Perspective #1

Derby’s regeneration magazine issue number one

P perspective ★

the uk’s high-tech leader page 04 derby’s £2 billion plan page 11 when rolls met royce page 30 the st pancras connection page 38

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issue 01 one

contents 04 Introduction For years, Derby has quietly been getting on with being one of England’s most prosperous cities. Now, it’s revealing its true colours

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30

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11 Projects The major projects past, present and future that will give Derby the city centre it deserves

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28 Markets

Vital statistics on the residential, commercial and retail sectors

30 aerospace What does having aerospace giant Rolls-Royce at its heart mean for the city’s economy and prospects?

35 Consultation Derby’s inclusive attitude towards regeneration means that the whole city feels included in the masterplan

38 the back page Derby

has always been a railway city, and with the return of London’s St Pancras station to its former glory, now has a fitting gateway

P perspective ★

Quote of the issue: “For 250 years, Derby has been an interesting mix of not just innovation, but the creative application of innovation, giving the city its economic stability”

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Editor: Sarah Herbert sarah@3foxinternational.com Deputy editor: Kirsty MacAulay kirsty@3foxinternational.com Feature writer: Alex Aspinall alex@3foxinternational.com Art editor: Terry Hawes terry@3foxinternational.com Advertisement sales: Paul Gussar paul@3foxinternational.com Production: Rachael Schofield rachael@3foxinternational.com Office manager: Sue Mapara sue@3foxinternational.com Managing director: Toby Fox toby@3foxinternational.com Published by: Lower Ground Floor, 189 Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TB T: 020 7978 6840 Subscriptions and feedback: www.derbyperspective.com Printed by: Tradewinds Images: Derby Cityscape, Marketing Derby, Wikipedia, Citibank, Rolls-Royce, Newscast, Derby County FC, Toyota, Finesse Hotels, Ordsall Community Arts, SEEDA. Front cover images: Silk Mill, Rolls-Royce, Number One Cathedral Green

© 3Fox International Limited 2008. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written ­permission of 3Fox International Limited is strictly ­forbidden. The greatest care has been taken to ensure accuracy of information in this magazine at the time of going to press, but we accept no ­responsibility for omissions or errors. The views expressed in this ­magazine are not necessarily those of 3Fox International Limited or Derby Cityscape.

introduction

Below, left to right: Joseph Wright of Derby’s air pump experiment (on display at the National Gallery); Rolls-Royce; public art marking the former home of Joseph Wright; the city library; and the Silk Mill UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Mother of invention Derby – birthplace of the Spitfire and Lara Croft – has been hiding its light under a bushel. David blackman reveals how this crucible of industrial innovation is about to unveil its true wealth and flair.

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hese days, the ‘knowledge economy’ is widely seen as the key route to future riches. Derby, however, had a knowledge economy long before the phrase was even coined: more than 200 years ago in fact.

During the late 18th century, the city was the hub of a remarkable surge of innovation, which played a key role in the evolution of the Industrial Revolution. “You had a lot of interesting thinking going on. The world’s first factory is right here,” says John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, referring to Sir Thomas Lombe’s Silk Mill (1718), and it was home to the Derby Philosophical Society, counting among its members the painter Joseph Wright of

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Derby and the polymath inventor Erasmus Darwin, greatgrandfather of Charles.

But the society was no ivory-tower dweller. Derby was already an established centre for clock making – one of the most technically advanced activities at the time. Smith of Derby, which made such world renowned clocks as the timepieces that still grace New York’s Grand Central station and London’s St Pancras, is still going strong 150 years on.

The application of cutting-edge thinking led to a rash of pioneering industrial developments, many of which remain important landmarks today. As well as the Silk Mill, the Derwent Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site also contains Strutt’s Mill, the world’s first iron-framed building and the ancestor of the skyscraper.

“For 250 years, Derby has been an interesting mix of not just innovation, but the creative application of innovation,” says Forkin. The city became an important centre for railway engineering: even today Derby is the location of Bombardier, the UK’s only train manufacturer. During the 20th century, Rolls-Royce’s Derby plant developed and produced both the Spitfire engine, which won the Battle of Britain, and the first jet. (For more on Derby’s aerospace sector, see p30.)

That same ability to harness innovation for commercial ends is still helping the East Midlands city to prosper today. “The application of innovation has always been there, which gives the city an economic stability,” says Forkin. And it shows in the statistics: nearly an eighth of the city’s workforce (11.7%) is employed in the high-

tech sector. The figures are even more impressive when placed in the context of Derby’s East Midlands neighbours.

In Nottingham and Leicester, the proportion of the workforce employed in similar high-tech work is 1.8% and 2% respectively. What’s more, the number of high-tech employees has nearly doubled in the past 10 years, while neighbouring cities have reduced employment in this field.

One indication of Derby’s success is that there has been no need for the sort of science park built by regional development agencies in other big northern and midlands cities. Derby’s long track record in fostering innovation means that the city hasn’t needed this kind of development.

“Happily, we are not looking for public sector interventions in job creation,” says Forkin, who adds that the city’s strengths in aerospace and rail technology mean that Derby has benefited from economic globalisation, with the city exporting more per capita than any other English city.

Its strong economic position is reflected in the average gross salary of £29,910. Job growth is impressive too. A recently published study by the Centre for Cities think-tank showed that it has been England’s second fastest-growing city over the past 10 years, second only to Reading, in the heart of the fast growing M4 corridor.

Between 1995 and 2005, according to the centre’s analysis of government statistics, 26,000 new jobs were created in Derby, equating to an employment growth of 22.4%, giving it the fourth fastest rate of employment growth in the country. Regional rivals Nottingham and

Nearly an eighth of Derby’s workforce (11.7%) is employed in the high-tech sector

Derby is England’s most central city continued overleaf

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Dream.

Reality.

Nearly ten years ago a new era of British banking was born in Derby as Egg, the UK’s first internet bank, was launched.

Citi is an organisation that, in addition to unmatched international strength, has a longstanding presence in and commitment to the UK.

Egg originally launched from St Peter’s House in Derby’s City Centre, before moving to its current state of the art headquarters in Pride Park, in June 1999.

Egg is one of Derby’s great business success stories and in its ten years of existence, has established itself as the world’s largest purely online bank.

Citi’s commitment to Derby has recently been enhanced by its current recruitment plans to bring 500 new jobs to Derby. The bank is making its Pride Park site the main operational hub for their UK personal financial services business, as it embarks on becoming a significant competitor to the established high street banks.

So much so, that on 1 May 2007, Egg was bought

by Citi for over $1 billion (£546 million). Following the acquisition, Egg became part of one the world’s leading financial services companies.

Citi UK Consumer employs approximately 3,000 people, providing over four million customers with high quality services and products including: credit cards, personal loans and retail banking.

Clockwise, from right: Joseph Wright College; the Guildhall; Market Place; Wand Sadlergate.

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Leicester came in at 37th and 45th place respectively.

This overall increase in jobs explains the second-highest increase in the proportion of wealthy executives for any city outside London.

Rolls-Royce is still the city’s most important employer, with a workforce of 13,000, more than two thirds educated to degree level and 670 in specialist analytical posts. RollsRoyce’s position as the city’s major employer also marks Derby out as the only major regional city where the largest employer is a private sector company.

Forkin says: “Our vision is to sustain and maintain that high value-added economy. These are the type of jobs that are very difficult to export because there is heavy investment in research and development.”

