nottingham #3

NottiNghaminvestment and regeneration magazine

inspiration for the nation:The heart and soul of the UK’s creative industries beats loud

www.nottinghammagazine.com

international relations: Nottingham is strengthening its overseas links

issue 3/spring 2010

http://www.nottinghammagazine.com

emda_fullpg_NottmMag_NottmContempJan2010.FH11 Mon Jan 11 13:06:15 2010 Page 1

http://www.emda.org.uk

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vital staticsn Rents are £20 per

square foot for new prime space, expected to rise to £28 for future grade A space

n More than £300 million of stock transacted in the past 18 months

n The borough has the country’s lowest death rate from accidents

n The borough has 23 buildings over 10 storeys high and another 50 more than six storeys

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� Far left: River Crescent, one of the developments shaping Nottingham’s future.Above: New Art Exchange.Left: Nottingham Contemporary is leading the way in the city’s pledge for good design.Below: The annual GameCity festival.

Executive editor: Kirsty [email protected]

Features editor: Alex Aspinall [email protected]

Art director: Terry [email protected]

Designer: Daniel Bailey

Advertisement sales: Paul Gussar [email protected]

Production: Rachael [email protected]

Managing director: Toby [email protected]

Images: Make architects, The University of Nottingham, Ashok Mistry,

New Art Exchange, Hannah Marsh, Martine Hamilton Knight, Steve Ingram,

Nottingham City Council, Geoperspectives 2007, Blueprint

Cover shot: Nottingham Contemporary

Printed by: Manson

Published by:

Lower Ground Floor189 Lavender HillLondon SW11 5TBT: 020 7978 6840

Subscriptions and feedback: go to www.nottinghammagazine.com

© 3Fox International Limited 2010. 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 the accuracy of information in this magazine at 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 Nottingham

Regeneration Limited or Nottingham City Council.

04 News The latest happenings in and around Nottingham.

08Markets The city’s residential, office and commercial markets.

12 Projects A look at the developments shaping Nottingham’s future.

25Design The city’s commitment to good design is as strong as ever.

�0 Housing Exciting plans to boost the city’s housing portfolio.

�4Art The thriving arts and culture scene in Nottingham.

�8Science City Science is providing new and exciting opportunities for growth.

41Creative Nottingham is leading the way in 21st century industry.

46Overseas Nottingham’s growing reputation around the globe.

contentsnottingham March 2010

“Science City status has emphasised our science credentials and gives us a USP other cities haven’t got”

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Neil HOrSley Nottingham Development Enterprise

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http://www.nottinghammagazine.com

news»

The East Midland’s largest single gallery space opened its doors on 14 November 2009. The £20 million arts centre, Nottingham Contemporary, offers 3,000sq m of space across four galleries, a performance and film space, a learning room, study, shop and café. Funded by the Arts Council, money from the National Lottery and Nottingham City Council, entry to the gallery is free and the opening exhibition showcased over 60 works by David Hockney. Over 80,000 people visited the gallery in the first three months after it opened.

The building itself is as inspiring as the art, much of the north end is not visible from the exterior as it is sunk into a sandstone cliff. Architects Caruso St John were inspired by the neighbouring Lace Market, which is reflected in the design – the exterior features a print of an 1847 lace pattern found in a time capsule by architects near the site.

Leader of Nottingham City Council, councillor Jon Collins, said: “Our vision for Nottingham includes an aspiration to be a top 10 European city for culture so Nottingham City Council is very proud to add Nottingham Contemporary to our family of first class cultural venues. I’m confident Nottingham Contemporary can quickly become one of the leading contemporary art galleries in the UK and then create a reputation in Europe and beyond.

“Delivering this sort of investment project confirms our determination to create a world-class Nottingham, a Nottingham with all the facilities and attractions to draw in new visitors and inward investors as well as providing a much greater cultural offer to local people. Nottingham Contemporary is not just about art in Nottingham, it’s about ambition for Nottingham.”

Contemporary works

what’s hip and happening on nottingham’s

regeneration scene

international links

Nottingham’s new business district, Southside, will create cohesion among the major schemes that are being planned or developed in the area.

The 99,000sq m business district will include mixed-use schemes such as Peel Holding’s Unity Square development, which

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on your bike As a result of more people vowing to get fit and the British success at the Beijing Olympics, cycling is enjoying a resurgence. Nottingham’s celebrated bicycle manufacturer, Raleigh, is benefiting from increased demand and sales. Raleigh has recently agreed an enhanced funding line with the Royal Bank of Scotland, the multi-million pound facility will allow the company to invest in future operations, building and strengthening the brand.

Green dreams Nottingham is leading the way in green energy. The city is generating 4% of its own energy from renewables and waste, – the second most self-sufficient city, Coventry, produced just 0.74% of its own energy from renewables and waste. Nottingham also has the UK’s largest district heating scheme.

speedo moves Local manufacturer, Speedo, has taken a 17-year lease on almost 4,000sq m of space at ng2. The company will relocate its headquarters from Ascot Road in Nottingham to the purpose-built site in autumn 2010.

news inbrief

Leading the wayThe East Midlands Development Agency (emda) announced figures highlighting its impressively low cost base, emphasising pay costs operating at 6.4% of expenditure during 2008-2009. Its total administrative costs were less than 10% against expenditure of £192 million, the lowest of any regional development agency.

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The strong links between Nottingham and China were reinforced when Nottingham’s Lord Mayor, councillor Jeannie Packer, opened the Nottingham School in Sichuan province in October 2009. The school was rebuilt after it was destroyed in an earthquake with money donated

by Nottingham residents. The mayor also travelled to

Dalian, Ningbo and Nanchang to build Nottingham’s reputation and strengthen relations between the two countries.

The city’s university is also playing its part, as it will be hosting a series of events at the

high profile Shanghai Expo 2010, where up to 70 million visitors are expected over six months.

Nottingham has also managed to boost its links with Russia, having signed a partnership agreement with the city of Krasnador, situated in the south of the country.

flag wavingNottingham’s parks and open spaces have won a total of 11 green flags this year, the best yet. And the awards don’t stop there, Nottingham City Council’s parks and open spaces team were named the Open Space Management Team of the Year by Horticultural Week magazine. The City Council was also shortlisted for Best Parks or Gardens for Heathfield Park in Bullwell and also Best Playscheme for the Citywide playground at the Forest Recreation Ground.

Nottingham City Council’s portfolio holder for leisure, culture and customers, councillor Dave Trimble said: “It is great to have the work and investment that is taking place in Nottingham recognised by the horticultural elite of the country. I am delighted for the team, for the council and for the residents in our communities who work with us to help care for their local parks and open spaces and take such an interest in them.”

waterside route

A new £1.5 million link between Nottingham Beeston Canal and the River Trent has created a traffic-free route between the canal towpath and Victoria Embankment to be enjoyed by walkers, cyclists and sailors.

The new route has not just created a link between the waterways but also improved the area with extra moorings, a new river viewing platform, a wider footbridge, new public rest area and resurfaced canal towpath.

Funding was provided by British Waterways, East Midlands Development Agency, Nottingham City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency. The programme links to the Waterside Regeneration Zone and creates a gateway to the Big Track, Nottingham’s sustainable circular transport route through the city centre.

southside moves forwardwill include grade A office space a hotel and retail/leisure space, Wilson Bowden’s 9,000sq m office scheme Sentinel and the redevelopment of the train station.

Nottingham City Council’s move to Loxley House will kickstart the regeneration of the Southside area.

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station update Network Rail has confirmed it intends to invest up to £10 million in Nottingham Station over the next five years. Some initial improvements have already been made to the passenger footbridge and ticket vending machines installed but plans include a new car park, passenger information screens and better CCTV.

Nottingham’s planned expenditure on transport infrastructure over the next five years is in the region of £787 million. The plans include NET, Nottingham Train Station, the A453 and A46 plus the Local Transport Plan.

Bsf award Nottingham City Council’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme won the Local Education Partnership of the Year award at the Excellence in BSF awards in November 2009. The partnership involves Nottingham City Council, inspired spaces and Building Schools for the Future Investments. Councillor David Mellen of children’s services said: “Winning this award is a great achievement and demonstrates the innovative approaches being taken to deliver excellence for children and young people in Nottingham.”

news inbrief

Funding successNottingham City Council secured £1.2 million to be spent on the creation of new council housing. The houses will be delivered on Camrose Close in Bilborough and Lillington Road in Bulwell, with 15 units to be built in Bilborough and a further eight units in Bulwell.

