Historic Places Panel Review Paper Centre 2020 Front cover: The partially demolished Broadmarsh Centre from Collin Street with the Congregational Church and St Mary's to the right © Clive Fletcher

Historic Places Panel Review Paper ii Contents

Introduction ...... 1

Planning, Procurement and the Client Role ...... 3

The Design Process ...... 4

Engagement & Partnership ...... 4

Resilience & Future Cities ...... 5

Infrastructure & Phasing ...... 5

Caves, Topography and Setting ...... 6

Sustainability ...... 7

Conclusion ...... 8

Historic Places Panel Review Paper iii Introduction

The context for this, the third visit to Nottingham of the Historic Places Panel (formerly as the Urban Panel) would have been impossible to envisage when it last considered plans for this historic and vibrant city. On that occasion (in 2012), the Panel looked at the South Side, then at the beginning of its regeneration journey, with the Broadmarsh Centre very much as a question mark in terms of the role it could play following the economic crisis that derailed the Westfield scheme.

In the spirit of the times, this year’s visit was conducted virtually, with a full briefing that included dramatic video footage of the part demolished Broadmarsh Centre, and very informative presentations from Nottingham City Council’s Paul Seddon and his team with input from ward member Cllr Angharad Roberts.

The Broadmarsh Centre has been the focus of aspirations for improvement for over two decades. In fact ever since it was built there was dissatisfaction about the quality of its design. This is hardly surprising – there can be few structures that have done more harm to the fabric of a city than it has to Nottingham. The substitution of a hierarchy of streets, with fine and interesting buildings winding up a dramatic cliff, for a blank façade, an anodyne mall and an escalator ride was one of the most noteworthy urban planning mistakes of the last century.

Combined as it was with a multi-lane gyratory and an urban “motorway” this severed the south side of the city from the north, physically, socially and economically. Remarkably, works to Carrington Street have been reversing the effects of this severance for several years, thanks mainly to the conservation-led regeneration programme funded by the City Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund (in partnership with private owners), and the award winning Nottingham Railway Station transport hub. It is testament to the quality of this that that the area has become an entrance of which the city can now be proud and a destination in its own right.

If there is a silver lining to the crisis that (in part) led to the closure of the Broadmarsh Centre, the opportunity to redevelop the area to undo the mistakes of the past is surely it. The setting could scarcely be more dramatic, with the grade I listed Nottingham dominating on its rock to the West and the Cliff and St Mary’s to the East. The chance it provides to fundamentally change the image of the city to one that does full justice to this history and culture is one that has captured the imagination of the public, due in part to the City Council’s excellent Big Conversation, a web resource that is noteworthy for its innovative presentation of a fascinating archive of information about the site. A return in the national consciousness of the “city beautiful” as described by Celia Fiennes and Daniel Dafoe may be within reach. This is a project of national significance.

The Panel were inspired by the evident determination the council has to use the re-development of the area to transform the city and wider perceptions of it, and the recognition that it needs to be a new mixed use “quarter” as opposed to just a retail scheme. This is also reflected in the interest of the organisations, groups and amenity societies who care passionately about the city. A recent headline in the Guardian reported on the aspirations of the Nottingham Wildlife Trust for

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 1 “re-wilding”, while the Nottingham Project (a creative board funded by Arts Council England) hope to establish a new paradigm for the city by creating an inspiring vision for the area. Embedding engagement within the decision-making process will therefore be critical.

Part of this will involve keeping a reality check on emerging ideas so that unrealistic expectations don’t develop. “Re-wilding” in an urban context for instance is quite different from that which has been seen in rural areas, and this needs to be understood. Typically it involves the introduction of managed green infrastructure alongside development to improve bio-diversity – something we heartily recommend. Simply turning this area entirely over to nature (which we are sure no one is proposing) would not be practical or successful for a variety of reasons including public safety.

Indeed, the scale and scope of the potential change to this area and the city as a whole is something it is difficult to fully grasp, which is perhaps the greatest challenge facing those charged with making it happen. Stitching this part of the city back together by reinstating routes, coherence and a sense of place are obvious and necessary goals, but beyond that the options are as yet largely unexplored.