The city also benefits from being in a good location, as the UK’s most central city, on the border between the East and West Midlands. Eighty per cent of the country’s total population live within two hours of the city, while six million people live less than an hour away, in major population centres like Birmingham, Nottingham, Coventry, Sheffield, Wolverhampton and Stoke.

“Derby has been exploiting its location in the heart of England for nearly 2,000 years, since it was founded by the Romans. It’s always been somewhere to trade,” says Forkin.

The city enjoys excellent transport connections too.

As well as the M1, M6 and M42, all of which pass close to the city, Derby has frequent, direct train services to

London St Pancras International. And from there, the entire European rail network is just a platform away, following last November’s opening of Eurostar services from the station.

The city’s attractiveness as an investment location was underlined by US bank Citibank’s recent decision to concentrate its non-London UK headquarter functions there. Citibank, which owns online bank Egg, has closed offices in Birmingham and Manchester, meaning the bulk of its operations are now based in Derby and Canary Wharf, the heart of the UK’s financial services industry.

Citibank’s move is also helping to diversify the city’s economic base.

But although Derby’s economy is wealthy, those benefits are not necessarily being felt in the city itself.

While average salaries are higher than in neighbouring cities, much of the economic benefit is being felt elsewhere

“One of the things which attracted me to invest in Derby was the amount of development going on around the city. It is clearly moving forwards, and there's no reason why it shouldn't have more than one highquality hotel."

James Blick, managing director, Finesse.

80% of England’s total population live within two hours of the city.

Six million people live less than an hour away continued overleaf

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introduction

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Partnership working

The city’s average gross salary is £29,910 – the highest in the region

Derby has a genuinely strong history of partnership working. It all dates back to the early 1990s when it was chosen as one of the government’s City Challenge areas.

The initiative – a groundbreaking attempt to encourage the private and public sectors to work together and a blueprint for all successive PPPs – focused on 72 hectares of largely contaminated land, belonging to several owners, on the edge of the city centre, which included an old rubbish tip and a former gasworks. The contamination was so bad in places that a 3km wall was built, going down 10m underground – the longest structure of its type in Europe – to isolate it.

The initiative left a legacy of partnership working that the project helped to develop. “Working together has become a way of doing things here. When new businesses come to the city they become players in the city,” says John Forkin at Marketing Derby. The last few projects on Pride Park are now being developed, including the conversion of the historic railway Roundhouse – the first of its kind in the world.

The City Challenge was set up in the wake of persuading Toyota to locate its UK factory in Derby, which has proved to be a huge success story for the city. The Japanese car maker, which was attracted by Derby’s good central location rather than handouts, has invested more than £1 billion in the plant since it opened in 1992, and Toyota has since shifted production from Japan to Derby.

Today it employs 3,000 people, and has helped to diversify the city’s economy.

in the region. “We need to retain more of the wealth – too much of it is leaking out to surrounding cities,” says Forkin.

The aim underlying the Derby Cityscape masterplan is to capture a bigger slice of the £5.1 billion generated each year within Derby’s economic area, with support from partners EMDA and English Partnerships.

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evin Edwards, chief executive of Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership (DDEP), says: “Derby is home to a wealth of professional organisations across the engineering, computing, design and professional sectors, but it’s essential that to compete with other cities it has to both retain existing businesses and attract new firms to the city – and that’s where Derby Cityscape comes in.”

Derby Cityscape is seeking to achieve this by dramatically improving the quality of the city centre’s retail, leisure, commercial and residential offer, reversing the pattern of development within the city over the past 20 years, when activity was focused on out-of-town projects, the most important of which was the Pride Park regeneration scheme (see box, left). While such projects brought back into use large areas of derelict brownfield land, they diverted economic activity from the city centre.

The Derby Cityscape masterplan seeks to inject £2 billion worth of investment into the city centre over the next 15 years, to include more than 130,000sq m (1.4 million sq ft) of commercial office space on key sites.

Edwards says: “The masterplan is helping to create new premium office space in the heart of the city. This in turn, will identify Derby as a city that is moving forward, helping to attract inward investment by large employers from across the UK and overseas, which will further contribute to the knowledge economy.”

Derby is the only major regional city where the largest employer is a private sector company

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In addition, the masterplan envisages the development of 5,000 new homes, ranging from ‘city living’ apartments to family homes. The development of family housing in Derby’s central areas in particular is designed to help stop the leakage of money outside the city’s boundaries by keeping families from moving away.

To keep shoppers in Derby, rather than losing them to neighbours, the investment also includes the £340 million from multi-national retail developer Westfield, in its extension, and transformation, of what used to be known as the Eagle shopping centre into the East Midland’s biggest mall (see p14). Another key focus is the Castleward area, between the city centre and the station. This 15ha swathe of underused land will be the main focus for the expansion of the city centre, with the development of an urban village with 3,000 homes and 81,000sq m (900,000sq ft) of office space (see p23).

And the city’s redevelopment is not just all talk: it is starting to turn into bricks and mortar reality. Westfield Derby shopping centre opened last autumn, pulling in millions of shoppers in its first month alone. The centre’s managing director Janine Bone said the scheme had already had “a huge impact” on the perception of Derby in the Midlands and beyond.

Further proof of the way the city’s image is changing is the opening of Derby’s first boutique hotel. Finesse Hotels, which also runs the Lace Market Hotel in Nottingham, has completed a £5 million project to turn the city’s former police museum into a 38-bed hotel featuring a 120-cover brasserie. As James Blick, managing director of Finesse says: “We wanted to create a hotel that oozes quality. We want people to walk in and be totally overwhelmed.”

With projects like these, the city centre will once again become the kind of dynamic environment that will help to write a new page in Derby’s rich history of innovation. ◆

Above, left to right: London’s tube trains are made by Derby’s Bombadier; Derby’s historic Cathedral Quarter.

History and culture Not many people know that Derby has more than its fair share of cultural assets: it had the country’s first public park, widely considered to have been a model for New York’s Central Park, and has a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The historic Cathedral Quarter is also home to one of Derby’s oldest surviving pubs, Ye Olde Dolphin Inne (1530).

Nowadays, the area is home to boutique shopping and specialist independent retailers like Bennetts, Derby’s prestigious independent department store, as well as a vibrant café culture and lively night-life including real ale pubs and wine bars.

This year will see a striking new addition to Derby’s cultural offering with the opening of the £10 million QUAD visual arts and media centre, with cinemas, galleries, bars and meeting areas, plus a 12-screen Cinema de Lux, the first in the UK.

projects

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F

irst-time visitors to Croydon arriving at East Croydon station, could be forgiven for thinking that building work is about to start on the prime site next door, an impression reinforced by its construction-type hoardings. But as those more familiar with the town centre will testify, appearances can be deceptive.

For the site, known as the Croydon Gateway, has been the subject of a protracted planning battle, which has both frustrated Croydon Council’s efforts to see the site developed and held back the town centre’s regeneration.

The Gateway, part-owned by Croydon Council, has long been earmarked for a major mixed-use scheme anchored by a state-of-the-art multi purpose arena. At last, a major public inquiry this autumn will determine whether or not the council can move forward with its development partner Arrowcroft’s proposals for such a development.

The site has a dramatic history. The council’s policy for the Gateway site began back in 1995, when forwardthinking Croydon councillors embraced the concept of an arena as an attractive new focus for the borough, which would contribute something really useful for residents and businesses as well as encouraging visitors. The Gateway site, then in receivership, was identified as the ideal location, partly because of its easy accessibility by public transport for people coming both from south-east London and from as far afield as Brighton.