»Nottingham is putting itself at the forefront of good design with its new urban design guide. Launched in May 2009 the Nottingham City Centre Urban Design Guide sets out to ‘promote the highest standard of urban design and architecture in Nottingham city centre’.

The city prides itself on its medieval character and the centre is a vivid mix of architecture. The guide is aimed at developers, designers and architects to make clear what is expected of

them before submitting planning permission. Although not a rigid set of rules it will act as a checklist for city centre applications. Nigel Turpin Nottingham’s urban design team leader explains: “The guide forms part of a suite of documents including the city centre masterplan and the Streetscape Design Guide helping to convey the vision for the city and standard of design expected.

“The guide has been welcomed by developers, architects and agents.”

Design for life

Nottingham’s Broadway has undergone a £5.7 million redevelopment. Two new cinema screens were added, one designed by local fashion designer Paul Smith, alongside a second bar and a digital arts programme showing work by both local and

international artists. The cinema was touted as

one of the top ten in the world in 2007 by Total Film magazine and has developed a reputation for covering independent, world and Hollywood titles as well as running several film festivals.

Broadway media Centre

desiGn City

The annual Roses Design Awards took place in Nottingham at the end of October 2009, the first time in their 11-year history they have been held outside of Manchester. The evening, which was held at the EMCC, was a great success with over 300 people attending. The evening’s overall winner was Manchester-based design agency True North.

Sponsors of last year’s event, Invest in Nottingham hosted the awards in Nottingham to celebrate the city’s design industry. With the event running so smoothly the organisers are keen to return to Nottingham again next year.

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Economic backgroundNottingham is a major economic power in the East Midlands and a significant driver for the UK. According to a report by CB Richard Ellis in 2009, the city outperforms the national average for Gross Value Added and its economy is worth an estimated £12.1 billion annually. It is also one of the most competitive business locations in the country, with occupational property costs approximately two-thirds of those in Leeds and Manchester and housing costs just 58% of the average for England and Wales.

Two major reasons for Nottingham’s strong economy are its increasingly diverse business base and highly skilled workforce. Manufacturing remains important and as a result of the work of Science City there is a growing concentration of medical and scientific businesses and organisations. The city also has an important role as a centre for financial services and public administration, besides having one of the country’s best retail offers and a thriving cultural and leisure scene.

Nottingham is the seventh largest of England’s Core Cities and has a resident population of 292,400, of whom 144,900 are economically active (2009). The proportion of workers in professional, managerial and

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a look at the residential, office and commercial markets in Nottingham by David Gray 25

million people are

attracteD aNNually to NottiNGham’s

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£12.1 billioN

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technical posts has been growing and accounts for 42.9% of the workforce (April 2008-March 2009). Almost 15.5% of Greater Nottingham’s population of working age are managers or senior officials and nearly 14% are professionals, well above the national average.

rEsidEntial markEtLand Registry figures reveal Nottingham to be one of the cheapest major cities in which to buy residential property. The average house in Nottingham costs just 58% of the UK figure. House prices are as follows, detached homes were £161,005, semi-detached £90,181, terraced £64,410 and flats and maisonettes £131,308.

The over-supply of new-build apartments in the city centre during 2005-2007 has now been appreciated and the rate of consents significantly slowed in consequence. A policy is now in place to attract young families into the centre in mixed-use schemes such as Eastside City. Council homes remain more important than in many other cities (over 16% of stock) and Nottingham will benefit from new government policies to free up funds for more public housing.

Private rentals are also relatively high in Nottingham.

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Demand comes from the city’s huge (55,600) student population, but also from people unable to obtain mortgages in the current climate. David Hargreaves of Fisher Hargreaves Proctor says the market across the whole of the city has started to pick up strongly. He also believes the city is not over-supplied with new properties and that “the purchase market represents terrific value right now”. His opinion has backing from a local survey in October 2009 by Agency Express reporting property sales volume at its highest for 18 months and the East Midlands showing the UK’s largest increase in the number of houses put on the market.

commErcial markEtInvestment and activity in Nottingham’s commercial property market has fallen during the recession, but with the exception of poorer than average yield levels, this has simply reflected national trends. There are good reasons for the city to see an early recovery. Firstly, there remains a shortage of larger grade A stock which has helped maintain rent levels. In the words of CBRE’s recent report: “despite a difficult occupational market, Nottingham city centre again defied gravity with prime office rental figures

of £19 per sq ft”. The second factor is the city remains one of the most affordable outside London, with total costs at £30 per sq ft, compared with £43.50 in Leeds, £44.50 in Manchester and £47.50 in Birmingham.

In industrial and distribution property, Nottingham also continues to score highly, helped by excellent motorway and rail links. Prime rents are around £6 per sq ft and good quality second-hand space is being marketed at £4.75 per sq ft, both figures above the level of two years ago. Take-up of grade A stock in 2008 exceeded 800,000sq ft.

Matthew Hannah, director at Innes England, says despite the market slowdown, “private investors are looking to buy and there is a shortage of good quality stock under £2 million”. Nottingham Council has recently taken 190,000sq ft at Loxley House and the main remaining high-quality developments available in the city centre are at Waterfront House and Southreef. Phil Quiggin, head of office agency at Lambert Smith Hampton’s Nottingham office, believes these could be taken up extremely quickly when the recession bottoms out. Looking ahead, he claims “there is a good supply of development sites in the pipeline, including Wilson Bowden’s 100,000sq ft landmark Sentinel on Wilford Road,

7th in ExpErian’s UK rEtail ranKings

55,600stUdEnt popUlation:

£12.1 billioN

Economy is worth an EstimatEd

aNNually

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Peel’s Queensbridge Road and Eastside City”.Nottingham’s drive to expand its science and

knowledge economy is continuing at the university’s Jubilee Campus, Nottingham Science Park and the proposed MediPark adjacent to Queen’s Medical Centre. At the end of 2009 planning permission was being sought for MediPark as a base for more than 200 medical research firms. With nine linked buildings on a 3.5-hectare site, the scheme is a partnership led by Nottingham Regeneration Limited (NRL).

NRL was involved in the successful redevelopment of the old Players tobacco factory on Alfreton Road. Four large units have been let to Nottingham City Primary Care Trust and only a few starter units remain available.

retail and leisure marketOne of the city’s economic strengths continues to be its success as a destination. The CBRE report states that 25 million people are attracted annually to Nottingham’s cultural, leisure and retail sectors. The city centre has consistently ranked among the top five in the UK according to Experian’s retail rankings, though the opening of a major shopping development in Liverpool pushed Nottingham into seventh place in 2009. Looking ahead, the expansion plan for the Broadmarsh shopping centre by Westfield is one of few such schemes still actively going ahead and it will add a further 800,000sq ft of retail space to the city. Other developments in the pipeline include Tesco’s application in November 2009 to build a major new store at Bulwell.

Nottingham’s retail property market appears to have been one of the least affected outside London by the downturn. Colliers East Midlands say prime rents in 2009 are just 8.2% down on the peak and they expect rental values to start growing again in the first half of 2010. Prime rents are currently £210-220 per sq ft in the city centre with secondary space rents for £135-150 per sq ft in the centre and £40-60 per sq ft in suburban areas.

Nottingham’s cultural and leisure attractions received a boost in November 2009 with the opening of Nottingham Contemporary. This is one of the largest art centres in the UK with four galleries and 3,000sq m of space. It follows in the footsteps of the refurbished Broadway Cinema and redeveloped Old Market Square. The city centre continues to attract new restaurants and Sat Bains, the only Michelin-star venue in the East Midlands, retained its star in 2009 for the fifth year running.

Sports and leisure facilities continue to be expanded across the city, with improvements to the National Water Sports Centre and plans for a World Cup class stadium. Nottingham is also bidding to be a FIFA host city for the 2018 World Cup in football.

