Transforming the Queen's Buildings into a vibrant community asset 

The Queen’s Market has been the centrepiece to the town of Rhyl since 1902. Providing a variety of uses, from indoor skating rink, theatre performances and retail opportunities, the building has a sentimental status which is to be enhanced through the redevelopment of the site.

In March 2019, Denbighshire County Council acquired a number of adjacent buildings in Rhyl town centre fronting onto the seafront promenade, known collectively as Queen’s Buildings.

The buildings once known as the Savoy Hotel were in a dilapidated state, with no active uses on upper floors (the seafront buildings are four stories) and significant void levels on the ground floor.

We have developed ambitious plans for the mixed use redevelopment of the site. The redevelopment will not only remove a significant eyesore, but it will also act as a key connector providing better access and movement between the waterfront and the town centre. It has been described as a key catalyst of the regeneration and future economic success of Rhyl town centre.

• Phase 1: Development of an indoor market hall and flexible event space, with associated external landscaping (further details of phase 1 attached in appendix 2)
• Phase 2a: Development of a 5 storey office building on Queen Street
• Phase 2b: Development of a 5 storey commercial/residential building on West parade
• Phase 3: Development of a further 5 storey commercial/residential building on West Parade (subject to additional property acquisition)

The key elements of the first phase of the project are:

• The development of an indoor market hall to accommodate 6 hot food kiosks, 10 permanent market stalls and 6 additional temporary market stalls, and seating for up to 200 people dining;
• The development of a flexible space which could accommodate a range of events including speciality markets, exhibitions, music, theatrical and film performances;
• Toilets and a bar area which will serve both the above spaces, resulting in a building (including the market hall and event space detailed above) providing a footprint for this phase of the development of 1,450 metres squared (with the mezzanine level, a total of just under 2,000 metres squared);
• Installation of a drainage attenuation tank which is a critical piece of infrastructure required by Welsh Water to ensure that the existing drainage network is not overrun in a storm event by surface water emanating from the development. The attenuation tank will serve both phase 1 and later phases, but can only be installed as part of phase 1 to avoid unnecessary ground disturbance and significant additional costs in later phases;
• The creation of 1,765 metres squared of external market / event space to the west of the building and the important connection through to West Parade seafront;
• The creation of 2,564 metres squared of temporary landscaping where buildings have been demolished, prior to future development;
• The retention of the existing 20 (18 + 2 disabled) space council car park.