The council made several thwarted attempts to realise this ambition before selecting Arrowcroft Group as its development partner, which drew up plans placing the arena in a vibrant mixed-use scheme including shops, offices and apartments. It was at this point that developer Stanhope and funding partner Schroder came forward with an alternative, arena-less, proposal. Although it was rejected by the council, Stanhope and Schroder, perhaps mindful of the greater financial returns of an office-led development, approached the receiver and other Gateway landowners and managed to either buy or secure options over large chunks of the site before preparing their own planning application.

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continued overleaf

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projects/development guide

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A snapshot of the development projects in Derby’s city centre

WEstfield The £340 million retail centre opened in autumn 2007, reviving Derby’s retail scene (p14).

RIVERLIGHTS A £100 million complex which will include two hotels, a new bus station, shops and a casino (p24).

NUMBER ONE CATHEDRAL GREEN Wilson Bowden’s £30 million mixed-use development (p27).

Cinema de Lux This newly opened, luxury 12-screen cinema is the first new cinema in the city centre for 20 years (p18).

QUAD Derby’s new centre for art and film, due to open in autumn 2008 (p18).

CATHEDRAL GREEN Overlooking the River Derwent, this relandscaped park includes an iconic new footbridge (p20).

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CENTRAL SQUARE Bolsterstone’s 4,500sq m grade A office development on Cathedral Road (p27).

CITY GATE HOUSE Cedar House Investments’ landmark commercial development (p27).

CATHEDRAL QUARTER HOTEL Derby’s first boutique hotel opened spring 2008 in the former police museum (p21).

JURY’S INN Work has started on this 226-room hotel, with apartments, bar and casino (p21).

...ROUNDHOUSE The £36 million restoration of a listed building into new facilities for Derby College (p17).

plus

BOLD LANE £16 million retail and office development by Blueprint (p27).

...castleward Transforming a city gateway into an urban village (p23).

projects/past

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Westfield A staggering 153,000 shoppers turned out on 9 October 2007 to experience the beginning of a new era in Derby’s retail offering. With the official opening of Westfield Derby, the city, never previously noted for its shopping, proudly found itself as the backdrop to what must be the premier shopping complex in the East Midlands.

The £340 million development, which is anchored by high street giants Marks & Spencer and Debenhams, brings a spectrum of shopping opportunities formerly unavailable to the people of Derby.

And this can only be a good thing, according to John Cadwallader, chief executive of Derby Cityscape, the URC charged with the city’s regeneration.

“Westfield Derby has put the city on the map,” says Cadwallader. “Derby has become a retail destination, and the centre now plays a crucial role in attracting more visitors and investment to the city, both of which are essential for future economic growth.

“The new shopping centre is expected to attract 22 million visitors in the first year. This obviously brings increased footfall, not only to the Westfield shopping centre, but also to the rest of the city.”

Now, instead of Derby residents travelling to the high streets of neighbouring cities for their shopping,

and taking their hard-earned cash with them, Derby is pulling in shoppers from the surrounding area. And the local economy should soon start to feel the benefit of the increased city centre footfall. Retail projects are an extremely successful method of regeneration, and the knock-on effects of a successful shopping development, such as Westfield Derby, can be very welcome.

The most obvious related benefit is job creation. Retail developments tend to create a great many new job opportunities, many of which are suitable for people with few formal qualifications. People are needed to run the centre, and work in its many shops and restaurants. And Derby’s Westfield is no exception, with around 1,700 jobs created during construction and more than 3,000 permanent jobs in place after the completion date was met.

Less tangibly, major regeneration projects successfully realised instil confidence in investors, which can be invaluable when looking to secure financial backing for future developments. This is going to prove especially true in the testing economic conditions in which our cities are currently seeking to secure their growth.

Retail giant Westfield manages shopping centres around the world, but Derby is among the first UK cities to attract one of its centres. Its decision to establish a presence here speaks volumes for the untapped potential in the city, and inspires confidence for anyone involved in negotiations for further redevelopments in Derby.

But regeneration is about more than money. It is also about improving the city

for its people, creating more interesting, more successful spaces. Getting this side of things right can often take time during the planning stages.

A key concern when considering Westfield Derby was how a standalone shopping centre would fit into the city.

History is littered with examples of cities suffering from poorly conceived retail centres, and Derby’s council was eager to ensure its city’s name would not be added.

As Councillor Chris Williamson, leader of Derby City Council, explains, it was imperative Westfield Derby should be a functional feature of the city centre. “Many major cities have adopted a ring of shops and huge shed-developments, resulting in the degeneration of city centres,” he says.

“But in Derby, Westfield is the first step of regeneration in the city centre. What we are doing in the public realm will also enhance what the developers bring in to the city.

“What we don’t want is a retail and business centre without some offer to the public. It is not just built for businesses; it is not just built for shops. It is built for the public to use. There are several other projects that we have in hand that are going to substantially uplift the quality of the customer offer to the people of Derby.

“We don’t want people saying ‘I’m going to Westfield’; we want them to say they are going to Derby. Westfield will be part of the customer offer.”

Derby is able to boast that an astonishing 11.7% of its workforce – around 12,000 people – is employed in the high-technology sector. The figure has doubled in the last decade and is 9% above the national average.

“When entering a new market we look for cities where we can make a positive impact and are welcomed as long-term investors. This could include areas where there are under-served retail and leisure markets or gaps in supply and demand. We also look for proactive stakeholders with a commitment to taking the city forward via comprehensive redevelopment and regeneration opportunities.

“Derby is at the cusp of change, with a number of other major projects about to start. As a long term investor, it is important that the city prospers and there are great development and investment opportunities in the city.

“Our research indicated that the city of Derby offered a fantastic opportunity for development. The city has a catchment of approximately 1.3 million people with a UK average profile, yet the retail offer was extremely poor.

“It is recognised that Westfield Derby is encouraging further investment in the city. With the improved amenities, the city is now more saleable to occupiers, investors and residents and more people are coming into Derby as a result of the redevelopment.

“Approximately 20% of the jobs created at Westfield, both during construction and now it’s opened, were filled through Workstation – a project set up to encourage the long-term unemployed back into work and match local people to the jobs available.” l Westfield is the world’s leading retail property company, with current major UK regeneration projects including the London-based Stratford City and Westfield London in White City.

Peter Miller, Westfield director of development, design and construction.

“Derby has become a retail destination and now plays a crucial role in attracting more visitors and investment to the city” continued overleaf

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ed for t s i l t r o f Sh ersity o v i n U THES r 2007 a e Y e th S A F E , F R I E N D LY, S U P P O R T I V E

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Investing in our students, investing in Derbyshire £21m

£23m

Arts, Design & Technology Facility

Buxton Campus

£12m

£5m

University of Derby Corporate

Britannia Mill

£1.5m

£12m

Clinical Skills Suite

Refenestration Project

For inspiring courses, down ■ Around £80m invested in our facilities in three years to earth research and ■ The very best facilities for practical consultancy for your business, choose Derby. students

■ £12m University of Derby Corporate for business ■ Renewed landmark buildings in Derby and Buxton

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projects/present

Derby College Roundhouse A £36 million restoration of the city’s Roundhouse – originally a steam engine workshop – will transform the grade II listed building, and bring it back into use as a central campus for Derby College. The refurbishment and extension of the 1839 building, derelict for almost 20 years, will be as an engineering and technology campus, paying homage to its roots.