Lastly, the city’s already excellent transport infrastructure will benefit from two recently agreed schemes. Extensions have been approved for the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) tram network and construction will start in 2011. Secondly, funding has been agreed for The Hub scheme to transform Nottingham railway station into a major interchange combined with significant mixed-use development. ❑

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arE Economically activE144,900

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1 of 9 citiEs to bE namEd as a grEEn tEch pionEEr

planned expenditure on transport infrastructure over the next 5 years totals in the region of £787.2 m

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It is testament to the strength of what has already been achieved in the city that several major projects are now complete. And, with developers reaffirming their intentions to invest in Nottingham, there are plenty more in the pipeline

projects

1 Trinity Square2 Trent Basin3 The Hub4 Meadows Gateway5 MediPark 6 Eastside7 Sneinton Market8 Southside

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Trinity Square

Following its completion at the end of 2008, Trinity Square has gone on to become one of the city’s beacons of regeneration success.

The £100 million mixed-use development, which brings together retail brands such as Waitrose and TK Maxx as well as restaurants and student living space has been responsible for bringing a new vitality to an area of the city centre which previously did not live up to its potential.

New retailers were due to be announced as Nottingham went to press and the scheme’s consultant, Capital Retail, remains positive despite the current economic climate.

Mike Willoughby, senior surveyor at Capital Retail, says: “The scheme looks very nice and it’s in a good location, which is more vibrant now, especially since the number of buses servicing the area has increased. Unfortunately Trinity Square was completed at the wrong time in terms of market conditions but we are confident that when the market comes back we will be able to complete some more significant lettings.” For more information contact Capital Retail: www.capital-retail.com

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Trent Basin

The vast waterside regeneration zone, which covers over 100-hectares of land, much of it bordering the River Trent, remains centrally important to Nottingham’s regeneration plans. And key to this is the Trent Basin site, which is predominantly public sector-owned land.

Original plans put together by Nottingham Regeneration Limited and waterside regeneration specialist Isis were to see a residential-led scheme providing the stimulus to encourage the area’s regeneration. But now, as the market has changed, a more sustainable and mixed-use development incorporating traditional residential uses, including family housing alongside retailing, commercial and leisure activities are being considered.

Mike Taylor, regeneration director at Nottingham Regeneration Limited, suggests: “Trent Basin is unique with the largest inland waterways basin in the country facing the River Trent and the wonderful greenery of Trent fields opposite.

“We have all seen what can be achieved at the recently completed River Crescent scheme and we wish to replicate this quality of development elsewhere in the Trent Basin and use this as the catalyst for the regeneration of the greater Waterside area in future years.”For more information contact Mike Taylor 0115 915 5493 [email protected]

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The Hub

Nottingham Station is poised to become ‘The Hub’ of Nottingham’s integrated transport system. The key partners, Network Rail, East Midlands Trains, Nottingham City Council and emda (East Midlands Development Agency) are close to reaching an agreement to enable works to upgrade Nottingham Station, to begin later in the year – starting with the construction of a striking new multi-storey car park off Queens Road.

Redevelopment of the station will also include a new ticket office, improved passenger facilities and the transformation of the existing taxi waiting area into an enclosed passenger arrival hall with new retail outlets. A new concourse will be built to enable improved passenger interchange and to connect with the NET Phase Two tram extension proposals.

Emphasis will be placed on marrying the station’s historic features with a new modern look. Station users will benefit from significantly improved public spaces, upgraded

transport links in and out of the station and enhanced cycle facilities, car parking and drop off/pick up facilities.

The station redevelopment is a key part of the wider regeneration of Southside. Recently Nottingham City Council has announced the purchase of Loxley House (the former Capital One building). The property developer, Peel Holdings, (currently developing MediaCity:UK in Salford) have had proposals approved for Unity Square, which will create 27,000sq m of office space, 10,000sq m of hotel space ( up to 240 rooms) and 6,500sq m of retail and leisure space.

The Hub project is part of the workplace parking levy (WPL) package of benefits. The WPL, which is to be introduced in April 2012, will help pay for major improvements to public transport infrastructure in Nottingham, including NET Phase Two and maintaining the city council’s Link bus network.For more information contact www.thebigwheel.org.uk/thehub

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• 31,000 sq ft of stylish accommodation• State-of-the-art business facilities• Virtual tenancy and hot desking available• Onsite cafe• Close to major road and rail linksContact:T: 0845 650 0028E: [email protected] W: www.newarkbeacon.co.uk

• Range of serviced offices from 200 – 2000 sq ft• 600 sq ft serviced studios also available• Learning centre• Access to business advisor• Rent-a-desk facilitiesContact:T: 0114 218 0600E: [email protected]: www.westthorpe.co.uk

• Offices currently available up to 500 sq ft• Onsite cafe• Innovative, eco-friendly design• Access to business support service• Hot desking facilitiesContact:T: 01909 512 100E: [email protected] W: www.theturbine.co.uk

• High specification suites from 205 – 1580 sq ft• Rent-a-desk facilities and networking capabilities• Office and administrative support• Easy access to Chesterfield and Sheffield• Secure building with 24 hour accessContact:T: 01246 267 700E: [email protected]: www.dunstoninnovationcentre.co.uk

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The Turbine, Worksop Dunston Innovation Centre, Chesterfield

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The Meadows

There are exciting times ahead for the Meadows. Nottingham City Council has been successful in the allocation of £200 million government PFI credit for a major regeneration scheme to transform the neighbourhood. In order to achieve this, the council is looking to remodel and refurbish some of its 1,400 homes and introduce traditional street layouts.

Alongside this will be the creation of a new district centre linking the Meadows to the Southside Regeneration Zone – the proposed new business area for the city.

The Southside Regeneration Zone will additionally benefit from the allocation of £1.5 million to extend the district heating system to serve the 39-hectare development, providing low carbon energy to the area.For more information contact Gill Callingham 0115 915 5287 [email protected]

MediPark

Outline planning permission was granted in August 2009 for Nottingham’s 3.5-hecatre MediPark. Progress is subject to successful acquisition of key sites, and work to secure funding. Negotiation with major landowners is also ongoing.

Louise Seymour, principal regeneration manager at Nottingham Regeneration Limited, says: “This scheme has huge potential but we are dealing with a big site, and it can only be delivered in phases. We are working with Nottingham City Council and East Midlands Development Agency on funding and site acquisition. We are also working with the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University’s Hospital Trust on aspects of delivery. Blueprint has been identified as potential development partner.”

The MediPark aims to achieve the ultimate integration of business, academia and the hospital environment on a single site. Potentially it will create a world-leading concentration of organisations specifically involved in the development and commercial exploitation of medical technologies in the clinical phase of pharmaceutical and healthcare product development.For more information contact Louise Seymour 0115 915 5345 [email protected]

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Sneinton Markett

Progress was made in October 2009, with the announcement Patel Taylor is to design the new £2.5 million Sneinton Square.

The work will be carried out as part of the £6.8 million regeneration of the wider area, which seeks to create an interesting pedestrian route linking the Old Market Square to Sneinton. The scheme drew significant attention at tender stage, with 63 firms bidding for the contract.

Patel Taylor was selected from the six short-listed companies. Construction is expected to begin towards the end of 2010. The upgrade of the Sneinton Square site forms

part of the wider focus placed on the improvement and upgrade of its public realm, exemplified by the sympathetic and hugely successful redesign of the Old Market Square in the town centre.

An additional piece of investment in the area sees the redevelopment of the Victoria Leisure Centre, as it benefits from an £8.5 million upgrade, which will retain the existing entrance facade and clock tower and redevelop the remaining leisure centre buildings. Construction on the new leisure centre is due to begin late 2010. For more information contact Louise Seymour 0115 915 5345 [email protected]

DesignTall buildings zoneThe city’s approach to tall buildings is mapped out in its design guide. Nigel Turpin, Nottingham’s urban design team leader explains the thinking behind it: “We looked at various parts of the city to establish where tall buildings could go. We decided that, taking key views, topography and ability to develop areas into account, the Eastside area was best suited to having tall buildings.

“It has been made quite clear that the designs must create quality, slender buildings. It is important to remember we are not cutting off the east side of the city, and we want to respect the urban grain of the area and nearby neighbourhoods. There are various caveats and it is clear that the buildings have to be of the highest quality.

“We need to establish whether there is a demand for tall buildings, and indeed whether they are viable. These issues need to be addressed by developers. The urban design guide points developers in the right direction at the earliest possible stage. It has been well received by all those involved in the development process.”