Set against this, deliverability is an everyday consideration for councils and developers alike. In this instance they will (to an extent) be one and the same. This places the council in a unique position, but as well as having advantages it also presents a particular set of challenges.

One thing that will make all this more possible is allowing the time and flexibility that will enable the area to be developed iteratively. Realistically the process will take a decade or more, and establishing a pleasant meantime environment will be important as the city recovers from the Covid-19 crisis and the broader issues facing urban centres.

Many other cities and large towns will be looking at Nottingham to see how they might resolve similar problems of their own. It is conceivable that what happens here, if successful, will form a template for significant change in many other places. By the same token, there will be experience both here and abroad that can be drawn upon to inform it.

Above all, we urge the city to be bold. If Nottingham is to fulfil its potential it will need to undo the mistakes of the past with changes that reveal its drama and character.

This will be a long term endeavour, and at this early stage the Panel therefore feel the most helpful thing it can do is organise its advice in a way that most clearly sets out the main issues and considerations for both the process and the “product”.

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 2 Planning, Procurement and the Client Role

Combining the client role with that of local planning authority has advantages, but it is perhaps too much to expect the “healthy tension” of the two to be successfully borne by the same people. The Panel understand however that challenges of capacity will limit the extent to which the council can establish dedicated teams for each. We were therefore pleased to hear that a Broadmarsh Design Panel will be chaired by Greg Nugent, the chair of the Nottingham Project. Drawing on the third sector to bring in individuals on the client side with expertise and experience of delivering complex development projects will be of great benefit to the council in establishing a creative dialogue. Defining the full range of skills needed on the client team will maximise its effectiveness, and these should be drawn equally from a range of good local practitioners and acknowledged national experts. These will include developer representatives and experts in finance, design, procurement and delivery among others, but the Panel advise that it should be council led.

There can be natural tensions between deliverability and design excellence, but the temptation to let the project to a single development partner should be resisted, as this could adversely affect both. Putting the future of the area (and therefore the City) in the hands of a single partner could simply be too risky, as the City Council have unavoidably experienced to their cost with both the Westfield and the schemes. Smaller partners for different parts and phases of the work should be sought to mitigate the risk and introduce interest and variety.

This is an opportunity to be innovative with delivery – there is a period during which a certain amount of experimentation might even be attempted. The division of the site into blocks is an obvious move, but it’s also worth considering whether the city block is the most appropriate division of land. Could individual plots within these represent a more deliverable and interesting alternative? Would co-housing be suitable, at least for part of the site - as has been delivered at Marmalade Lane in Cambridge? Research in these areas would be highly worthwhile. It would also be worth talking to Camden Borough Council about their experience in Delivering King’s Cross. Concepts such as “stewardship” are gaining traction as a model for delivering viability and design quality for large landowners, and may well be applicable here.

There may be an understandable pressure on the City Council to extract financial value from the site in the shorter term. This would almost inevitably make delivery more challenging and make securing the sort of quality necessary more difficult, and should therefore be resisted.

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 3 The Design Process

In a project this complex and high profile, design cuts across almost all other themes. Clear governance and strong purposeful leadership is therefore vitally important. Paul Seddon explained the planned approach - that a vision will be prepared by the spring which will establish broad principles, followed by a framework and then a masterplan. These will need to be inspiring, but practical, working documents that allow sufficient flexibility to remain relevant, while providing a robust touchstone for quality in the longer term that allows the council to resist development “fads” and corner-cutting expediency.

Could design coding provide part of the answer to this? It would certainly chime with current government think on planning, and could mesh with the City Council’s other government funded work on its Design Quality Framework.

The high profile nature of the site inevitably leads us to ask whether design competitions may also have a role to play.