The adjacent former carriage works will be converted into workshops and classrooms dedicated to construction, engineering, hair and beauty and art and design courses.

The restored building, which is due for completion in early 2009, will play a key role in the economic growth of Derby. “Education and the delivery of education through high-quality buildings in the city centre is a key foundation of Derby’s regeneration agenda,” says Russell Rigby, managing director of agent Rigby and Co. “For the city centre to function at its optimum it needs retail, leisure, employment, residential, healthcare, public realm and education investment.

“It was always very difficult to find an appropriate purchaser for the Roundhouse, everyone is delighted that Derby College has come up with a solution to regenerate the buildings. ”

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The city’s historic Roundhouse’s new life as an engineering and technology campus is very fitting and will provide much needed space for Derby College.

Joseph Wright extension Derby College’s new £15 million centre provides space for up to 1,200 sixth form students.

The project, which opened in spring 2008, provides a 1,579sq m extension with extra classroom space and an IT teaching area. The lower ground floor houses the college’s music school, alongside minor refurbishment to the existing building.

Russell Rigby believes the project is key in repositioning people’s perceptions of Cathedral Road and the surrounding area.

continued overleaf

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projects/present

Quad 18

The doors to Derby’s first multimedia centre will open this summer in the Cathedral Quarter, the result of a cultural partnership between the city’s much-loved independent Metro cinema, Q Arts gallery and Derby City Council. The £10 million building on Corporation Street, which will boast two cinema screens, a contemporary art gallery, artists’ studios, digital suite, café, and a 60-seat media lounge, will boost the city’s creative industries. Quad’s director Keith Jeffrey explains: “Quad will play a part in highlighting the enormous creative talent that already exists in Derby. Our aspirations are to make art and film accessible to everyone and bring the best in international art and film to Derby while developing local talent and providing an outlet for creativity in all its forms.”

The new arts centre has international ambitions and aims to establish a high quality programme of art and film, building on the reputation of Metro and Q Arts. “Our primary concern is relevance to our local audience,” Jeffrey states. “However, we anticipate a large influx of visitors from the wider region, the East Midlands, the rest of the UK and from across the world. Events and activities like the FORMAT international photography festival (produced in partnership with Derby City Council) attract visitors from the four corners of the globe.

“There are a number of fantastic cultural facilities and organisations in Derby at the moment, but they are all focused around the performing arts and not the visual arts. Quad will fill this gap in Derby’s cultural landscape.”

Cinema de Lux Just as the Westfield shopping centre has transformed Derby’s retail offer, the newly opened Cinema de Lux is set to take the city’s entertainment offer to new heights. The location of the 12screen cinema, on the upper floors of Westfield, is perfect for shoppers who want to rest their weary legs and catch a film after a hard day’s retail therapy.

Billed as more than just a cinema, Showcase Cinema de Lux aims to transform the cinema-going experience with more than 2,200 rocking, reclining seats in 12 auditoria and the latest sound and screen technology. The experience extends beyond the silver screen, offering a restaurant and bar area, a concierge service, cocktail bar and waitress service in the Director’s Halls for those who want to upgrade their cinema experience, and a Nickelodeon film club for younger film buffs.

The Showcase Cinema de Lux is the first cinema in the city centre for over 20 years, although Derby does have two out-of-town multiplex cinemas. It is hoped that the cinematic addition to Westfield will entice visitors from outside of Derby who want to combine retail and film on a

day out. The city centre location also makes it the perfect venue for friends wanting post-work entertainment. According to senior development executive at Westfield, Neil Huntingdon: “This top of the range cinema offers a new and sophisticated entertainment experience. It creates a new focal point for the city’s evening trade, which will further revitalise the city.”

continued overleaf

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20

Cathedral Green The £3.6 million funding for Cathedral Green will transform what is currently a tired and run-down public space into a beautiful, well-connected park.

The space between the city’s two historic gems – Derby Cathedral and the Silk Mill – will be landscaped and opened up, with clearer views and a direct link to the north bank, via a new bridge.

The upgraded park will retain much of the lawn and trees in order to offer a truly green space. Seating will be provided at the top of the site around a semi-circular paved area, with plenty of grass for people to sit on in the summer months. It is hoped that the relandscaped green will attract visitors to the area. As Chris Lee, development projects officer at Derby Council, says: “It is important to let the public know there is more to the city than retail. The Cathedral Green project fits with the regeneration of the city and will help to move the flow of people across town.”

According to Lee, the new Cathedral Green will transform the current atmosphere. “It is extremely important that the scheme complements the surrounding area, as it is home to the World Heritage site. Public access is also very important, as the site is part of a national cycleway, so the Cathedral Green Bridge will have space for both pedestrians and cyclists.”

The bridge will cross the River Derwent, reconnecting the Cathedral Quarter with the business and residential district around Stuart Street, and beyond to Chester Green.

Designed by Whitby Bird, it has a swing action to enable any flood water of the river to pass freely, with the form inspired by the city’s historic textile industry and motion of a tailor’s scissors. Transported in three pieces, it will be assembled on site for the project’s completion in 2008.

The revitalisation of Cathedral Green will draw people to the Cathedral Quarter for green open spaces, historic buildings and river views.

Cathedral Quarter Hotel

Jurys Inn

After a £5 million renovation, Derby’s old police museum was unveiled in its new guise as a 38-bedroom boutique hotel at the end of April 2008.

As well as beds, the Cathedral Quarter hotel, developed

by Finesse Hotels, offers a spa (named Clink, as a nod to the fact that the building was a police station until 1954), cocktail bar (Bar Sixteen), and brasserie (Opulence), which the owner is hoping will soon gain a Michelin star. The hotel also offers conference facilities for corporate gatherings.

The MD of Finesse Hotels, James Blick, has been watching Derby’s regeneration with interest for the past four years, waiting for the perfect building to become available. The old police museum is an ideal addition to the group’s other hotels, which are all unique, listed buildings, with individual character.

As the city’s first boutique hotel it will fill a gap in the market. And in return, Blick believes, it will benefit from the city’s regeneration plans. “The train link to London is fab, especially once the station has been refurbished,” he says. “The regeneration of Derby will make it more of a welcoming place and encourage tourism.”

Also adding to Derby’s hotel scene will be the 226-room Jurys Inn hotel, offering superior budget accommodation in the heart of the city.

The hotel will be one of the city’s tallest buildings costing around £25 million, the project will also include 89 apartments, a restaurant and casino all within a couple of minutes walk of the historic Cathedral Quarter.

The development by McAleer and Rushe is under way and is expected to be open in spring 2009.

Dorothy Cusack, development director at Jurys Inns, says: “The new hotel will play an important role in Derby. We are delighted to be part of the city’s developing landscape.

“The building has been designed to work with the existing unique skyline of the city, in particular with the cathedral tower and the Church of St Mary’s.”

The 38-bed Cathedral Quarter Hotel is the city’s first boutique hotel, filling a gap in the market.

21

continued overleaf

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projects/FUTURE

Castleward Few areas exemplify the potential of Derby more than Castleward. This area, connecting the train station to the city centre, is an important gateway to Derby, but in the past visitors could be forgiven for feeling slightly underwhelmed.

The good news is that Derby Cityscape, EMDA, English Partnerships and Derby City Council are working together so the area receives the boost it deserves. The current uninspiring, disjointed city gateway is to be transformed over the coming years into a flowing boulevard (phase 1), full of opportunity and life, as the main thoroughfare for an urban village, of about 3,000 units (phase 2).