Eastside

Development of land to the east of Nottingham train station will extend commercial and business use into the Sneinton area and provide grade A office accommodation to attract inward investment into the city.

The Eastside masterplan sets out the vision for the area. A multitude of schemes have been promoted and are presently being developed through a partnership between the public and private sector. For more information contact Tony Cook at Roxylight: [email protected]

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Southside

This year will see the Southside area of Nottingham emerge as the city’s new business district. Property developers, Invest in Nottingham and Nottingham Regeneration Limited are working together to bring the office schemes currently under development or in planning stages under the banner Southside - Nottingham’s Central Business District.

Plans are under way for a number of mixed-use schemes in the area including Wilson Bowden’s Sentinel - a 9,000sq m office scheme on the southern edge

of the business district. Peel Holdings’ Unity Square scheme will see 18,500sq m of grade A office space, a hotel and retail/leisure space created opposite the Hub.

Other schemes in the area are helping create a new office core in the heart of the city including Bildurn’s mixed-use plan on Canal Street, the second phase of Reef Construction’s Southreef and Lace Market Properties Meadows Gateway. For more information contact Sean Akins at Bildurn: [email protected] ❑

NET Phase TwoBuilding on the success of the existing tramnetwork (NET Line One), proposals for NETPhase Two will see new tram lines built to thesouth and west of Nottingham.

With improved access to the M1, NET Phase Two will alsolink key employment sites including the ng2 business park,the Queens Medical Centre, the University of Nottinghamand the Science Park, providing access to over 1800workplaces to which about 55,000 employees commute.

NET Phase Two will serve existing large centres ofpopulation including Clifton, Beeston, Chilwell andWilford/Compton Acres.

NET Phase Two will be a catalyst for regeneration helpingto maintain the economic growth of the conurbation. It willresult in the creation of up to 10,000 new jobs by 2021.

It is proposed that NET Phase Two will be operational by2014 with construction starting in 2011.

NET Phase Two is promoted by Nottingham City Council

www.netphasetwo.com

The HubThe Hub project, a £67m redevelopment ofNottingham Station, will provide a state ofthe art public transport interchange andgateway to Nottingham.

It will support wider regeneration in the Southside area and theextension of the city centre, bringing forward new inwardinvestment, jobs and a stimulus for neighbourhood transformationin the Meadows area.

The Hub project includes:

• modernising existing station buildings to provide improved passenger and operational facilities

• building a new concourse with better links to NETand car parking

• constructing a new multi storey car park

• improvements to bus, cycle, pedestrian and taxi access

• an improved public realm

• the potential for significant new development in and aroundthe station including over 2000m2 of new retail space within the station, and the release of 1.6 hectares of land within the station site for mixed use development.

The project is supported by Nottingham City Council,Nottinghamshire County Council, East Midlands Trains, NetworkRail, East Midlands Development Agency, NottinghamDevelopment Enterprise, Nottingham Regeneration Ltd and theRail Heritage Fund.

www.thebigwheel.org.uk/thehub

T R A C K T O T H E F U T U R E

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design

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Design guiDes

urban Design Does not merely concern designers – it affects entire communities and their futures. Acknowledging the importance of good design in its vision for the city and its residents, workers and investors, Nottingham City Council launched the Nottingham City Centre Urban Design Guide in May 2009.

The guide promotes high standards of design and, along with the city’s masterplan (published in 2005) and the Nottingham Streetscape Design Manual (published the following year), it is intended to offer a clear idea of what the council expects for the city, so developers and planners have clear, consistent guidelines to follow.

To create a city that works, is pleasant, safe, supports a range of businesses and is a good place to live, the guide goes into some detail. This runs from guiding heights of buildings and encouraging activity back into the streets to building in more sustainability via means such as passive solar gain and shaded facades.

With a renewed clarity and backed by a more efficient planning process, the guide has been well received. Nigel Turpin, Nottingham’s urban design team leader, says: “The Urban Design Guide has had a very good reaction. All developers really want is certainty and consistency as early as possible. It reflects the vision of the city.”

David Franklin, director of Nottingham-based Franklin Ellis Architects, who has been involved in the award-winning regeneration of the city’s canalside development, Castle Wharf, fully supports the guide: “I think the Urban Design Guide is what Nottingham has needed for a long time. It should serve the city well to improve the quality of the environment for some years to come. There needs to be some consensus on what is special about Nottingham and that consensus was lacking before.”

Julian Marsh, partner at MarshGrochowski architects, whose projects in the city have included the Lacemakers House, an exemplar of an energy conservation home, and the award-winning Nottingham Playhouse extension,

Nottingham’s ambition to become one of the world’s most liveable cities is rooted in high-quality, sustainable urban design, reports Charlotte Goodworth

➔

This page: Nottingham’s Urban Design Guide will ensure the city centre retains its mix of good design and architecture.

agrees: “The Urban Design Guide is a really useful document. It’s been well put together and is something we need to adopt and adhere to.”

Wayne Hemingway MBE, who is both fashion designer and champion of good quality design and creativity, has publicly backed the guide, complimenting the city on its ambition and potential. “The quality of our urban spaces have an enormous impact on the quality of life. Nottingham’s well thought out Urban Design Guide should lead to Nottingham becoming an even more liveable city,” he says.

A former Saxon settlement, Nottingham has a myriad of exquisite period buildings, jostling for position on its streets with starker, more modern neighbours. The 21st century has, unfortunately, seen a certain amount of unsympathetic development, highway engineering and a decline in the areas adjoining the city centre – all issues which the design guide is intended to address. Within the historic parts of Nottingham city centre, new buildings should fit in and repair this character, says the guide, while elsewhere new development should reinvent the urban fabric of the city.

Since the 18th century, Nottingham has been the leading light in the UK’s lace industry. It has developed a synonymy with design, from its links with fashion designers Paul Smith and Wayne Hemingway to its being the original home of the iconic Raleigh Chopper. It is not surprising, therefore, that the council is keen to recreate a physical city that is as steeped in good design as its reputation and heritage.

The drive for high-quality urban design goes beyond respecting the historic nature of the city, however, and looks to what can be achieved in the future. Turpin explains: “Nottingham City Council is keen to be associated with good design because we have a duty to people who visit here, who invest here and who live here to create the best environment possible. People respond to their environment.

“Take the market square, for example. Previously the square wasn’t working for a number of reasons most people simply passed through it. Since the re-opening

design

“We have a duty to people who visit, invest and live here to create the best environment possible”

Right: Nottingham has a good mix of old and new design. The Urban Design Guide aims to encourage that mix and ensure that new additions to the city enhance the environment.

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of the square in 2007, there’s been a change in peoples behaviour, they now respect the space and enjoy being in it.”

This duty, weighing on urban design and those involved in it, is echoed by local architects, in particular Marsh, who is clear. He says: “We’ve got no choice but to take responsibility for urban design. We’ve probably got 15 years left to turn everything zero carbon, according to the government office, so it’s critical that we start making buildings that last much longer, use less energy and are planned at the right kind of densities and in the right places.”

While sustainability is at the heart of Nottingham’s design plans, is sustainable design automatically good design? Not necessarily, says Marsh: “It’s very easy to just cover a building with technology – and that’s actually very wasteful because it uses a lot of energy in making

University of nottingham innovation Park

One project that has definitely brought Nottingham to the forefront of pioneering and sustainable design is the extension to the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus.

Internationally known architects’ practice Make created the design for the first phase of this landmark project located on a brownfield site, which was formerly home to the factories of the Raleigh Bicycle Company.

Completed in 2008, the scheme includes three contemporary, iconic buildings: the International Building, the Amenities building, and the striking Sir Colin Campbell building. They form the first phase of the Innovation Park development, which is set to cost around £200 million in total.

The whole project set exemplary standards of energy efficiency, from its high-performance facades that reduce heating and cooling loads, its minimal use of glazing and set-back windows that offer maximum shade to its heating and cooling system generated by water from the campus lakes – possibly the first system of its kind in Europe.

Make’s design was shortlisted for the prime minister’s Better Public Building Award 2009, where the judges heaped praise on it, saying: “A series of bravura buildings give the university campus a fresh identity.”

