Work is now underway on the Armada Way regeneration scheme to create a greener, safer, more family-friendly city centre.
May 2025
More trees are being planted in the top compound of Armada Way with magnificent Magnolia Kobus turning heads with their arrival.
Four Kobus are being planted together with three Field Maples, four Love Trees and five Gingko Biloba. They will be planted within the wildflower and lawned areas to provide shelter and shade.
There will also be four ‘New Horizon’ Elm which are resistant to Dutch elm, planted in the landscaped area which have been created by the parterres. They will be planted in the root cell system, with plenty of space for the roots to grow.
A further 10 Persian Ironwoods will be positioned on either side of the amphitheatre.
All these trees have been selected as they thrive in a city centre setting and add variety and biodiversity to the scheme.
April 2025
Mayflower Street has reopened to traffic following the end of utilities and infrastructure work beneath the street as part of the Armada Way regeneration project.
Contractors have finished work to install new drainage connections as well as continue the scheme’s water feature – or rill – that will run beneath the street.
Mayflower Street reopens to traffic as scheme crosses the road
March 2025
The first of 169 new trees destined for Armada Way have been planted in the ground as the regeneration continues to progress at pace.
Three silver limes have been anchored today and six cockspur hawthorns and 10 double crimson hawthorns will be arriving in the next few weeks to be planted between existing single rows of trees on both sides of Zone 1a – near the Copthorne Hotel.
A second row is being created on each side to create the avenue of trees that will line either side of this important city centre street.
First of the new Armada Way trees planted
February 2025
We’re 17 weeks in and contractors are certainly getting on with the giant task in hand.
From machine operators to groundworkers, brick layers and surveyors, there’s an average of 60 workers on site keeping up the pace of the scheme that’s on time and on budget.
Over 8,000 tonnes of excavated material – concrete, slabs, soil, vegetation and hard core – has been removed from site so far and recycled where possible.
Major concrete pours are under way in the top compound that will form the base for the seating around the Phoenix fountain. So far over 200 cubic metres of concrete have been poured
Bricklayers continue to form the parterres – walls with that change the shape of the landscape. These parterres will help create different levels and useable spaces.
Over half a kilometre of new pipe work and ducting for the sustainable urban drainage scheme has been laid.
January 2025
24 January
Contractors working on Armada Way are lifting the lid on a slice of Plymouth history – Drake’s Leat, which supplied the city’s water for several hundred years.
Drake’s Leat uncovered as part of Armada Way regeneration project
22 January
Mayflower Street will close to traffic for eight weeks as the Armada Way regeneration project reaches a crucial stage.
From Monday 10 February, the road will be closed at a point just past the Mayflower Street East car park entrance on the east side and next to Iceland on the west side.
Work on both sides of the street is underway, but contractors will soon need to install deep level new drainage connections and ducting for utilities under Mayflower Street, including pipeline for the rill to continue beneath. The raised table will then be resurfaced.
Temporary closure of Mayflower Street for regeneration works
3 January
Contractors Morgan Sindall will build a temporary road to allow construction materials and machinery to move around the central section of Armada Way to keep workers and the public safe.
The haul road will be built between Mayflower Street and Place de Brest, Zone 2 of the Armada Way scheme. The 1980s raised beds will be removed and the surface levelled.
Haul road marks start of second phase of Armada Way project
December 2024
The reinforced bases for the new footways have been formed in the top compound and foundations created for the semi-circular benches that will surround the restored Phoenix fountain.
The surface storm water ducting is finished in this section and new tree pits excavated ready for planting in the new year.
November 2024
Layers are being created in the top compound that will become seating areas around the performance space.
Trenches have been dug for new drainage and utilities infrastructure, together with pits for new semi-mature trees and underplanting along the flanks.
Upright pipes have been installed that form part of the sustainable urban drainage system connecting with rain gardens.
There have been challenges with uncharted electrical connections and rubble from the Blitz. Most of the Blitz rubble is some three metres deep, covered by layers of earth and shillet, a hard slate very common in Plymouth.
22 November
One of the trees on Armada Way was moved and replanted to The Park, our new crematorium at Plympton.
Specialist contractors pruned the Whitebeam in the compound in front of Sainsbury’s, ahead of its translocation which entailed moving the entire tree, complete with large root ball and soil and moving it in one mass.
A mechanical tree spade lifted the tree and root ball from the ground before it was transported slowly to The Park where it was replanted with plenty of nutrients.
October 2024
The top two compounds of Armada Way are a hive of mechanical and human activity.
Contractors concentrated on site clearance and creating a haul road for construction traffic. Herbaceous plants were removed by our parks team to be replanted across our city parks.
The site has been levelled as far as possible, leaving the area around the Phoenix fountain, allow excavation for the water feature, pipework, storm water drainage and foundations for the amphitheatre.
Over 1,000 granite kerb stones have been taken off site but some 600 or so will be returned to help form part of the water feature.
Work starts on Armada Way regeneration scheme
1 October
The long-awaited scheme to make Armada Way a greener, safer, more family-friendly city centre is now off the starting blocks.
Armada Way has been split into work zones and the first sign of progress will be site clearance and the creation of a haul road – a temporary road made from recycled building material – in the top two zones, with the top zone the first to see extensive work carried out.
The compound overlooked by Beckley Point will see contractors digging foundations and forming the new amphitheatre, installing pipework for the water feature and constructing the rain gardens – the first stage of the new Sustainable Urban Drainage scheme.