Proctor and Matthews have completed a masterplan for the Fruit Market Quarter in Southampton, as part of a major new masterplan for the city.

One of the UK’s leading town planning practices - David Lock Associates, working with Gehl Architects of Denmark - were commissioned by Southampton City Council in 2010 to develop a new masterplan for Southampton city centre that would identify new opportunities for retail, commercial, leisure and residential development. A small team of architecture practices – including Proctor and Matthews and MJP - were subsequently selected to bring their own approach and talents to bear on some of the key sites.

Proctor and Matthews were asked to develop ideas for the Fruit Market - a historic area which straddles Southampton Old Town and the city walls. Proctor and Matthews’ masterplan seeks to address the physical and economic decline of this area, and create new links through the site between the city centre and recent quayside regeneration developments. The new mixed-use Fruit Market Quarter will create a new neighbourhood containing a vibrant assortment of residential accommodation alongside office, workshop/studio, gallery and independent retail spaces. A powerful framework of public, private and communal spaces will knit together the historic layers of the area and recreate a strong sense of place.

Southampton City Council intend the new City Centre Masterplan to act as a visionary development framework for the city over the next 20 years and have now begun work on its implementation.