David Patterson, Make project architect, says: “The University of Nottingham provided us with a dream brief: they asked us to design signature buildings that would create a new identity for Jubilee Campus and uphold the university’s commitment to world-class contemporary architecture, while maintaining the highest standards of energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.

“This was an invitation to be as creative and forward thinking as possible, and we relished the challenge. The buildings and surrounding landscape we have designed embody the innovation and excellence for which the university is renowned and will make a vital new contribution to this institution and the city as a whole.”

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Right: Nottingham Contemporary, the city’s newest art gallery is leading the way in innovative design.

that technology. We can make buildings that can operate in higher temperatures without the technology if we’re intelligent about it.”

As part of its drive to achieve a sustainable city, public private partnership Design Nottingham is aiming to raise the quality and profile of good design. The emphasis in 2009 was a joint training programme of local authority offices and developers to strengthen the common goal of good quality design. This year and in 2011, a number of sites are being prioritised within the outer estates, such as disused pubs and petrol filling stations. The campaign is hoping to trial a partnership with the universities, local architecture practices and the council to stimulate development through briefs and feasibility studies.

According to Turpin it’s a win win situation: “The students gain experience of working in a practice on real issues, the practice gains a resource, and the council will have guidance for what are generally difficult sites to develop.”

Also through Design 09 and Design 10 a Sustainable Design Guide will be produced, guiding development within the neighbourhoods as part of the placemaking agenda. As part of Design 10 one of the priorities will be to publish a sustainable design guide for residential areas. The intention is to build on the design quality of a recently approved scheme in the Meadows by Marsh Grochowski. This demonstrates what can be achieved if developers, architects and the council work together. It is hoped, as part of the National Building for Life campaign adopted by the council, this will receive a gold award, due to its overall

design and sustainability credentials. Nottingham has reinforced its status as a city rich

in design by hosting the annual Roses Design Awards in 2009, taking the event away from Manchester. The ceremony took place at the East Midlands Conference Centre and was a huge success.

Another recent feather in Nottingham’s design cap has been the arrival of KiosKiosk, a pop-up shop created by Wayne Hemingway, offering budding designers a rent-free space from which to promote and sell their creations.

As part of Nottingham’s Creative October – a campaign to promote and support local creativity and innovation – Hemingway launched a KiosKiosk space in Nottingham. A great success, the trial ran until January 2010 and was the first one to be held outside London.

Hemingway believes the time has come for Nottingham to express pride in its design credentials, saying: “Creative October is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Nottingham’s creative talent. KiosKiosK, the Creative Business Awards and the Roses Design Awards will create new international business opportunities and give Nottingham the recognition it deserves.”

Having recently been awarded such recognition by the judging panel for the World Design Capital 2012 – who identified great potential in the city’s application – Nottingham is now looking to the future with a greater confidence in itself and in its ability to become a city where good design is integral to its development. ❑

Top: The Pod, just one of Nottingham’s impressive new buildings.Above: Old Market Square (top) and Lace Market Square have both been upgraded to provide first class public space.

“It’s critical we start making buildings that last longer and use less energy”

design

A top European city for science technology, innovation and creativity.

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totals in the region of £787m• Just 90 minutes to London by train and under 5 hours to Paris• More than three million people live within an hour’s drive of the city

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TwenTy years afTer The lasT municipal houses were built in the UK, council homes are making a comeback. And Nottingham is one of only 14 towns and cities to see in this new era of social housing, starting in 2010, with the creation of 5,000 homes by New Homes Nottingham on the city’s brownfield sites.

Lessons have been learned from the problems that came with the post-war estates, built as large-scale concentrations of social housing often remote from jobs and amenities. Instead, under the name New Homes Nottingham, the council’s developer partners “will provide good quality, affordable new homes in neighbourhoods where people will want to live now and in the foreseeable future”, according to council leader Jon Collins. “It will increase the supply of new homes and set a standard for developers. It will redevelop poor quality areas of housing and replace them with sustainable homes and communities.”

So why now? Because, after two decades of government disfavour, public money is once again available for council housing through the medium of local housing companies (LHC). These partnerships between local authorities and one or more developers are overseen by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

For councils, it means they are more closely involved in

determining the nature of the homes than if they simply sold the land to, for example, a housing association or private developer. It also means they earn a return from homes sold and from the long-term increase in land values that results from the creation of well-planned new communities.

For developers there is the attraction of a steady stream of work over the development partnership’s lifetime, and the chance to build homes for sale, alongside those provided for affordable rent.

Homes built for rent under the programme may remain in the council’s ownership but be managed in most cases by an arm’s-length management organisation, in this case Nottingham City Homes, or a registered social landlord.

Some, though, may be transferred to housing associations. Sushma Cheesbrough, Nottingham City Council’s head of housing and regeneration, explains: “It depends on the site as to who is the most appropriate landlord. It may be a housing association, but we will try to avoid having multiple social landlords in each area.”

But the main attraction, according to Cheesbrough, is the control the council can maintain over the quality, timing and location of the housing developments. “We want to be involved in the design of homes, so rather than

home sweeT homeAfter decades in the political wilderness, council homes are having a resurgence. And Nottingham is leading the way. Mark Smulian reports

housing

simply handing land to a partner this keeps us involved in both affordable and market housing. For example, Nottingham already has quite a lot of one bedroom flats, but we need more homes with two or more bedrooms, which this will help us to provide.”

New Homes Nottingham will set design standardsfor properties and specify the density permitted on each site, as well as the homes’ sustainability features, security and infrastructure, with the intention of ensuring the homes are of a higher standard than normally offered by private developers.

It will produce an agreed masterplan and design brief for each site which, after public consultation, brings together the council’s and community’s intentions for the site with the private sector partners’ view of what is technically and commercially viable.

As yet, it’s hard to be precise about where the homes will be built, as this depends on brownfield sites around the city becoming available and proving suitable for housing. What is certain, is that as well as working city-wide, New Homes Nottingham will play an important role in the Transforming Nottingham’s Neighbourhoods programme, which is working to improve crime, education, transport and health, as well as housing,

Above and top: Blueprint’s Green Street in The Meadows development, supported by Nottingham City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.

“We want to be involved in the design of homes, not simply handing over land to a partner, this keeps us involved in affordable and market housing”➔

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“We do not want to just build homes, but to achieve wider regeneration”

There are plans to create new council homes within the city under the government’s Council House Build Initiative.

housing

CounCil houses: the baCkstoryCouncil housing largely stopped in 1989, when the then Tory government changed policy to direct the overwhelming bulk of money for new social housing into housing associations. Since then councils managed the homes they owned, but had few options by which they could add to their stock.

That has changed with the arrival of local housing companies and councils’ wider ability to borrow to invest in homes. Prudential borrowing now partly removes the distinction that saw housing associations able to borrow to build against their rental income while councils could not.

in the city’s north west, east central and south areas. Cheesbrough says: “It is important both to provide

employment and training during construction and local employment sources after that. We do not want to just build homes, but to achieve wider regeneration.”

The nature and timing of the projects will fit New Homes Nottingham’s overall regeneration aims – for example, by ensuring housebuilding doesn’t run too far ahead of creating places to work – to help transform neighbourhoods into balanced, sustainable communities.

And New Homes Nottingham isn’t the only initiative set to transform the city’s housing scene. The council has also secured £440,000 from the HCA’s local authority new-build programme. The funding will act as a 50% contribution towards the cost of building eight new three-bedroom council homes at Widecombe Lane, in the city’s Clifton area, where there is a marked need for affordable rented family housing. The council will meet the other half of the cost by using its prudential borrowing powers [see box below], which will be repaid from rents paid by tenants. Nottingham has bid for the second funding round of this programme, which if successful, would see a further 40 homes built at sites around the city.

Approval has been given by the government to the council to submit a bid to apply for funding for the Stonebridge Park Regeneration in St Anns. ❑

Metropolitan Housing Partnership is a family of social organisations that make a difference to people’s lives.

We offer over 80 years of combined expert knowledge, skills and experience, “working with residents for better homes and stronger communities”.

