As part of the Scottish Executives ‘Building Better Cities in 2003 project Stirling Council bid for money from the City Growth Fund. They were awarded more than £3.5million over three year and they decided to channel the money into four themes: Sustainable Stirling, Healthy Stirling, Inclusive Stirling and Vital Stirling.

Stirling Council as part of the Vital Stirling theme decided to invest in public realm areas to improve the attractiveness, performance and competitiveness of the city. A series of projects was developed to complement the beauty and history of the city and enhance the city-centre areas for visitors, residents and business and included this project at Friars Street.

Mackenzie Construction tendered and won the project at Friars Street in the heart of Stirling. This £460K project involved the complete refurbishment of the Streetscape within the Friar Street.

The works entailed the excavations and replacement of the existing road and pavement construction with new granite setts and Caithness flag paving. The introduction of bollards and high quality street furniture were placed in a clearly-defined strip to protect the footway. Also included in the project were areas of soft landscaping and tree planting.

Friars Street is a busy shopping area and the works were carried out is stages with Traffic and pedestrian management incorporated into the contract to minimise disruption and to allow access to the large variety of shops and residential premises in the area.

The area Friars Street has now become a place where families can come and  be able to sit in comfort in the sunshine to enjoy a meal, snack or drink and appreciate the character and varied shop fronts that are part of Friar Street.