Trent Bridge is known throughout the cricketing world, but the River Trent is Nottingham’s hidden potential, writes Richard Tressider .
The area around Trent Basin was once an inland dock bringing goods up the river from the Humber until the 1960s.
Towns and cities across England have sought to use their rivers and canals as part of their regeneration by converting warehouses and building new apartments and houses.
Nottingham has found it more difficult, often behind the game.
The River Trent east from Trent Bridge to Colwick is a natural area for attractive redevelopment and the creation of new neighbourhoods. Over the years there has even been talk of constructing a pedestrian bridge connecting Lady Bay and Adbolton to the city
The first major regeneration was the conversion to flats of the former Turneys leather factory at Trent Bridge in about 1983.
Construction company Costain put up a small housing development next door using Nottingham canal to add urban interest.
But regeneration of the waterfront has proved slow, with talk over the years of grand schemes, such as galleries, to take advantage of the location.
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Urban planners EDAW, together with British Waterways (now the Canal and River Trust), and other partners put together a scheme for the waterfront following a boat trip of worthies to engage their enthusiasm and support.
Plans for serious placemaking were drawn up which also embraced the canal along London Road. Proposals were even suggested for the Notts County ground, suggesting the club's demise, which drew astonishment from faithful supporters.
Not much happened. Complex land ownerships were an obstacle while some owners held out for high land values.
Plans were drawn up for a Trent River Park to promote the role of the river between Attenborough and Gunthorpe.
“Its vision is that by 2015, the Trent River Park will be nationally renowned…The river corridor will become a major attraction for visitors, residents and commercial activity,” said British Waterways.
Much of the early ambitions for place-making and regenerating the river’s embankments were dashed by two economic events.
First, the banking crisis of 2008/9 which saw investors pull out, unable to secure funding. Banks no longer wanted to invest in property and confidence evaporated.
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Secondly, a new coalition Government pulled the rug on the East Midland Development Agency, the one body capable of understanding the importance of vision in the region and making things happen. In the ensuing vacuum, the area stagnated.
The one visionary scheme with ambitious green credentials, River Crescent at Colwick , collapsed into administration in 2012 owing the banks £36 million.
Facilities included a swimming pool, gym, and underground car park. Sven Goran Eriksson made it his Nottingham home when director of football at Notts County.
More recently, nearly 15 years after the original scheme was drawn up, the regeneration company Blueprint has begun the transformation of Trent Basin with innovative housing drawing on the experience of designers in Holland and Scandinavia.
Trent Basin is creating a new neighbourhood using green energy, which is particularly attractive to younger home buyers.
At its heart is the ground-breaking, clean energy scheme, Europe’s largest community battery which stores and trades energy produced on site from renewable sources.
The first phase of 45 homes has proved highly popular with buyers and phase two of about 30 is almost completed, with half reserved off plan.
Over five to seven years, the development could reach at least 350, says Nick Ebbs, of Blueprint, which has acquired former factories west of Trent Basin as a land bank. Phase three will start shortly.
The charm of Trent Basis is its low energy demand. A research and development project associated with the scheme generates, stores and redistributes energy.
Storage of electricity is pioneering using Government monies from Innovate 海角视频. The aim eventually is to develop a system which can be commercially free standing and there is still work to do before a model can be rolled out, says Mr Ebbs.
Blueprint is working with Greenwood Academy Trust to develop an exemplar sustainable primary school for 420 children plus a nursery.
“We share an aspiration that it will be very efficient, low energy and sustainable, in sync with everything elsewhere we are trying to achieve at Trent Basin.”
Nearby, construction has started on Pelham Waterside, a new housing development on Trent Lane within the waterside regeneration zone.
Developed by Pelham Homes, a subsidiary of Nottingham Community Housing Association, the 73 contemporary properties - a mixture of two and three storey, one and two bedroom apartments, and two, three and four bedroom houses - are for outright sale or shared ownership and principles include sustainability, community and nature.
Allan Fisher, director of Pelham Homes, said the various purchasing options allow people to acquire a property who might otherwise struggle to get on the ladder.
Nottingham’s planners recently published their own guidance for future development along the north bank of the River Trent.
Planning consultants David Lock Associates, who helped shaped some of the study, say that to achieve the desired sustainable community, a high-quality location is essential.
It says: “The site needs to provide adequate green spaces and a mix of activities and unit types that create a vibrant but diverse place where people want to live.
"This would include: access to the river frontage, routes through the site along green corridors, a walkable neighbourhood that prioritises people over cars, spaces that include play areas along the linear water front green space, and community gardens to enable those in the flats to grow produce.
"This would be coupled with private green spaces for family homes and open space associated with the provision of the school.”
The most exciting suggestion, first mooted more than 30 years ago, is a cycle and pedestrian bridge across the river either from Trent Basin or just west of River Crescent flats.
“Blueprint are pioneers creating early opportunities,” says Nick Ebbs. A bridge would create more interest and excitement as a new eco-district begins to take shape.