Engagement & Partnership

Seeking the views of the public as part of The Big Conversation has stimulated excitement and debate at a time when people are sorely in need of positivity, and the City Council is to be applauded for their innovative approach to this. Being seen to take the products of this work forward meaningfully into a public dialogue is perhaps a more challenging task. The various aspirations for the area and the meanwhile and phased aspects of its future lend themselves to a “big tent” approach. This would assist you to enfranchise voices that might otherwise be raised in dissent to help sell and deliver the project. The innovative engagement work the city has done via Co-Place means it has some of the infrastructure necessary to take this on in the same manner. The question is, will it?

Harnessing the enthusiasm and ideas of local people and organisations could not only benefit the cultural life of the city, but could also foster a sense of ownership that could bring social, economic and reputational advantages as well. The excellent Urban Room at 38 Carrington Street would be an ideally placed venue for future engagement once this again becomes possible through a program of events.

Partnership with The and Nottingham Trent University could be hugely beneficial, (particularly as each have built environment schools) to both them and the City Council – could there for instance be potential for some research to inform decision making? Is there perhaps also potential for sponsorship by local companies of a competition for the design of meanwhile activities?

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 4 Of course, national agencies such as Homes England may very well prove instrumental in assisting with delivery and early contact would be highly worthwhile. It is encouraging that the Local Economic Partnership, D2N2 have stepped in with substantial funding for the first phase of the demolition works, and it is to be hoped that this will be the first tranche of public money to assist with the delivery of the project.

Resilience & Future Cities

As we know, the role of cities is evolving. The reliance on the motor car which had such a profound impact on the existing design and layout of this area is diminishing, but the inflexibility of its structure has meant that it cannot easily be adapted and re-purposed in the way that a more traditional part of the city might be. The Broadmarsh Centre and other developments of its type have taught us is that we cannot make assumptions about the future, and building adaptability into the design approach will be critical to the resilience of whatever replaces it. This would be naturally allied to an incremental development of the area over time, reducing risk to delivery and improving opportunities for engagement and participation. Its division into manageable pieces via the establishment of walking routes through it would also align with this approach. Adaptability should be enshrined at every level, and much can be learned from the development patterns of the past in this respect.

Infrastructure & Phasing

A key aspect of the development of the new “quarter” will be the provision of essential infrastructure – the “bones” on which it can grow. Establishing some safe, legible routes through the site will be an important, quick “win” that will re-connect the south side with the city centre. The other spaces created by the demolitions will need equally careful consideration, and a green infrastructure strategy as part of the masterplan should set out the approach towards “meanwhile” treatments of these spaces, as well as the desired longer-term outcomes. Ways of animating the area should also be considered as part of this – could allotments and/or a box park be options for instance? In the same vein, the provision of services such as lighting, power, telecommunications, sewerage and drainage will need to be considered in order to avoid options being unnecessarily constrained going forward. Cllr Roberts cited the best in class NET tram system as an example of the where the council successfully took on such a long term, phased project, and although a transport scheme, there will no doubt be a number of parallels.

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 5 Caves, Topography and Setting

The obliteration of the topography and buildings in the area resulted in the creation of the City Archaeologist post following the outcry it provoked. Changes in level such as this, and the manner in which they are negotiated often lie to the heart of what makes a place special. The medieval Drury Hill, which curved down the cliff from a postern gate to the tanning district spoke long into the C20 of the defensive character of medieval Nottingham.

This character may still to a limited extent be perceived by a few visual cues (including the original Drury Hill and Broadmarsh street signs) and in historic photographs. In contrast, its current form is far from easy to understand. The engineering of levels in the road network on Middle Hill, Collin Street and Maid Marian Way has obscured the landform, while the grade levels within the Broadmarsh Centre are almost entirely hidden. The options for how the area will eventually look may be greatly influenced by these levels, and thought will need to be given to 3-D modelling to assist decision making. The re-establishment of some of the historic routes, which is normally regarded as a “must have” in any mending of townscape may be made more challenging for this reason. However, re-capturing the drama of the descent from the Saxon Borough to the “marsh” via Drury Hill, and protecting or enhancing the views from the Georgian rear gardens of Middle Pavement must surely be regarded as highly desirable.