Providing high-quality urban housing is integral to the regeneration of the city centre and, as Derby is one of the few cities in England not to have rushed into city-centre living, unlike many who are now suffering oversupply, demand outweighs supply with plenty of potential for growth.

A 2008 Knight Frank report states that over the past five years residential property in Derby city centre has seen a price growth of 86.8%, a figure considerably above the 65.6% national average.

Vital to the project is a series of public spaces to bridge the void that exists between Derby’s train station and the city centre. Urban design company Alan Baxter & Associates was charged with designing the boulevard and public spaces, using highquality materials and design.

Trenton Williams, senior engineer at the London-based firm, says: “Our intention is for the Castleward boulevard to play a dual role: not only to provide a through-route between the railway station and city centre, but also to be a place that invites people to linger, stimulating activity at ground level and supporting a variety of uses, including small local shops and cafes.”

Westfield 23

Castleward

Train Station

Overhaul of the area linking the train station to the city centre will see it transformed, with a flowing boulevard.

continued overleaf

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projects/FUTURE

24

➳ N

Riverside

The banks of the Derwent will be brought back to life, and the river take its place at the heart of the city once again.

Like other cities around the country, Derby is rediscovering its riverside spaces, bringing these historically important, but recently overlooked, assets back to life. Derby’s riverside is more attractive than most, with cycle paths, walkways and sympathetic landscaping attracting both people and wildlife. But that does not mean more cannot be done to maximise the potential of the River Derwent, and reestablish it at the heart of city life.

John Cadwallader, chief executive of Derby Cityscape, sees improving the riverside area as a vital element of the city’s continued renaissance. “The riverside regeneration is playing a very important role in the delivery of the public realm and it gives a focus in the area. We are looking to maximise the potential of what is a fantastic natural asset.”

Riverside projects already under way include new bridges, public spaces, commercial developments, riverside apartments, hotels and other leisure-focused developments, to all breathe new life into Derby’s central riverside locations.

The space between Derby’s Cathedral and the Silk Mill is to shake off its negative reputation with a £3.8 million facelift with landscaped gardens and a new footbridge connecting Cathedral Green (see page 20) with the north bank of the river, showcasing the heritage and beauty of the city centre.

An exciting mixed-use site just south of Cathedral Green – Number One Cathedral Green – will see new apartments, grade A offices and four river-facing restaurants adding to the vibrancy of the cathedral area.

Further south still are two of Derby’s largest regeneration projects. On the west bank, the Riverlights development will host the city’s new state-of-the-art bus station, two hotels, a casino, retail space, restaurants and cafes, as well as 180 apartments and new office space.

Facing Riverlights on the opposite bank of the river, North Riverside is another large-scale mixed-use development offering more than 7,200sq m (80,000sq ft) of office space, a high-quality hotel, 900sq m (10,000sq ft) of both leisure space and retail space over an impressive 7ha site.

Progress is being made quickly, and Derby’s riverside will be totally transformed within five years. The exciting changes taking place on the banks of the Derwent serve to highlight the incredible potential that still exists in Derby. n For a 'row-through' of these developments, visit www.derbycityscape.com

continued overleaf

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RiveRside Housing woRking witH deRby CitysCape

He says: “There are plenty of amenities withinpeople. theThispark. belief is reflected within a range Excellence Award 2008 for the Best new of approaches which have been set up to give affordable housing scheme of the year.Everything from residents as many opportunities to participate The £4.8 million project has delivered 53 new as possible.

Riverside Midlands have set up homes for rent, sale and shared ownership and excellent local a Midlands Forum with residents to review is the result of a partnership between Riverside performance,and help improve services and advise Housing, Derby City Council, The Housing restaurants “There are what is important to residents. Residents also Corporation He andsays: developer Kingswater plenty of amenities have the chance to become board members, set Lindum. other amenities, within the park. up resident groups or take advantage of local Everything from office block, resident resource centres.

The refurbished old railway such as a gym and a excellent local Churnet House includes 17 apartments for and other A run Funding is alsoplayed a large part of Riverside’s rent through restaurants Riverside Housing. down creche, have commitment to the community through old public house made such way as fora a new building amenities, Riverside’s Chest Fund. Since where there are apartments available aforbig part inCommunity a high gym26 and a creche, have the initiative was set up in 2000 the fund has sale on the shared (part buy playedownership a big part inscheme a invested over part rent) through Riversideof Housing and 10 percentage of£150,000 ourin community groups high percentage our and organisations in the Midlands area. In the apartments for outrightrelocating sale via Kingswater employees past two years over £5,700 has been invested in Lindum. employees relocating to the area.”

Derbyshire. Successful applications include the The development has been especially designed Action Group in Hilton who received to the Teenage area.” funding for their internet Café in summer to provide a range of new high quality city

Since its merger with Leicester Family Housing Association in 1998, Riverside Housing, Midlands Division has continuously grown and today the Leicester based division of Riverside Housing, manages over 5,000 homes.

Riverside Housing benefits from being part of a much larger organisation – parent company The Riverside Group is one of the largest social housing regeneration organisations in England, owning or managing around 50,000 homes across the country.

The Riverside Groups specialist provider of older persons and supported housing services throughout England – ECHG is also based in Leicester and has significant presence in Derby. ECHG has a reputation for developing innovative and award winning support options for some of the most challenging needs within our society. This has enabled vulnerable people in more than 140 local authorities to live independent and dignified lives.

Riverside Housing (Midlands Division) is embarking on an extensive development programme investing £25 million to deliver 200 new homes per year. The new homes will be for rent, shared ownership and some outright sale, with developments in Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Staffordshire providing homes in seventeen local authority areas.

Riverside has recently been involved in delivering a multi million regeneration scheme at Carrington Street in Derby. The work at Carrington Street is part of the city’s £2 billion regeneration programme being pioneered by urban regeneration company Derby Cityscape and has been nominated for an Housing

living accommodation.

Chris Flynn, Divisional Director, Riverside Housing, Midlands Division said: “This is a great example of what housing associations, the Housing Corporation, local authorities and the private sector can achieve when we work in partnership together.

“By combining mixed funding with our track record in regeneration, we can create the sort of affordable homes local people want to live in.

2007 and The Lord Street Community Library received funding to expand the toy library in early 2008.

One of Riverside’s key strengths lies in the ability to recognise the challenges facing an area and work with local authorities, partner agencies and local people to overcome these and help transform lives while revitalising neighbourhoods.

“With current market conditions looking less favourable and mortgage lenders now asking for deposits up to 10%, shared ownership is an affordable option for first time buyers to get that all important foot onto the property ladder.”

Riverside currently manages over 130 homes in Derbyshire. Most recent schemes include Ashwood Court off Osmaston Road offering houses, bungalows and apartments for rent and shared ownership which completed in summer 2007. Atlantic Way, City Point completed in January 2008 and is ideally located next to Pride Park offering shared ownership apartments and family houses for rent.

Riverside aims to use cost effective procurement through standardisation, smart materials purchasing, long-term labour only contracts and continuous improvement within all regeneration schemes. As well as using local labourers and consultants who are familiar with the area.

Promoting sustainable communities lies at the heart of everything Riverside does in regeneration. Riverside views regeneration not just as bricks and mortar but about

For more information contact Sandeep Kaur, Marketing Officer Riverside Housing, Midlands Division 0116 247 3803/07973 923519 or Lucy Francis, Sales & Marketing Team Leader, Riverside Housing, Midlands Division 0116 274 3815 / 07760 165542.

www.riverside.org.uk

25

projects

26

F

irst-time visitors to Croydon arriving at East Croydon station, could be forgiven for thinking that building work is about to start on the prime site next door, an impression reinforced by its construction-type hoardings. But as those more familiar with the town centre will testify, appearances can be deceptive.

