Turning Point
High-rise developments
City centre masterplan
Public spaces
Lord Mayor's Award
Society projects
Turning Point
So now the City Council’s ‘Turning Point’ traffic scheme
is coming to fruition: how strange it seems to ride on a bus going east along
Parliament Street past the Elite and the end of Milton Street. Almost as if
the clock had been turned back, but with the huge block of the upwardly extended
former Sorting Office building to remind us that this is a vista of Nottingham
which has well and truly changed. The view eastwards down Parliament Street
is certainly one which will take some getting used to: at the moment it really
feels as if the street has been brought to an uncompromising visual full stop.
The actual implementation of the ‘Turning Point’ at long last seems to be easing months of disruption, particularly for commuters, shoppers and other users of the city centre. It is a pleasure to catch a bus, which does not have to jostle for position at junctions such as Queen Street and Shakespeare Street. Let us hope that the situation for pedestrians will soon also improve, when we shall no longer have to negotiate the red and white traffic barriers and temporary tarmac humps and kerbs, and when we can ascertain where the crossing lights are actually functional and do indeed offer some sort of protection from the traffic. As for the conundrum of how a motorist accesses the city centre and its car parks, perhaps for now the answer is that modern phrase ‘Don’t go there!’
While in the area of Parliament Street, it is pleasing to see the northern side of this thoroughfare getting a face-lift in the form of a wider pavement, new paving and tree planting. It would be good to see similar upgrading on the south side, to make an attractive and livelier corridor connecting two of the city’s cultural hubs – the Corner House/Theatre Royal/Royal Concert Hall area and the Playhouse/Albert Hall area. Parliament Street (Upper and Lower) could in fact be emphasised as the link between these centres of entertainment and those of the Lace Market such as the Broadway Cinema, the Arts Theatre and the Lace Market Theatre: perhaps a new role which could be promoted for what has often been something of a ‘Cinderella’ street.
High-rise developments
It is not only, literally, at street level that there has been an air of restlessness
in the city; cranes and construction sites proliferate, and the Society’s
Environment and Plans Committees are kept busy looking at proposals for new
developments, attending consultation meetings and taking part in site visits
of various kinds.
While all this activity are indicators of a lively and forward-looking city with a vibrant economy, they should all be looked at in the context of the actual needs of the city and its people. A particular concern is the proliferation of proposals to build large, often tall apartment blocks, despite evidence such as that collected by CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, that most people’s aspirations are for a house with a garden. There is a very real fear, in many cities, that these apartments (which are frequently sold ‘off plan’ before being built, as investments) may not actually be lived in for many years, and will provide the new equivalent of the ‘60s and ‘70s office blocks which so blighted, and continue to blight, the streetscapes of our cities.
City centre masterplan
During the Society’s recent visit to Leeds, our colleagues there pointed
out how some central areas of the city were under threat from inappropriate
development. In his annual report, the Chair of Leeds Civic Trust speaks of
the danger of rapid development in a planning vacuum (of ad hoc applications
and decisions), and states that ‘it is the broader picture, of how the
city is expanding, of the effect it will have on the way we use it, move around
in it, and experience it, visually and emotionally, that needs to be addressed.’
These words could equally appropriately be applied to the needs of our own
city. It is encouraging to hear that in fact there is work now being done
on a Nottingham city centre masterplan which will hopefully address the issues
of city development in a systematic way in which the qualities of the existing
city and the needs of its citizens will be at the forefront of considerations.
The issue of the needs of people is one which is addressed, again by CABE in a recent paper, where the idea of ‘places for people’ is emphasised: the idea that good design is about how things work as well as how they look, and that architecture, streetscape and landscape design all contribute together to the quality of life in the neighbourhood. In recent Urban Design Forum presentations designs for apartment blocks were criticised on the grounds that they provided nothing for the neighbourhood and in fact detracted from the existing amenities.
Public spaces
As well as the loss of physical, social and visual connectivity to the city
centre and the creation unpleasant, canyon-like thoroughfares, the neighbourhood
is likely to suffer a loss of what could be called ‘spaces for people’.
In Nottingham we seem to be gradually losing our public and green spaces,
being recompensed, if at all, by token ‘squares’ and ‘plazas’;
this is particularly sad in a city which prides itself on its parks and its
flower beds. It would lift the spirits enormously to see a really generous
and imaginative public space provided either in the City’s masterplan
or in the proposals of a private developer!
Lord Mayor's Award
Meanwhile, the Society, as well as commenting on the plans and aspirations
of others, has been busy pursuing a number of long-standing projects, which
are gradually coming to fruition themselves. Members may remember that the
City used to promote the Lord Mayor’s Award, to highlight good design
in new architecture, conservation, landscape and so on, which not only brought
the idea of design into the public arena, but also helped to encourage good
practice in the professions involved. It has been decided, with encouragement
and sponsorship from the Society, to revive this Award, and the results will
be announced in November of this year.
Society Projects
Two much more ambitious projects of ours are also now moving along, and we
hope that the results will soon be very visible to the whole city. The long
delays in the repair of the Castle Rock were resolved earlier this summer
and we can now expect the restoration of the rock and terrace to be completed
very soon, together with the Society’s contribution of a new flag post
to replace the original, which had to be taken down.
Our second major project is, of course, the restoration of the Royal Centre Terraces, on which we are working in partnership with the City. This project is also now moving forward and we hope that the terraces will soon be more accessible and more widely used, with their new flooring, lighting and, of course, new planting thanks to a generous gift from the beneficiaries of Ray Banks’s estate. As phase two of this project we have ambitious plans for a projected light art feature – but more of this in future.
Of course, none of our major projects could take place without the funding which comes from the Gatehouse Shop and from sales of our publications; and both the Society and the City owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to all the members involved in both of our commercial enterprises. Without the efforts of the Shop team, our writers, photographers and publications sales officer both the Society and consequently the city, would be so much the poorer. Thank you all very much indeed; and enjoy seeing the results of your labours!
As I end my report I have just heard that the ‘Improvements to Maid Marian Way’ have been joint winners, with Newington Green, Islington, of the inaugural ‘Urban Transport Design Award’ sponsored by the transport and urban design consultancy Urban Initiatives. More on this later, but for the moment Congratulations All Round!
Hilary Silvester,
Chairman
July 2005
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