Subject: Re -opening the River Roch/ Status: For Publication Rochdale Town Centre Design Competition Report to: Cabinet Date: 1st July 2013 Report of: Mark Widdup, Director Of Email: [email protected] Economy and Environment Tel: 01706 924308 Author: Mark Robinson, Head of Planning Cabinet Member: Peter Williams, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Customer Services Comments from Section 151 Officer X Statutory Officers: Monitoring Officer X Key Decision: No 1. PURPOSE OF REPORT 1.1 There is little doubt that the Town Centre is increasingly being recognised for its quality and historic importance and that this recognition offers an opportunity to attract investment which would create new jobs and improve facilities for local residents and visitors alike. This proposal should be viewed as a real opportunity to create something unique for Rochdale Borough and compliment the existing heritage offer. 1.2 The purpose of this report is to update members on progress in implementing the project to re-open parts of the River Roch through Rochdale Town Centre and secure agreement to the next stages of work including:- to secure member approval for the appointment of a contractor and/or consultants as may be necessary in order to enable the Council to progress its design and second stage bid with the Heritage Lottery Fund. 1.3 The second part is to secure member approval to hold a design competition for the public realm within the historic parts of the town centre and focussing in particular, in the area around the re-opened river. 2. RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 It is recommended that Cabinet: a) Notes the progress made on the River Re-opening Project b) Accepts the offer of a development grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund c) Approves the Design Brief (draft attached) for an International Design Competition targeted at the historic parts of Rochdale Town Centre Version Number: Page: 1 of 22 d) Accepts the offer of financial support for the Competition from English Heritage with match funding of £15k to be met from existing open space resources. e) Gives approval for the competition to proceed f) Delegates to the Deputy Chief Executive the authority to appoint or instruct the Environment Agency to appoint, the necessary contractor and/or consultants required for the above purpose and to delegate to the Deputy Chief Executive and nominees authority to negotiate, agree and execute appropriate contracts, incidental and ancillary documentation to give effect to this instruction. g) Supports the appointment of a Project Development Officer. 3. PROJECT 1 - RE-OPENING THE RIVER ROCH 3.1 Members will be familiar with the proposal to re-open a number of sections of the River Roch through Rochdale Town Centre. When it is completed it will reconnect the town to the river that led to its development making Rochdale unique in Greater Manchester in having a substantial river running through the centre of the town. 3.2 The project is a mix of capital work and education/interpretation on the historic bridge and the natural heritage of the river. In essence the project can be split into six main parts: • Realignment of the esplanade. Needed to enable the eastern side of the historic bridge to be revealed. • Removal of three sections of the modern bridge. • Restoration of the historic bridge. The bridge has been damaged in the past and some sections of the historic fabric removed. This part of the project will involve sympathetic restoration of some elements and conservation of others. For this we will use specialist in conservation and heritage building techniques. • Re-naturalisation of the river bed. We need a design that provides natural habitat for flora and fauna as well as visual appeal while still allowing the river to flow freely. • Restoration of the surrounding public realm once the bridge is revealed. • A programme of public engagement. We have received a development grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to help with this element. 3.3 The project is supported by partner agencies such as Environment Agency and has been recognised as a critical opportunity for the Borough in the Greater Manchester Town Centres Study. This study supports the Council’s view that re-opening the river will make the town centre more attractive to visitors and a centrepiece of efforts to broaden the economic base of the town centre by encouraging heritage and leisure developments. 3.4 Since the last report to members significant progress has been made in delivering the project. In brief: a) Planning permission was granted in December 2012. b) A Compulsory Purchase Order has been made. The statutory objection period expires in mid-June after which, provided there are no objections, it will be submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation. An update on progress will be provided to the Cabinet meeting. It is hoped that confirmation would be received by the end of July. Version Number: Page: 2 of 22 c) Highway closure orders that are necessary for us to remove sections of the modern bridge to expose the river are underway. d) Investigations into the structure of the medieval bridge and the river bed are complete giving us the information needed to enable us progress the design work. e) The Heritage Lottery Fund has approved in principle a grant of £1.2m to support the project. A further more detailed submission will be required to secure the HLF grant. This second stage of the process is competitive however, it is rare for such submissions not to succeed and we are confident that the necessary information can be provided. To assist us to make this second stage application the HLF have offered a development grant of £50k and we aim to make a full submission by the autumn with a full approval being secured by March 2014. The HLF bid comprises three elements. The first is a contribution to the conservation and enhancement of the heritage taking the scheme design from a basic engineering design to one which maximises the heritage benefit of the project by conserving the mediaeval bridge and restoring lost elements for example balustrades. Secondly, the grant will assist in restoring elements of the natural heritage by funding enhanced treatment of the river bed and maximising the ecological benefits. The third element will be a series of projects to maximise the educational value of the scheme through interpretation of the elements exposed and a programme of events and materials to enable work to be undertaken with schools and local communities to improve the appreciation of the river and bridge. f) As part of the HLF development grant we asked for funding for a Project Development Officer to help us to make the full funding bid and particularly to develop conservation, public engagement and interpretation plans. HLF have agreed to fund this for an initial period up to the submission of the Stage 2 bid and members are requested to agree to this appointment. If approved we aim to have a suitably qualified person in post in place by July. The opportunity would then exist to extend this role once a second stage pass had been secured. g) In addition to the £500K partnership funding secured from the Environment Agency and reported previously to members additional support has been secured in the form of an EA project officer seconded into the project. h) Our partnership with the Environment Agency has enabled us to take advantage of their contractor framework to enable us to get practical expertise by engaging a construction contractor to help develop the design work. We propose to utilize the contractor framework established by the Environment Agency in order to appoint a contractor and/or consultants to help develop the design and other work necessary to progress to the next stage of the bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. We can either instruct the contractor/ consultants ourselves under this framework or engage the Environment Agency to appoint such persons itself by way of a project management or similar agreement. The contractor/ consultant will be commissioned to produce designs and specifications for the engineering works, carry out surveys and otherwise advise and produce information that will enable the Council to progress its design and hence its bid with the Heritage Lottery Fund. Use of this Framework will enable us to achieve significant savings on procurement costs and is a procurement route that meets our CPR and public procurement rules. 3.5 Whilst progress has been made further work is needed to develop the river reopening project as follows: a) Complete the compulsory purchase and highway closure orders Version Number: Page: 3 of 22 b) Commence detail design work for the highway realignment. c) Commence the design work for the demolition of the bridge sections. d) Complete design work for the restoration of the historic bridges and the river bed to RIBA/LI Stage C. e) Complete the Stage 2 HLF submission; f) Draft a programme for management of the works. 3.6 It is hoped construction work on the project would commence in spring 2014 following the HLF funding decision. 4. PROJECT 2 - INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION 4.1 There is substantial interest in the quality and heritage of Rochdale Town Centre from English Heritage and following a visit by senior English Heritage officers last year attended by the Leader we received an offer of financial support for a major design competition concentrating on the older parts of the Town Centre i.e. The Butts, Town Hall Square, garden and park areas and mediaeval areas around Baillie Street and The Walk. 4.2 The proposal is to hold a design competition- advertised internationally - for the opportunity to propose design concepts for the area around the re-opened river and to seek ideas at a less detailed level for other parts of the town centre.