For the site, known as the Croydon Gateway, has been the subject of a protracted planning battle, which has both frustrated Croydon Council’s efforts to see the site developed and held back the town centre’s regeneration.

The Gateway, part-owned by Croydon Council, has long been earmarked for a major mixed-use scheme anchored by a state-of-the-art multi purpose arena. At last, a major public inquiry this autumn will determine whether or not the council can move forward with its development partner Arrowcroft’s proposals for such a development.

The site has a dramatic history. The council’s policy for the Gateway site began back in 1995, when forwardthinking Croydon embraced of an English Partnerships places councillors good quality designthe at concept the heart arena as an attractive new focus for the borough, which of its urban regeneration projects as it believes this is central would contribute something really useful for residents and to creating places that are sustainable in terms of social, businesses as well as encouraging visitors. The Gateway site, environmental and economic factors. And on that note, the then in receivership, was identified as the ideal location, Agency is leading the wayoftoitsachieving carbon by zero homes partly because easy accessibility public transport by 2016. Already, at developments up and down the country for people coming both from south-east London and from English Partnerships as far afieldisasimplenting Brighton. Code levels 3, 5 and 6, on all of its projects, threemade years ahead of Government The council several thwarted attempts targets. to realise this ambition before selecting Arrowcroft Group as its To find out more about the workwhich of English Partnerships development partner, drew up plans placing the across Derby andinthe East Midlands visit arena a vibrant mixed-useregion scheme including shops, www.englishpartnerships.co.uk offices and apartments. It was at this point that developer Stanhope and funding partner Schroder came forward with an alternative, arena-less, proposal. Although it was rejected by the council, Stanhope and Schroder, perhaps mindful of the greater financial returns of an office-led development, approached the receiver and other Gateway landowners and managed to either buy or secure options over large chunks of the site before preparing their own planning application.

This inadvertent ‘twin-tracking’ of rival proposals for

Creating sustainable communities Many of the regeneration projects which occupy our towns, cities and rural communities owe an element of their successful delivery to English Partnerships.

Known as the Government’s national regeneration agency, it is English Partnerships’ main objective to support high quality, sustainable growth across the country – and Derby is no exception.

Across Derby, English Partnerships is working closely with Derby Cityscape as well as other private and public sector partners to bring a number of masterplan projects to fruition. The common goal, and as part of the Government’s Growth Agenda, is to see deprived and derelict areas of the city centre rejuvenated for the good of the communities which will live and work in them.

projects/FUTURE

Commercial property Derby city centre commercial property development plans are on the up, thanks to a buoyant local economy, increasing national and international profile, and growing demand from businesses wishing to relocate or expand, along with overspill demand from out-of-town office parks like Pride Park and the Wyvern, as they near full capacity.

The first city centre commercial development to complete was Friar Gate Studios, designed to support fledgling creative businesses such as graphic design, music production, film making and computer game companies.

Many new schemes have been granted permission in 2008, which together will result in high quality city centre office space. They include: n City Gate House: 5,400sq m (60,000sq ft) grade A office space on Cathedral Road by Cedar House Investments n Central Square: 4,500sq m (50,000sq ft) grade A office accommodation on Cathedral Road by developer Bolsterstone n Number One Cathedral Green: Wilson Bowden’s mixed use scheme, with 13,500sq m (150,000sq ft) office space overlooking the relandscaped Cathedral Green n Bold Lane:3,600sq m (40,000 sq ft) office and retail space planned by developer Blueprint on the former Princes Supermarket site n Riverlights:13,500sq m (150,000 sq ft) of office space as part of the mixed-use Riverside complex (see p24) n Castleward: Plans are progressing to redevelop a site occupied by different industrial and leisure businesses into 22,500sq m (250,000 sq ft) of offices combined with retail and residential n north riverside:More than 7,400sq m (80,000sq ft) of office space, is expected as part of this mixed-use scheme. ◆

27

From top: City Gate House; Bold Lane; Number One Cathedral Green; and Castleward Boulevard.

markets

Vital statistics The facts, figures and lowdown on Derby’s performance in the office, retail and leisure sectors. David Gray reports.

28

75.4%

home ownership

20% of the work force in manufacturing (under 11% nationally)

Economic background

Residential market

Manufacturing has been the key to Derby’s prosperity since the Industrial Revolution, firstly with textile mills and then with engineering. Unlike many other historic manufacturing cities, Derby has succeeded in retaining and modernising its technology base, with Rolls-Royce, Toyota, and Bombardier all major employers, helping to give the city one of the best recent economic growth records in the country.

The local labour force in 2007 consisted of 93,800 employees and 8,000 selfemployed, with an unemployment rate of 2.7% (2008). Male unemployment is above the national average, while the self-employment rate is significantly lower (5.5% compared to 9.3%). Manufacturing employs almost 20% of the work force (compared to under 11% nationally), although most people work in the services (28% in public services, 18% in finance/IT, 20% in distribution and leisure and 5% in transport and communications).

Derby City is home to 236,000 people, of whom 109,300 are economically active, and its hinterland trading area has a population of 1.3 million. The city’s residents enjoy above average wealth and prosperity – ACORN social classifications report high levels of ‘wealthy achievers’ (25% above average), the ‘comfortably off’ (28% over) and ‘affluent greys’ (35% more).

Ethnically, Derby is almost 94% White British, although there are significant communities of Pakistani and Caribbean origin.

Derby has higher than average home ownership (75.4%) and correspondingly lower proportions of council tenure (11.7%), social housing (3.7%) and private rental (9.2%). Land Registry figures show residential property prices in January 2008 averaging £126,800, with detached houses £239,900, semi-detached £119,700, terraced £83,600 and maisonettes £80,900.

Increasing the residential population of the city centre is a main target of the masterplan, and Derby has been identified by the national new growth point strategy as one of the top five locations for additional housing. The masterplan proposal of 5,000 new homes for the centre could well be exceeded, with most new schemes concentrating on family accommodation, which should prove positive in a market where there is now an over-supply of oneand two-bedroom flats.

93,000 local labour force

1.3 million hinterland trading

Office market

new homes for city centre

population

5,000

The concentration on technology-based manufacturing meant historically that Derby’s commercial offer was relatively poor, especially in the city centre. The masterplan is remedying this situation, delivering new space in Castleward, North Castleward and by the Riverside, in particular. Major schemes due for completion in 2009 and 2010 include City Gate House, Central Square, Number One Cathedral Green and Blueprint’s development at Bold Lane.

Demand is expected to be firm, despite the present market downturn. Current top rents are around £12.50 per sq ft in the city centre, and asking rentals for the new developments are forecast to be £17-18 per sq ft. Outside the city centre, Pride Park remains a very attractive location, with rentals achieved of £14.50 per sq ft.

Intercounty Properties has recently received consent for a new 43,000sq ft building at Pride Park.

ACORN social classifications report high levels of ‘wealthy achievers’ (25% above average), the ‘comfortably off’ (28% over) and ‘affluent greys’ (35% more)

Retail and leisure market Although a historic cathedral city, Derby has not provided a high level of retail and leisure facilities. Now, this is rapidly improving. The old Eagle shopping centre has been transformed into Westfield Derby, costing £340 million and the largest retail development completed in the UK in 2007. Almost all its units were occupied on opening, and it is becoming a catalyst for regenerating other shopping streets in the city centre. According to Colliers, average retail rents in Derby City at the end of 2007 were £160 per sq ft, while outlying areas such as Ilkeston and Long Eaton showed much lower levels of £45 per sq ft.