Other such goals would be more straightforward; for instance Carrington Street and Grey Friar Gate have a gentle incline to where they join Listergate. This is a key desire line, and the re­ establishment of this as a high quality route could be an excellent quick “win”. The Howard Street element of Sheffield’s successful “Golden Route” from the 2000’s might provide a good template for this, where a combination of high quality public realm, green infrastructure and public art transformed the journey from the railway station to the town centre in advance of development.

The presence of caves, including the visitor attraction within the existing Broadmarsh Centre is an added layer of complexity. The existence of further caves has yet to be fully established, hidden as they are, but it is highly likely that a number will exist. They are a well known and loved part of Nottingham’s DNA, and improving their setting would improve the amenity of the visitor attraction and enrich the character of the area. Likewise the archaeology, the presence of which has been evidenced via the assessments that informed the previous proposals, should be given full consideration in terms of both its survival and the vastly improved opportunities there now are for using it to engage the public.

As the site as a whole can be best appreciated from the castle terraces, improvements to their setting of may be regarded as another key opportunity. The current view could scarcely be worse in terms of quality, but it does have the merit (aside from the Central College Building) of affording uninterrupted views to the Lacemarket. The appearance of the development from vantage points on both lower and upper Castle Terraces will therefore be an important consideration.

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 6 Sustainability

Nottingham City Council’s ambitious 2028 Carbon Neutral Challenge is an impressive undertaking encompassing a broad range of measures. The first two chapters – Transport and Built Environment underscore key areas where the redevelopment can introduce a step change necessary to assist Nottingham in achieving its sustainability goals. Carbon is one aspect of sustainability in what is a complex mesh of requirements from this site that include social, economic and environmental objectives. The United Nations SDG11 policy is perhaps the best overall expression of this:

“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the interconnectedness of contemporary challenges, and the need for comprehensive and participatory approaches to address them.” (www.unodc.org)

The sheer size of the Broadmarsh Centre and its associated engineering is a very significant factor. Like many mega-structures it is inherently inflexible and difficult to re-use, but on the other hand demolishing it also raises practical and environmental questions, particularly when one considers the embodied carbon of its concrete frame and its integration with the surrounding road network. Indeed, how such considerations are reconciled will profoundly affect delivery, values, sustainability and the design quality (and dare we say beauty) of the eventual solution. Getting an accurate picture of the structure, as with the site levels, will be an important early step. It could also inform the potential for foundation re-use, something that could minimise archaeological impacts.

In a city as alive with creativity as Nottingham, meantime uses for these buildings (or part of them) may provide the most effective way of re-habilitating this area in the short-medium term, and the Panel suggest that Peckham Levels and 180 The Strand in London are looked at as examples of where redundant concrete buildings have successfully been rehabilitated as cultural spaces. Alternatively, the Turner Works project at Hackney Bridge is an example of where re-usable temporary buildings have established design and makers spaces in a site that will eventually be developed for housing.

The City Council’s continuing efforts to drive out traffic by shutting Collin Street and downgrading Canal Street have provided a good context for these decisions, setting the tone for the further work of this type surely to come, driven by the council’s roads strategy. This will improve North-South connectivity, making the connection of Carrington Street and Lister Gate (and potentially other routes) all the more impactful. Similarly, the raised levels of Collin Street and Middle Hill (discounting the NET viaduct) present a movement problem that reduction to grade may help address. The timing (and form) of the new bus station and car park has been rather less fortunate, as consideration of the area as a whole would have inevitably allowed greater flexibility, but it is fortunately a free standing structure not bound by the raised grade levels of surrounding highways structures.

However, the East-West severance created by Maid Marian Way has had a possibly even greater impact on the city than that of North-South. The relationship of the Central College site and

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 7 its Broadmarsh neighbour is a microcosm of this, and could affect the regeneration chances of both. If ever there was an opportunity to consider the future of this route, this must surely be it. The desirability of changing Maid Marian Way into something more akin to a street is therefore a pressing issue. Nigel Dunnett’s Grey to Green project in Sheffield, which integrates greenspace and SUDS may provide a template for this. We also commend to you the excellent Riverside Sunderland Masterplan, in which St Mary’s Boulevard, an urban motorway, is reduced to a single carriageway that forms the spine to a new quarter.

