Nottingham’s long awaited Riverside Regeneration has finally got the “kick start” it has needed for so long. Local contractors, Clegg Construction, started work on “River Crescent”, which is Phase 1 of the development of the Park Yacht Club site for Trent Park Developments Ltd, on 1st April this year. Completion is scheduled for March 2008. Phase 2 will follow closely behind.
The importance of starting in the east of the Waterside Strategy area is
that it ensures the early connection of Colwick Country Park, via a new access
from Racecourse Road, together with a public footpath, to the benefit of the
whole Riverside Regeneration.
Colwick Country Park is one Nottingham’s most under appreciated assets.
It covers an area of 240 acres of wonderful parkland and lakes, with a rich
diversity of wildlife.
One of the advantages of starting from this end of the Master Plan, commissioned on behalf of the City Council some five years ago, is that Racecourse Road, which is privately owned by the City and has suffered from dilapidation and anti-social behaviour, due to its relative isolation, will benefit from being upgraded to adoption standards, paid for by Trent Park Developments Ltd as part of their Section 106 Contributions to off-site improvements.
Colwick Hall, the restoration of which was keenly encouraged by the Civic Society, is now established as a first class restaurant and hotel and has become one of Nottingham’s premier wedding venues. The Civic Society was in fact the first customer to hold a major event at the newly refurbished establishment, with its annual Christmas Party. It is pleasing to see this wonderful building, which not so long ago was on the “At Risk Register” being put to such good use. The refurbishment of Colwick Hall received the Society’s Mark of the Month Commendation in December 2003.
The highly insulated “River Crescent”, with its
increasingly important renewable energy initiatives, such as the Integrated
Photo-Voltaic Roof and Vertical Axis Wind Turbines generating electricity
from wind and daylight, together with heat pumps in the river to warm the
20 metre residents’ swimming pool, is an exemplar of how all buildings
should be constructed from this day forward.
John Rhodes
Summer 2006
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