Spirita offers housing and related services to single people, families and older people through 11,000 rented general needs, sheltered and extra care homes. www.spirita.org.uk Tel: 0115 988 7100

Metropolitan Support Trust provides specialist care and support services to help people live independent lives. Refugee Support is the brand name for their specialist refugee, asylum seeker and new migrant services.www.mst-online.org.uk Tel: 0115 977 5300

Metropolitan Home Ownership provides affordable homes for sale and rent for low and moderately paid working households and key workers, who are vital to the development of thriving communities. www.mho.co.uk Tel: 0845 850 6030

Our Metropolitan Development Service provides development and regeneration services to meet the needs of the partner organisations. Tel: 0115 977 5329

We are proud to be working in partnership with Nottingham City Council and local community organisations.

Nottingham Magazine Ad.indd 1 27/1/10 12:18:21

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ART

NottiNgham’s arts sceNe has beeN attractiNg international attention of late, thanks to the newly opened Nottingham Contemporary art gallery and its inaugural exhibition of David Hockney’s early work. The gallery is one of the largest exhibition spaces for contemporary art in the UK, and it’s only the latest of a number of projects that have helped revitalise the city’s cultural identity in recent years.

Gary Smerdon-White, chairman of the board of Nottingham Contemporary, started working on the project eight years ago. “I thought that Nottingham should exploit its cultural side, and I had the support of the universities and the city council,” he says.

Smerdon-White helped raise around £20 million to finance the project. “There have been some risky times,” he admits. “The first was getting the money. The second was the design. Because it’s in the historic Lace Market area, people were focusing on our inheritance... We found a time capsule from Victorian times with a rosebud lace design in it. We replicated this design on the concrete panels in the building. It was reported on the local news and a huge number of people came to watch the panels being installed.”

He stresses that although the gallery has international aspirations, it will not lose sight of its roots. It is already working with Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery

artattacK

Nottingham’s cultural sector has taken a giant leap forward with the

opening of an acclaimed new gallery and a plethora of events. Adrienne

Margolis finds out more

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Nottingham’s Broadway Media Centre has been redeveloped and offers not just a cinema but an educational unit and private hire facilities. The centre made £10 million in 2008/9.

“Nottingham’s range of galleries is complemented by a selection of venues devoted to media arts”

ART

on a major project for 2010, British Art Show 7. “We are collaborating to make it a very special event,” explains Nottingham Castle exhibitions officer Tristram Aver. “The Brit Art show covers the whole of Nottingham and is at the very peak of new art.”

He adds that the opening of Nottingham Contemporary has prompted the castle’s gallery to change its exhibition and showcase the role of the castle in the city since 1858. “We have ambitions to show people what they have on their doorstep. In tough economic times more galleries are finding it difficult, but we can offer something that is not expensive to visit.” The gallery also runs Nottingham Castle Open, an annual exhibition which showcases local artistic talent; the 2010 event is set to be its most ambitious yet.

Another recent addition to the city’s galleries, the New Art Exchange is the largest visual arts space outside London dedicated to ethnic minority arts. Housed in a landmark new building in Hyson Green, it is noted for its work with local communities and recently celebrated its first year of operation.

Nottingham’s wide range of galleries is complemented by a similarly comprehensive selection of venues devoted to media arts both old and new. Among the most popular of these is Broadway Media Centre, which offers cinemas, an educational unit, private hire facilities and a cafe.

“There are many ways in which arts and culture have had an impact on regeneration,” says Steve Mapp, who runs the centre. “The first is through improving the built

environment. We refurbished an old building that was originally a chapel used by the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth. It was an area of Nottingham that was down at heel, and we have spent around £8-9 milllion over 20 years on improving the building.”

Mapp stresses the importance of links with the city’s universities: “A lot of my time is spent on digital research projects with the universities. We have also discussed setting up an MA in film practice. It is a unique partnership between a cultural venue and a university.”

The centre has had a big impact on young film-makers. “Nottingham has had a reputation for finding and encouraging talent – the best known is currently Shane Meadows,” Mapp says. “Successful film-makers want to give something back to the centre, so they put on workshops or talk to school groups.”

“Partnership with the community is a crucial element of what we do,” he adds. “We have open evenings and talks. There are screening facilities and places to host meetings, and there is access to working capital for films.”

Mapp stresses the economic as well as cultural impact the centre has had on the city. “Broadway made £10 million in 2008-9, and we employ 80 people. We’ve also had an effect on the surrounding area. We recently conducted an economic impact study and we’ve shown that the city is safer when more people are in it. Also, bars and restaurants have opened in the area, and all this has had a positive effect.”

Broadway is now targeting people who live in the city’s poorest areas. “We were surprised to find that 12% of our visitors come from the lowest 10% income group

Galleries:

◆ Lakeside Arts Centre at the University of Nottingham ◆ New Art Exchange ◆ Cornerhouse Cinema◆ Broadway Media Centre◆ Royal Centre (theatre and concert hall)◆ Nottingham Playhouse

(featuring acclaimed sculptor Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror public art installation)

◆ Nottingham Contemporary

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– we want to build on that. As well as free events that encourage people to come for the first time, we are convening a group to focus on deprivation. We want to find out how best to work with communities.”

The Confetti Media Group has been working with the city’s deprived communities for some time: fifteen years ago it set up the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, offering training in music technology, video production and animation. “It attracted a lot of attention because it tried to create a very different environment – nothing like an academic institution,” recalls founder Steve Chapman. “The idea was to make inroads into deprived communities, and 70% of our students are from those communities.”

His latest project, Antenna, involves a new digital media business centre that has recently opened on the same block as the Confetti Institute, offering state-of-the-art premises for digital businesses and shared project space. It is also a network for the creative community in Nottingham.

“Our tenants have been chosen from industry leaders who can participate in supporting the creative industries. Community partnerships are important to us,” Chapman explains. “We are launching a project to make the industry aware of our graduates, and to make graduates aware of what jobs are available for them locally. We want to create opportunities to persuade people to stay in the city.”

Nottingham’s cultural landscape has been further enhanced by recent improvements to Old Market Square. The square, which is the second largest in the country (after Trafalgar Square), was redeveloped in 2007 and now acts as a venue for concerts, performances and civic celebrations of all kinds.

“It was designed in the 1920s with fountains and flowerbeds, but these were impractical for modern use and the space was not very accessible,” explains Cheryl Connolly from the city council. “The new design kept a lot of the old features such as antique lanterns and the much-loved lions, but it now supports many different events.” ❑

events:

◆ Comedy Festival

◆ Food and Drink Festival

◆ Canning Circus Music Festival

◆ Tether Festival

◆ Annual CAMRA Beer Festival at Nottingham Castle

◆ Radiator Festival

Far left: The New Art ExchangeLeft: The newly opened Antenna business centre provides space for creative digital businesses.

“We are launching a project to make the industry aware of our graduates and make graduates aware of the jobs available locally. We want to create opportunities for people to stay here”

John Long deveLopment director, BLueprint, no1 Science park“The Science City title provides a cohesive brand between all of the science sectors in the city. It’s something we can all use, BioCity, Nottingham Science Park and the University of Nottingham, it helps us to promote Nottingham as a science destination in the regional and national market, which we can do better together than we could do individually.

“There is more work to be done and there is a lot more planned but when Nottingham goes out to MIPIM or regional and national forums where it can promote the work the city is doing Science City is a very clear strand in Nottingham’s offer. The high profile is also very helpful to our marketing of the Science Park.

“Science City started as a rallying call but now it’s very much about branding and giving Nottingham something to talk about. It’s a focus for investment and given time it will inform strategy, infrastructure provision and employment.

“The Science City board brings together a number of key players in the sector and we work out what the priorities are, I’m involved in the infrastructure – looking at what sites we’ve got, what we anticipate in the future, where demand is coming from and where we can meet those needs.”

neiL horSLey chief executive, nottingham deveLopment enterpriSe“The Science City status has emphasised our science credentials and gives us a USP other cities haven’t got.

“The designation has helped put science on the local agenda. Three or four years ago science as a sector wasn’t a priority within the city council’s Nottingham Development Enterprise strategy and that has changed now. It is acknowledged that the science and technology sector will create high quality knowledge-based jobs and as a result resources have been allocated to new projects, like MediPark, which has come through Science City and is now in the first phase of funding.

