Driving Investment in nottingham through quality design and great place-making
New urban design campaign calls for regeneration of unused land in Nottingham
5 May 2009A NEW urban design campaign is calling for the regeneration of derelict and unused areas of land in Nottingham, bringing benefits for local people.
The sites include the land around boarded up pubs, closed down factories and those many anonymous areas of unsightly rubbish-strewn concrete.
Campaigners of Design 09 believe focus should remain on Nottingham’s large but stalled development schemes, such as the Broadmarsh Centre and the Eastside and Southside regeneration projects.
However, resources should be targeted into developing smaller areas. Although tiny compared to large development schemes, such forgotten areas are local eyesores and regenerating them back into productive land will improve the quality of life of the people who live near them.
“Design 09 will encourage investment and I can see the regeneration of major ‘eyesore sites’ will have great economic and community benefits,” said developer Ken Grundy, director of Ropewalk Projects and vice-chairman of Nottingham Regeneration Ltd.
“This is a thoroughly put together scheme which also addresses the problem of how to engage the private sector in regenerating and developing such problem site.”
Tim Garrett, a director of commercial property agents Innes England, added: “We must not go back to the mistake of allowing so many sites to remain derelict, and regenerating them will act as a springboard to new focus and new activity.”
Making use of small areas of wasteland is one of the main campaign thrusts of Design 09, an annual initiative run jointly by the private sector and Nottingham City Council that campaigns to improve the standard of urban design in Nottingham.
The campaign began in 2006 and this year is also focusing on the importance of sustainable housing and the need for good design in the regeneration of Nottingham’s outer housing estates. Details of the Design 09 programme will be announced at the launch at the University of Nottingham’s Innovation Park on May 14.
City council chief executive Jane Todd will be joined at the event by special guest and keynote speaker Wayne Hemingway, the fashion and design entrepreneur and advocate of good quality housing design.
The event is timed to coincide with the official launch of the city council’s first City Centre Urban Design Guide, a document that sets out expected standards of sustainable urban design to architects and developers. All of these elements are feeding into Nottingham’s bid to be World Design Capital in 2012.
Now in its fourth year, the rationale behind the Design 09 campaign is that good urban design – or ‘place making’ - gives Nottingham pride, distinctiveness and panache. Just as importantly, say campaigners, good design also makes the city more attractive to investors looking to relocate their businesses.