Work is complete on the second phase of an £8m EU-backed improvement scheme for Bargoed town centre, Caerphilly County Borough Council has announced.
High Street and Upper High Street has been transformed with wider pavements and improved public spaces to provide a more attractive environment for shoppers and investors.
The council said natural high quality materials have been introduced along with street furniture to give an insight into how the town centre will look on completion next year.
Bespoke, functional railings fronting the Pierhead building have been designed and installed by artist Malcolm Robertson. The railings form a series of arched panels with cut out graphics and images developed by local school children of the kind of items that would have been on display in the shop windows of the former Emporium department store.
The Emporium Clock has also made a welcome return in the form of a feature arch linking the steps between High Street and Upper High Street.
The £8m Bargoed Town Centre Regeneration project is being delivered thanks to funding from the EU’s Convergence European Regional Development Fund, and through the Welsh Government’s Targeted Match Funding and Heads of the Valleys Programme.
The last phase of works at Hanbury Road and Hanbury Square and will start in the summer.