchester, it gives us an opportunity to build this new business centre for some really exciting creative and digital businesses,” said Mr Fox.

Home - First Bus vacated the site in 2015 (Image: Newsquest)

New look - how the new building will look (Image: Colchester Council)

“It will also help to improve Queen Street. It is an area of the city centre which has been neglected in the past.

“People are often worried when they see some of these neglected buildings and the council shares that frustration, especially when it takes longer than we had hoped for work to begin.”

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First Bus stopped using the depot in 2015 when it moved its buses to a new home in Haven Road, Colchester.

It had previously been the grandiose Theatre Royal which seated 1,200 people before a devastating fire destroyed it within a few hours in September 1918.

Vision - the proposed walkway from Short Wyre Street (Image: Colchester Council)

Excited - Adam Fox said the site provides a good opportunity (Image: Newsquest)

The new use for the site will offer training facilities which can be used to upskill workforces and support the creation of high value, skilled jobs within the city.

“Nothing stays the same and we have to embrace the change a new city centre will bring and the opportunities it gives us,” added Mr Fox.

“This is just the latest version of what will be on that particular site and hopefully there will be even more developments to help the area.”