Justification for such changes need to be made in the round. Impacts on traffic flow based on computer modelling only take us so far – how these effects are interpreted more broadly is the real key. The pivotal strategic importance of this site, not only in terms of how the city functions but also in how it is seen make this all the more vital.

Conclusion

Few things generate as much fascination as the re-planning of a city “quarter”, particularly one as emotive as the Broadmarsh Centre. This is place-making writ large, and there is something in it for almost everyone. What we have already seen in the press and in social media is that emerging ideas fire the imaginations of people of all ages and backgrounds, prompting reactions, observations and debate. The council’s own invaluable work has informed this process, and there are, beyond doubt, legions of ideas yet to be conceived that will bring fresh perspectives and new energy to the discussion.

This will be a learning process for all, and the Council’s roles in it will be manifold, as convenor, technician, champion, enabler and investor to name but a few.

This is however the very beginning of a process in which the Panel will, if desired, play a continuing part. For the moment, we have the following summary observations and recommendations:

„ This is an enviable “once in a lifetime” opportunity to transform how the city looks and works by undoing the mistakes of the 1960’s/70’s.

„ The City Council’s Big Conversion is an impressive and innovative engagement tool to be proud of. Beyond this, Nottingham is well served by its Co-Place initiative and the Urban Room no. 38 Carrington Street to take this work forward.

„ The City Council has a vital role as client, but will need to bring in The Nottingham Project and other partners if it to address issues of capacity and create the “healthy tension” that will drive design excellence. Top down control will not deliver the outcomes necessary, and the role should instead be seen as one of enlightened stewardship.

„ Researching good practice in design and delivery elsewhere will pay dividends. Nottingham’s two universities could have key roles to play in this and in other areas.

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 8 „ The “red line” of the strategy should extend beyond the Broadmarsh Centre across Maid Marian Way to the Central College site, and also include Collin Street and Middle Hill.

„ On no account entrust this project to a single development partner as it would place too much power in the hands of a single private interest.

„ This will be a long term project of ten years plus. The interregnum should be animated by an exciting meantime environment. The journey will be as important as the destination!

„ To this end, and also in respect of the final product, a green infrastructure strategy will be integral to the masterplan.

„ Accessible 3-D modelling of the site including its internal levels and structure will be essential to inform decision making.

„ Design coding should be employed as a means of formally establishing the design parameters you wish to take forward.

„ The City Council should make use of design competitions as a way of securing design excellence. Championing of design quality is fundamental. Corner cutting expediency and “halfway houses” should be avoided at all costs!

„ Knitting the historic streetscape back together, establishing new or improved views (and settings) and revealing the exciting topography are key goals.

„ Although little remains above-ground, the archaeology of the site is a fascinating asset that can be drawn upon. There will be opportunities to do this during demolition, design and delivery, but it will need careful planning.

„ The City of Caves visitor attraction should be transformed by creating a setting worthy of its unique interest.

„ Resilience, sustainability and adaptability are inherently connected and will be ever more important in the post-Covid world. They should inform every aspect of design.

„ Options for partial re-use should be looked at in the context of Nottingham’s 2028 Carbon Neutral Challenge, and will need to be considered against broader sustainability, phasing and delivery considerations.

„ There has been some good progress on ameliorating some of the impacts of 1960’s traffic engineering, but the demolition of the Broadmarsh Centre and the future of the Central College site creates the need and opportunity for much more radical thinking about Maid Marian Way.

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 9 The Historic Places Panel – previously known as Urban Panel provides expertise to help local authorities, development agencies and others to engage in major regeneration of historic towns and cities. The Members who participated in the visit to Nottingham on the 26th November and 1st December, 2020, were:

Peter Studdert (Chair)

Nigel Baker

Peter Buchan

Jane Dann

John Lord

Rosemarie MacQueen

Geoff Rich

Chris Smith

David Ubaka

Historic Places Panel Review Paper 10