“One of the things we have done in the first phase of Science City is to make sure we have the right infrastructure to offer companies. About four years ago we didn’t have the necessary property for such businesses but we’ve now put that in place; we’ve got the BioCity extension, the Innovation Park opposite the university, the existing science park is being refurbished and we’re making progress with MediPark, a medical science park.

“It’s not just about property but we need to make sure if we’re to attract and keep companies that we can provide the right offer, a mix of skills and support packages. We’re working hard to make sure we have the right offer, it will hopefully give us a competitive edge over other cities.”

One in five jobs in Nottingham is science related. With statistics like that it is hardly surprising that Nottingham is one of only six cities in the UK to hold the prestigious Science City title. But what does it mean to be a science city? kirsty macaulay finds out…

Science citizenS

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Jo derByShire operationS manager, nottingham univerSity’S innovation park“The university is heavily involved in Science City, we have people on the steering committees and obviously we have the Innovation Park, which is probably going to have a significant impact on the future of Nottingham as a Science City. It’s the university’s biggest site in terms of growth potential and we’ve been acquiring more land to build new buildings.

“One thing we’ve been careful to do at the Innovation Park is create a community where companies interact with each other, rather than just a business park. We have communal eating areas, networking events and facilitate links with the academic departments.

“All the buildings on the business park are environmentally friendly and the green sector is growing enormously in the UK. I’d say three quarters of our companies on the science park are green/clean tech, it really is a growing movement and this innovation park is going to be a hotbed for it.

“Science City status is very prestigious, we’re very proud of it and it enables invaluable networking between the cities and the sharing of best practice. The city will also benefit from the job creation it encourages – at all levels from degree level jobs to NVQ2 level. Science City will create new businesses, those businesses will employ people and generate wealth. Everybody benefits – it is a win-win situation.”

chriS ruddpro-vice chanceLLor univerSity of nottingham“The biggest impact Science City has had is through infrastructure, providing accommodation for high-technology businesses, that is where you’ll see the physical evidence but it has also created the opportunity to project positive images of the city to improve the cultural and economic wellbeing of the city.

“The university has done a few things to wave the Science City flag that we probably wouldn’t have done if it hadn’t been for Nottingham being a Science City. It’s stimulated us to do something radical and different on the public outreach front.

“We launched the video streaming science project creating short films promoting Nottingham and science. It’s people-focused, contemporary and a bit quirky and it has really grabbed people’s attention. It has pushed us to the forefront in an area we weren’t very strong, public outreach.

“The global impact has been massive, our postings on YouTube are regularly in the top 10 and for one little chemistry department in the UK that is a pretty major break through, the exposure is stunning. Our scientists go out and talk to schools but only reach 30 kids at a time, we can make a three-minute film on hydrogen, post it and within a couple of days you’ve clocked up a million views. The impact is profound and it brings commercial opportunities too, even though it started out altruistically.” ❑

miranda knaggSmarketing managerBio city“Science City is raising the profile of science in the city, which helps when you’re trying to attract or retain talent, it makes a difference when companies know they will have a future in the city. And we’re in it for the long haul – it is a great designation to have. We’re working with five other science cities, sharing best practice and opportunities in Europe, which we probably wouldn’t have the chance to do otherwise.

“Infrastructure is something Science City has really improved, getting the right buildings is very important. No 1 Nottingham Science Park is a great example of where we’ve worked closely with the developer on the future tenants and marketing to make sure the building had the right focus for its clients. There is a feeling of great partnership, the board can push things along a lot quicker and get around the red tape as we’re working to a common goal.

“We run events for young people, historically science and maths have been low on the list of school leaver’s career choices but the more we can open people’s eyes to the broadness of opportunities within science the better. It is working too, young people are getting enthused about science. We invite local people they can aspire to to our events and that’s one of the main messages we can give – you don’t necessarily need a degree, you can start at apprentice level and work your way up to a great career in science.”

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For more details on how UNIP can assist your business please email [email protected], call JoDerbyshire on 0115 823 2293 or visit:

www.nottingham.ac.uk/unip

Welcome to a world of innovation

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/unip

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InnovatIon, InnovatIon, InnovatIonNottingham is officially one of the most creative cities in the country, and few can match its heritage, profile and commercial strengths in this area, as Alex Aspinall explains

Few eyebrows were raIsed when Nottingham was named the fourth most creative city in Britain and the most creative in the East Midlands in the 2009 Demos Creativity Index.

With its lace-making heritage and brands such as Paul Smith, Raleigh, Speedo, Games Workshop, One True Saxon and Serif, the city boasts an impressive roster of creative and design-based organisations.

It continues to go from strength to strength, as those with desire and skill flock to Nottingham to get their creative juices flowing.

Spanning fields as diverse as advertising, antiques, architecture, art, computing, film, music, photography, computer games, publishing, radio and video, the creative industries employ around 10,500 people ➔

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The Antenna Centre offers office space, modern art facilities and events space to the city’s creative community.

creative

creative

projects with industry, and other work experience and volunteering opportunities.

“As a university, our focus on enterprise and employability means we are a vital part of the matrix that constitutes the city’s creative industries community.”

Key to ensuring Nottingham continues to stay at the forefront of the nation’s creative cities is the success of its new creative enterprises. The city has a plethora of initiatives to support these enterprises, from providing professional services and business support to education and skills training.

With training courses ranging from foundation to degree level, the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies provides education in tandem with commercial companies, ensuring a vocational focus. Like the universities, Confetti is responsible for attracting new waves of creative talent to the city, and for forging and maintaining strong links with companies operating in the creative industries.

Working closely with Confetti, the Antenna development, which calls itself “the space to create” offers its members office space, modern art facilities, events space, business support, and a restaurant and bar, and is exactly the kind of facility likely to enable Nottingham’s burgeoning creative sector to continue on its path.

“Our focus on enterprise and employability makes us a vital part of the creative community”

This page: Nottingham Trent University attracts thousands of creative students to the city each year.

in the city, and around 15,000 in the surrounding region. These firms and their many supply chains are responsible for leading the growth being experienced in parts of the local economy.

These companies are set to contribute hugely to the nation’s international profile, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown comments: “In the coming years, the creative industries will be important not only for our national prosperity but for Britain’s ability to put culture and creativity at the centre of our national life”.

As the country looks to its creative industries to fuel its economy, cities best placed to provide these companies are going to be in a strong position. With Nottingham recognised nationally as a leading creative centre, those eager to see its continued betterment are pleased to see so many creative enterprises succeeding in and around the city.

The reputation of Nottingham’s cultural stock hasbeen increasing in recent years, and its growth has had a huge impact on the economic success of the city, as well as on its vibrancy and aspirations. Creativity and innovation are intrinsically linked to the success of the city and the area around it.

A significant and widely lauded factor helping Nottingham continue its association with successful creative innovation is the role played by the city’s universities.

Nottingham Trent University is among the most well-respected centres of creative excellence in the country, attracting thousands of under- and postgraduates to the city each year. This influx of creative talent keeps the city at the forefront of innovation and, with its excellent links to businesses worldwide and the vocational focus of its courses, it comes as no surprise to hear that Nottingham Trent has one of the best graduate employment rates in the country.

Judith Mottram, dean of Nottingham Trent University’s School of Art and Design, says: “Our contribution to the success of the city’s creative industries stems in part from the provision of work-ready creative graduates who have a hunger and enthusiasm for applying their learning and skills in innovation to the real opportunities and problems of contemporary life.

“We are an engine room for creative and innovative ideas and products through students and graduates. We engage with the regional cultural, creative and business communities in a range of ways, including our European-funded Future Factory project, placements, live

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Left: The KiosKiosK concept in Nottingham’s city centre was a great success and gave small local creative businesses the opportunity to reach the local population.

KiOSKiOSK October 2009 saw Wayne Hemingway’s KiosKiosK concept take residence in Nottingham - the first host city outside of London.

The low cost pop up shop offers rent-free space for people with creative products to sell, encouraging new creative business.

At the launch in Nottingham, Hemingway said: “We were only able to get going because we had space in markets. It is no longer possible, as it is hard to get good spots in desirable locations.

“There has to be a way of copying the old methods of providing space, and there is a lot of spare public space available in our cities. Councils can support this, and it adds to the streetscape.”