Westfield Derby has been achieving rents of £175 per sq ft.

Leisure facilities are being built into all the major mixed-use developments now under way in the city centre, including Full Street, North Riverside and the area around Sadler Gate and Friar Gate. New cinemas, art galleries and restaurants will help provide the vibrancy the city has previously lacked. Derby has also long been short of hotel accommodation and this is also being remedied with the completion of the Cathedral Quarter hotel this summer and of a large Jurys Inn hotel in 2009, with at least another three hotels to follow.

All these diversifying improvements to the city’s economy will help Derby weather any economic downturn in the short term.

With new housing and office space coming on stream during 2009-2011, the prospects should also be very healthy as the market turns positive again. ◆

29

30

aerospace

Light speed

All ex-industrial cities are looking towards the knowledge economy for prosperity. But Derby has a head start: home to Rolls-Royce for a century, it’s one of the UK’s leading high-tech cities. Alex Aspinall investigates.

O

nce dominated by mills and heavy industry, Derby these days is the backdrop to a network of highly successful aerospace firms. It is widely regarded as being one of the world’s leading centres in the sector – it has the highest per capita concentration of high-tech jobs of any UK city – and the presence of this highly skilled industry is contributing considerably to the city’s continued renaissance.

Derby’s status as one of the world’s leading aerospace cities rests on a decision taken a century ago. Charles Rolls and Henry Royce, eager to relocate the manufacturing arm of their fledgling automotive business, had no shortage of cities vying for their affections. Leicester almost became the destination of choice, but a determined charm offensive by the people at Derby City Council ensured the duo settled 30 miles north of their original preference.

In the 100 years since then Rolls-Royce has established itself as one of the globe’s most identifiable brands and as a world-leading aerospace firm, and Derby’s largest employer.

Henry Royce first ventured into aero engine design with the onset of war in 1914. Designing and building engines for aeroplanes is a different prospect to designing car engines, and requires the brainpower of highly skilled specialist engineers. As the company grew, it needed more and more of these highly skilled workers to fulfil its obligations, resulting in a rapidly expanding collective of specialists, all based in and around the Derby area.

This community continued to expand over the course of the 20th century – indeed the growth is still taking place continued overleaf

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31

aerospace Left: The enormous A380, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. Below: Derby’s Rolls-Royce campus.

32

– and Derby is now home to a great number of highly educated engineers and scientists. The city possesses a level of aerospace expertise unsurpassed by other UK cities.

Derby is able to boast that an astonishing 11.7% of its workforce – around 12,000 people – is employed in the high-technology sector. The figure has doubled in the past decade and is three times the national average.

This incredible concentration of talent has facilitated the success of the city’s smaller aerospace companies, as well as that of their more famous bedfellows. Ged Leahy, Rolls-Royce’s director of strategic workforce and skills planning, sees the area as being ideal for aerospace enterprise. “All our key functional support areas are located in Derby,” he says. “There is a very strong engineering base here. This is the jewel in the crown of our global civil aerospace operation.

“There is no doubt that the deep underlying engineering and manufacturing skills base in Derby, and its surrounding geographies, does make it a location of choice for us with respect to skills sets.”

T

he presence of these engineers – the sort all growing cities want to attract – creates a virtuous circle: they continue to flock here in search of the best opportunities the aerospace world has to offer; their knowledge base serves to attract further investment and expansion in the sector; and their spending power facilitates economic and social regeneration creating a more attractive city.

And this is something that those charged with furthering the city are keen to see continue. John Forkin, director of Marketing Derby, comments: “It brings a tremendous amount of wealth into the city because the jobs in aerospace are at the high-tech, high-value end.

“The average salary in Derby, of the whole workforce, is £30,000, greater than the national and regional averages.”

There are more people working in hightechnology in Derby than there are in the whole of Nottingham, Leicester and Stoke put together

The highly competitive, global aerospace sector places a huge importance on innovation: it’s less a case of keeping up with the Joneses; more about pre-empting their direction and upgrading before they do.

This level of competition means that as well as attracting the very best staff, the success of any company, regardless of size, hinges on its ability to innovate and look to the future. Angela Dean, head of technology at the University of Derby, suggests that success in such a demanding global market requires city-wide, and country-wide, co-operation. “You have to have constant improvement and development to remain successful,” says Dean. “High technology is one of the East Midland’s Development Agency’s major areas of support in the region.

You need government support in there too to make sure you are going to have successive people coming through.”

Such measures are in fact already in place to ensure Derby’s aerospace industry retains its competitiveness on the global market. The University of Derby, with strong links with the industry, currently runs BA honours degrees in both mechanical and manufacturing engineering, both of which rely on considerable input from Rolls-Royce.

Nurturing this kind of relationship is clearly going to both attract young people to the city and, perhaps more importantly, encourage new generations of scientists and engineers, the graduates, to stay and take advantage of what Derby has to offer.

Another initiative being led by the city is the Aerospace Cities Alliance, which sees local authorities and relevant industry bodies from around the UK working together to build an environment in which our nation’s aerospace companies can thrive. By lobbying the government and working to promote the development of skills relevant to the sector, the group will be helping to safeguard a hugely important area of British industry and, therefore, the future of cities such as Derby. ◆

9 September 2008 Hotel Russell, London W1 The first London Major Projects Forum, an exciting one-day summit, will bring together the leaders of the capital’s biggest schemes in an event developed for directors of regeneration and major projects, in both London and around the UK. The event will address all aspects of creating major schemes in the city, including financing, planning, feasibility, transport, construction, procurement and assessment of market demand.

Attendees can: ● Gain in-depth insight into complex project management topics ● Seek advice on issues common to large-scale schemes ● Benchmark projects with colleagues from across the capital Those in local authorities with responsibility for major projects, or for regeneration, planning, housing or regeneration finance, may be eligible for a free place.

To submit a paper, discuss sponsorship opportunities or claim your free delegate place, please contact project director Shelley Cook on 020 7978 6840 or shelley@3foxinternational.com For further information, event format, and venue and accommodation details, go to www.londonmajorprojects.co.uk

Something is happening to Derby...

www.derbycityscape.com

Plan your visit now – be part of Derby’s future

Derby Cityscape Ltd, 3rd Floor, Peat House, 5 Stuart Street, Derby DE1 2EQ Tel: 01332 204194 Email: info@derbycityscape.co.uk

Spearheading regeneration

consultation

It’s good to talk To cynics, ‘consultation’ offers much, but delivers little. Adrienne Margolis looks at how Derby and other cities are going back to their roots.

C

ommunity consultation is a key element in regeneration initiatives, but many communities, based on past experience, are wondering just how much their views are actually taken into account.

To overcome this cynicism, local authorities and regeneration bodies are finding new ways of reaching people and sounding them out at very early stages of the planning process. One example is an extensive consultation exercise by Derby Cityscape (Derby’s urban regeneration company), launched to get feedback on its public realm strategy. An important part of this has been identifying groups that have traditionally been hard to reach, and finding new ways to involve them.

