Norwich is a city facing constant change and redevelopment with 2023 set to be no different.
The development of thousands of homes, a new hotel and the revamp of key areas of the city centre are all on the cards for the year ahead.
Here are five major projects you can expect to see more of in 2023.
New hotel
A multi-million pound, 91-bed Travelodge hotel in the centre of Norwich is set to finally open next year.
Go-ahead for the hotel in Chamberlain House, above and behind the former Tesco Metro in Guildhall Hill in July 2021 and work started earlier this year.
Empty offices in the Victorian building would be turned into hotel rooms, with an extension where the store's loading yard was.
There is also expected to be a guest restaurant and two new retail units at the back.
It will be Travelodge’s fourth hotel in the city.
City centre transformation
Hay Hill is set to undergo a massive transformation next year with planters installed, more seating, a water feature and increased space for "cultural activities".
Work is expected to begin in January 2023.
Sculptures on the site, including the controversial brain, will be moved to Elm Hill Gardens but the Grade II listed statue of Thomas Browne will remain in Hay Hill, albeit in a different location.
Pinebanks
After more than a decade in the works, 2023 could finally be the year that Pinebanks in Thorpe St Andrew gets developed.
Pinebanks, the site of the former Norwich Union Sports and Social Club, was sold by Aviva in 2009 after the club's closure a year earlier.
Neighbouring Langley North and South were once home to Langley Prep School and include part of what was Pinebanks and includes the Grade II-listed Taylor’s Tower.
Fresh plans for the sites were put forward at the end of 2022 reducing the proposed number of homes to 555 - a reduction of more than 23pc over a previous scheme.
East Norwich Masterplan
The East Norwich Masterplan is a major project to build 3,500 homes and create 6,000 jobs in the city.
In June, Norwich City Council’s cabinet signed off on stage two of the project, which looked at refining the viability of the plan - a blueprint to guide development on major city sites.
It then moved over to Homes England, a government agency, which will oversee project management.
Four key sites are included in the masterplan – Carrow Works, home of the former Colman's and Britvic factories; the Deal Ground and May Gurney sites in Trowse; and the Utilities site between Thorpe Hamlet and Whitlingham.
In 2023, the council hopes to have the scheme included in the Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP) - which outlines where development could be acceptable in Norwich - giving the scheme weight in planning law.
Anglia Square
Plans to redevelop Anglia Square have hit multiple stumbling blocks over the years.
First plans were rejected by the secretary of state in 2020 and now rules on stopping nutrients from entering Norfolk’s waterways have held up plans.
Weston Homes, the company behind the plans, originally hoped to start development in 2022 but so far no bricks have been laid.
Plans have been scaled back since they were initially revealed, with the original scheme including a 20-storey tower which Robert Jenrick, the-then secretary of state for local government, branded an “excessive size in relation to its context”.
The proposed height of the tallest building in the new plans will be just eight storeys - 60pc smaller than the original plans - and the amount of car parking spaces, homes and retail space have also been cut.
The plans are expected to deliver around 1,100 homes and 4,000sqm of retail and office space.
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