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Steve Chapman, development manager at Antenna, says: “Creativity is important because, with the manufacturing base gone, it is all about knowledge and IT, and the people who generate these things. This is where our economy will be strongest. It is a generation of ideas, and we can excel in creativity and creative thinking.

“Nottingham also has a great creative heritage, which is still present. The city has a tight community of like-minded companies, which helps them thrive. We have an amazing creative focus here. But we don’t want to be complacent, so we will continue to try and do better because competition is everywhere.”

This importance of continued innovation and investment is echoed by Mottram. She says: “The continuing success of the creative industries can be secured by adopting an innovative and flexible approach to supporting new and existing businesses, celebrating and promoting their achievements. We need to ensure we’re embedding and strengthening the networks between all levels of the education sector with public and private enterprise, and ensuring that the values of innovation and design responsibility pervade how we address new scenarios and opportunities.” ❑

Game city

Nottingham once again played host to the international videogame festival GameCity in October 2009. The event, organised by Nottingham Trent University’s Centre for Contemporary Play, took place over five days at various sites throughout the city centre, and attracted some of the industry’s biggest hitters.

The festival, which is swelling in reputation with each year, represents another example of Nottingham’s commitment to creativity. GameCity evolves each year and the city seems ideally suited to this.

Iain Simons, director of the GameCity festival, says: “The East Midlands has both a huge heritage and a growing reputation in the videogame and new media industries. In terms of graduates being produced by Nottingham Trent and the other universities, the region is becoming a real incubator of major future talent so, as a location for bringing together the industry with its future employees, it’s ideal.

“I think the area I’m most excited about is the potential for Nottingham to seize the ground and create a cultural tourism proposition for the city that would be unique in the world. Robin Hood and lace are hugely important to the cultural identity of the city, but we also need to be able to demonstrate that we actively participate in setting the agenda for contemporary culture too.

“There are some amazing projects happening in Nottingham right now, the opening of Nottingham Contemporary and the new Art Exchange – I’d love GameCity to be a key part of the cultural calendar of the city’s life.”

This page: Nottingham’s many students boost the city’s creative industries.

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Nottingham’s past and future strong links with overseas cities are helping diversify its economy, and assist it through the recession. Noella Pio Kivlehan explains

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InternatIonal networkIng

“the thIng about the recessIon Is that It Is an event that might last three to four years, but our [international] relationships might last decades.” So says John Connelly, service manager of the regional and international team at Nottingham City Council. To protect that reputation, and the city’s economic future and businesses, Connelly believes it is vital to build relationships with international cities.

Nottingham already has close ties with nine cities worldwide - its ‘city partnerships’ – including Karlsruhe, Germany; Harare, Zimbabwe; Timisoara, Minsk, Romania; Krasnodar, Russia, and Ningbo, China.

The city has also been strengthening its overseas connections by joining the Eurocities network of 130 regional or capital cities, whose stated aim is “to share knowledge and ideas, to exchange experiences, to analyse common problems and develop innovative solutions,

Opposite page: Nottingham delegates in Timisoara, Romania.Below: Nottingham University’s Ningbo campus has strengthened international links greatly.

“One main focus is to link with other parts of the world not as affected by the recession as we are to help us grow economically”

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The Robin hood effecT During a recession every marketing tool is needed to help push a city’s image abroad. Nottingham is using its ultimate brand: the world-famous Robin Hood.

And what bigger opportunity can there be than a Hollywood film? Given that Robin Hood, for release in May 2010, stars Russell Crowe as the Nottingham hero, is directed by Ridley Scott and is naturally tipped to be a blockbuster, it is an opportunity the city can’t miss.

“2010 is a big year for Nottingham,” said Jennifer Spencer, interim chief executive at Experience Nottinghamshire. “The release of the new Robin Hood film is already attracting global media to the city and at the beginning of the year Dorling and Kindersley listed Nottingham

as a top 10 worldwide destination to visit in 2010. The strength of our tourism offer combined with its Robin Hood heritage is proving to be a winning marketing tool in terms of raising Nottingham’s profile on a national and international level. Tourism levels are set for a big boost in 2010 and you can already feel the buzz of excitement around the city.”

As beneficial as it will be for Nottingham, John Connelly, of the council’s international team, stresses the Robin Hood business is not just about the recession. “Our interest in selling what we have to offer pre-dates the film, but growing the economy is now so important, we need to be aggressive and go out and drum up support.”

through a wide range of forums, working groups, projects, activities and events”. Connelly says: “For these active links with some of our existing twins to benefit the city we are concentrating on sectors and areas which will help us grow economically. One main focus is to link with other parts of the world not as affected by the recession as we are. For example, China is still seeing growth.”

Nottingham has been twinned with Ningbo in China since 2004, when the University of Nottingham became the first foreign university to establish an independent campus there, under new legislation passed in China in 2003. It was completed in 2005, and has its own version of Nottingham’s famous Trent Building.

“Part of the agreement was to bring the cities closer and we have now undertaken a fair amount of work in Ningbo.” But, more important, says Connelly, is that the link gives Nottingham ‘a foot in China’s door’.

“Ningbo’s economy is strong in many ways but there are opportunities all over China, and through our relationship with Ningbo we now have an established reputation in that country.”

These links will help Nottingham weather the recession. “The recession will see some jobs going here that will never appear again, but there will be a growth in health, education and knowledge-based sectors. Even before the recession we knew our rationale was to establish constructive relationships with China.”

Technology and science feature heavily in the city’s relationships with other cities and countries – unsurprising given that Nottingham is one of the UK’s six science cities (see page 41). Lorraine Baggs, inward investment manager at Invest in Nottingham, says: “BioCity’s recent partnership with three leading US science parks in Virginia, Missouri and New Jersey is just one ➔

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Shanghai expo 2010

Nottingham’s relevance in China is well documented. Its businesses enjoy a special relationship with Chinese counterparts and the opening of the University of Nottingham’s campus in the city of Ningbo in 2005 has strengthened this bond.

The university is to continue its role as a valuable ambassador for the city when it takes centre stage at The Shanghai Expo 2010. The expo is expected to attract an international audience of up to 70 million visitors, and represents a unique opportunity for the university to showcase its research, teaching and knowledge transfer activities connected to sustainability and the development of sustainable cities.

example of building links for our biotech sector.” For these relationships to happen, Connelly says: “We

have to see some two-way benefit. It can’t just be a one-way thing. We prioritise working with cities where we can identify the greatest opportunities. For instance, Karlsruhe in southern Germany: not many people have heard of it, but it’s a fairly large city, and a very important technology city in Germany.”

But there’s more to the relationships than just technology. Some of the initiatives are part of Nottingham’s contribution to the Cultural Olympics – the Government-funded scheme that will coincide with the London 2012 Olympics.

“We have successfully bid to put on an exhibition of silk, and are working with the National Silk Museum of China, based in a city close to Ningbo. We are also working on a sport initiative with another nearby city which wants to work with Nottingham Forest FC, and another that wants to be involved in a sustainable project.”

Of Nottingham’s many relationships one of the most unusual, says Connelly, is the close relationship with Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, which Nottingham has been twinned with since the establishment of the African state in 1980.

“It goes back to the first election when the chief executive of Nottingham City Council was invited to be one of the chief observers. Obviously, in the past decade or so there hasn’t been a lot of scope to engage in economic opportunities, but there is now an emerging interest in working with Harare. It’s about opening up communications. We want to help them in their difficult times as well.”

Closer to home, Invest in Nottingham champions the city firms at European exhibitions. Mich Stevenson, joint deputy chairman of Nottingham Regeneration Limited says: “As in past years we are attending one of the world’s largest property exhibitions, MIPIM in Cannes, providing the platform for private Nottingham companies to showcase their businesses to the 25,000 international exhibition attendees.

“Based on last year’s attendance when visitor numbers had dropped we reported that key players were still in attendance and important deals were being done. It is important that Nottingham demonstrates it has a lot to offer both in technical support and opportunities.”

The city is in it for the long game. Connelly firmly believes that during a recession, what the city can do best is plan for the future. He says: “It’s all about putting down relationships that will come to fruition over the years rather than straightaway.” ❑

“It can’t just be a one-way thing. We prioritise working with cities where we can identify the greatest opportunities”

This picture: The palace at Karlsruhe, Germany – one of Nottingham’s international partners.

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