“We were formed in 2005 and started consultation on public spaces in 2006. We discovered that getting information to people can be the biggest barrier,” Nick Corbett, urban design manager for Derby Cityscape, explains. “We often get a good response from people who are already interested in local issues, and including them is important. But we identified key groups that were hard to reach - young families and young people. We tried not to put these groups off by calling the process a ‘consultation’.

Instead we called it ‘have your say’. It relaxed the ethos.”

A six-week period for intense consultation was set aside between September and October 2006 and different methods of reaching different groups – such as other key sections of the community like environmental and voluntary groups – identified, including publicity in local newspapers and on radio stations, websites, presentations and a public open day.

“We discovered that the best way to reach young families was through schools – but you have to give them an incentive to come along,” Corbett says. “The first thing we did was to hold the meeting on a Saturday instead of a weekday evening. We included a prize draw, face painting and clowns to capture a young audience. We held it in a new building, the Joseph Wright Centre. It is a beautiful sixth form college, which the public does not normally get a chance to see inside.

“Because we held the school event at the weekend we

35

got a lot of people through the door we did not expect to reach, and a lot of useful feedback,” he notes.

Local radio stations, BBC Radio Derby and Ram FM – a station popular with young people – were also used to publicise consultation sessions. Radio Derby sent reporters to events and staged a phone-in to find out what people thought about Derby Cityscape’s plans, and Ram FM ran advertisements encouraging people to attend the festival organised as part of the consultation.

Sounding out the community means that the feedback can be taken into account as plans are developed. One example is the case of Derby’s Cathedral Green. This major site earmarked for regeneration, in front of Derby Cathedral, is currently a crime hotspot, partly because there is no surveillance, Corbett explains. The proposed solution is to continued overleaf

Asking the audience Queenborough and Rushenden regeneration project To increase local involvement in its neighbourhood action plan, the community in Queenborough and Rushenden on the Isle of Sheppy in Kent has spent the past two years working with a community development project officer on the Planning for Real (PFR) consultation.

Residents fed ideas into the masterplan via firstly a two-day training event, then by local schoolchildren making a large 3D model of the regeneration area and taking it to 25 different events for all age groups and sections of the community.

At these events, residents were asked what they liked about the area, what they disliked and what they wanted to change. It was very successful, with 1,000 of a population of around 3,000 making their feelings known.

Other ideas included standing at places like the railway station with members of the local community, so that people stopped when they saw a face they recognised.

A masterplan was developed using the feedback from the consultation, with 98% of the community in favour.

➥

consultation level out the ground in the area so that activities can be seen from the street, as people pass by. There are also plans to create an area in the park to stage events. “One of the community’s concerns was that we had proposed hard surfacing in order to stage events and people felt that there was too much of this.

People are understandably protective of their green spaces in the city centre. So in the early stages, we adjusted our plans for the park to include more green areas,” Corbett recalls.

Another proposal that got the thumbs down from locals was the creation of a new landmark. “We had suggested a spike – a 200ft structure like the one in Dublin, in a prominent location outside the shopping centre. But people did not like the idea, so we dropped it,” Corbett says.

The proposals to regenerate the riverside area have been more enthusiastically received. “The river runs through the centre of the city and is a natural asset, but the city has turned its back on the water. Over the next two years, there will be new apartments and community facilities in that area that will turn the riverside into a destination,” says Corbett.

“Like most publicly funded organisations, we don’t have great budgets, but that doesn’t stop us being innovative and ambitious for Derby. We created a DVD about the riverside, to get people’s imagination going, showing off the best of Derby and how we expect the city to look in 10 years’ time.” ◆

36

“The cultural programme will run through the physical regeneration like a thread”

Salford As part of Central Salford URC use of art as an innovative form of community consultation, in the summer of 2005, a one off event – devised by Ordsall Community Arts (OCA) – was held to gather ideas for how to make Salford a more attractive place.

“We held the event in a marquee on an attractive piece of land, and used a garden metaphor,” OCA project manager Gail Skelly explains. “Children made landscapes out of fuzzy felt and sticky-backed plastic and made flowers with feathers and sequins. We planted the flowers, so that as more visitors came along, they could see what we were doing.”

The feedback was the beginning of Central Salford’s consultation on major changes planned for the area over the next 20 years. Some of the ideas that came up will be incorporated in the facelift for Ordsall park. The workshop was so successful at encouraging participation, that similar ideas are now being considered for a consultation on a £4 million facelift for Ordsall Hall, a local historic house.

“The issues involved in regeneration are often complex, and using art gives us a chance to get information to people in a general and aspirational way,” Skelly says.

“A low budget doesn’t stop us being innovative and ambitious for Derby”

Scotswood 2011, Newcastle This project involves integrating 1,800 new houses into an existing residential area. By 2011, 350 units will be ready, to coincide with an international festival, Expo 2011, being held in the city.

The plan is to develop a cultural programme that will involve both the existing and incoming community, and that will leave lasting benefits for residents once the physical regeneration work is done. “The cultural programme is going to be embedded with the physical regeneration programme and will run through it like a thread,” explains Tom Hutchinson, senior regeneration officer at the city council.

He adds that the public realm strategy will involve culture all the way through. “We want to make public spaces really useable, with places where people can play, as well as having public art.”

The first of the cultural strategy’s three phases will begin in earnest next year. It is a ‘pioneer’ phase, during which the emphasis will be on education and working with groups in schools.

So far areas marked out for regenerations have been planted up as colourful ‘trial meadows’.

“Using art gives us a chance to get information to people in an aspirational way”

the back page

Made in Derby 38

The redevelopment of St Pancras station is big news in Derby, and not just because it now offers a direct route to the continent. It may come as a surprise that Derby and St Pancras station are inextricably linked, and that the station owes its very existence to Derby-based train company Midland Railway.

Midland Railway commissioned the station in the 1860s to provide its own direct route into the capital. The company’s directors were determined that their station should surpass the grandeur of the newly created Euston, Paddington and King’s Cross stations.

And their ambitions were certainly achieved, William Barlow’s dramatic train shed, which spans 240ft and is over 100ft high, was the largest enclosed space in the world when it opened in 1868 and is just as impressive today – particularly after its £800 million renovation. And the staying power of the train shed is largely dependent on the iron buttresses, supplied

by Derby firm the Butterley Company, that line the walls and support that vast roof.

The longstanding props still bear the stamp proudly claiming ‘manufactured by the Butterley Company Derbyshire 1867’.

D

But Derby’s links with the station do not end there. The undercroft that now houses boutique shops and patisseries was originally built to accommodate beer from Burton-on-Trent – the spaces between the 850 columns were specifically built to the width of three Burton beer barrels. And, the replica of the famous station clock, originally made by Dent, was manufactured in Derby by clock makers Smith of Derby.

One man with railways running through his veins is Richard Brown, Derby resident and chief executive of Eurostar. “For many years St Pancras was London’s ‘Cinderella station’,” he says, “without the profile of the other London mainline stations. Now, it’s the gateway to London for millions of people from across Europe, and suddenly our own Cinderella has a starring role.

London is now nearer to Brussels, Lille and Paris, yes, but I think Derby feels nearer too.

“Derby has been a home to the railway since its invention and today remains a world-leading railway city, the only city in the UK that still builds trains. It is fitting that it now has the most elegant of London welcomes.

“My regular Derby-to-London commute has become a pleasure, and now has the capacity to inspire too.” ◆

From top: The iron buttresses supporting the train shed were produced in Derby, as was the replica of the clock. Richard Brown, Eurostar chief executive. The columns lining the undercroft built to the width of Burton beer barrels.

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