Sneinton Market Conservation Area
Weekday Cross
Trinity Square
Society Projects: Meadows & Embankment
Conservation Project, Castle Rock repairs & the Royal Centre
It’s no wonder they named cranes after birds! Their long necks stretch up and peer inquisitively over the city from all comers as new buildings take shape. While down on the ground, the road-working machines are busy realigning the pedestrian and traffic patterns of the city centre.
There is a feeling of a city on the move, even if at the present moment it is difficult to navigate it either on foot or in a vehicle. This tidying-up is in many ways to be welcomed, even if it does create present inconvenience, and I am sure that everyone will applaud improvements such as the removal of the pedestrian underpasses at Maid Marian Way and Theatre Square, and the increased care given to such features as choice of paving materials, street furniture design and tree planting. It would be good to be able to echo this pleasure when commenting upon new buildings in the city: many of these are, of course, well-designed and well-built in suitable materials, but it is disappointing to come across a new building that is already beginning to look shabby. Attention does need to be paid to selecting materials which will not only look good when first erected, but will also prove durable enough to withstand the rigours of city life.
Sneinton Market Conservation Area
We are delighted to hear that the new Sneinton Market Conservation Area has
now been agreed by the City Council and this will give much-needed protection
to a distinctive part of the city, which has retained its character and architectural
‘grain’ despite the intrusion of a few inappropriately tall structures
such as the BT building on Bath Street. The Conservation Area extends from
the St Ann’s Well Road roundabout (by the Salvation Army Citadel), along
Bath Street, taking in St Mary’s Rest Garden (from which some trees
were sadly lost recently) and Victoria Park and the former Bancroft Factory.
It then moves along including Sneinton Market and the former Wholesale Market
and on across the road to include the frontage of the NCT Bus Station. Many
people, including myself, are particularly pleased to see that it is proposed
to retain this very attractive, detailed and well-built example of corporation
architecture.
We are all hopeful that this new Conservation Area will be an effective and influential element in future plans for developments along the Huntingdon Street/Bath Street/Lower Parliament Street ‘corridor’, which is in danger of becoming a new Maid Marian Way, lined with inappropriately tall buildings which would impact detrimentally both on the Conservation Area itself and on views across the city of the Castle, the Council House, St Mary’s, St Peter’s and other city landmarks. We must continue to bear in mind that we currently have magnificent views of our dome (compare with St Paul's Cathedral and the Duomo in Florence) and of our castle on its rock (compare with Edinburgh’s Castle) and of St Mary’s on its escarpment (compare with Durham Cathedral on its similar cliff). We tend to take these riches for granted but unless we fight for them and their prominence and relevance to our city and its life we may well be in danger of literally losing sight of them for ever.
Weekday Cross
As you are probably aware, there are also changes afoot in the Weekday Cross
area of the city; this has been an area of development recently, with new
blocks on Fletcher Gate finally reaching completion. And we are now looking
at proposals for the Garner's Hill Park site and for the current car park
site at the top of Bottle Lane. As a Society, we have concerns regarding the
loss of the green space at Garner’s Hill: while we acknowledge that
some of its present uses may be neither desirable nor safe, we feel that this
is the result of lack of management rather than an inherent unsuitability
of having a park on the site. The gradual eroding of city green space, which
is not compensated by creation of other green spaces is detrimental for the
well-being of both the city's wildlife and its citizens: recent visitors to
the city from the national Civic Trust commented upon the shortage of green
spaces in the city, and it is much to be regretted that the provision is being
further reduced.
The Garner’s Hill proposals are for a ‘Centre for Visual and Live Arts’, in which the City, the County and the two city universities will be involved - an encouraging partnership model for this kind of venture. There was an international competition for this building, the winners being Caruso St John noted a year or so ago for their award -winning Art Gallery at Walsall.
The Bottle Lane design is for a retail and hotel development, incorporating elements of the Victorian frontages on Fletcher Gate. (Sadly, though, it involves the loss of the Queen Elizabeth public house on Bottle Lane.) Again there was a competition with over 40 entries from some of the country’s finest architectural practices. The winner will be announced early in the New Year. The architects of both schemes have presented their ideas to the Urban Design Forum for comment, and we are hopeful that two new buildings, which are exciting yet respectful to their important setting, will emerge.
Trinity Square
It seems that Trinity Square is still far from reaching a solution that pleases
Nottingham. Meanwhile, it is worth making a diversion to North Church Street/Shakespeare
Street if this is not on your normal beat. The demolition there for the widening
of Shakespeare Street has opened up a stunning view of the YMCA (what a good
building it is!). As one member of our Committee said, wouldn’t it be
wonderful to create this demolition site into a permanent public open space,
opening up the Clock Tower facade of the Victoria Centre, rather than closing
down this area of the city centre again. Perhaps there was a case here for
an architectural competition!
Society Projects
Our proposals for the Meadows and Embankment Conservation Area are now with
the Development Department, and we hope that these will soon go before Committee
so that appropriate protection can be given to an area, which is increasingly
under threat of possibly insensitive demolition or development.
We understand that the work on the restoration of the Castle Rock where the fall occurred in now in hand, and that our flagstaff will in due course be erected: we will, of course, make an event of this!
We are also very pleased that the Royal Centre project is also now moving ahead. The neon sculpture has now been removed and the next stage is to restore the paving on the terrace, replace and improve the lighting and to replant the trough at Dress Circle level, which will be financed from a donation from Ray Banks’ estate. We are very much looking forward to this (the trough will be marked with a plaque), and also to starting work on the next phase, which we hope will involve an imaginative lighting scheme and a projector to cast images on to the fly tower of the theatre. These projects all take time, but they are all chugging along, and work is continuing - just watch this space!
Hilary Silvester
Chairman
January 2005
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