A design and architecture practice that worked on projects such as the new Routemaster bus and London Google headquarters has been brought in to create a 鈥渘ew vision鈥 for Nottingham鈥檚 old Broadmarsh site.
Heatherwick Studio has been commissioned by Nottingham City Council and the Greater Broad Marsh Advisory Group to work on the former shopping centre scheme.
The London agency is led by British designer Thomas Heatherwick 鈥 known for projects including the giant B of the Bang steel spike sculpture that went up outside the City of Manchester Stadium in 2005.
His team also helped design the 海角视频 Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
They have been invited to work on the Nottingham project with socially responsible development company Stories which has said the 20 acre area represents a 鈥渙nce in a generation opportunity to redefine the centre of one of the 海角视频鈥檚 core cities鈥.
Thomas Heatherwick said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e excited and honoured to be involved in the Broad Marsh project 鈥 and it鈥檚 inspiring that Nottingham City Council has already been talking so much to the public about what could be possible through the Big Conversation.
鈥淲hen you bring together this pivotal site with the heritage of the castle and caves, alongside the existing investment in the new library and college, we think there鈥檚 an amazing chance to reimagine this part of the city and bring it alive again.
鈥淯rban centres in this country have been failing fast through a combination of conventional high street shopping that鈥檚 been swallowed up by the online world and bland gentrification, which has eliminated local character.
鈥淎dded to this, the pandemic has made many people feel lonely and isolated. We need to regenerate the hearts of our cities and towns as places for us all to come together.
鈥淯rban green public spaces can also play an important part, not only socially and experientially, but also by contributing something towards solving the climate crisis.
鈥淣ottingham has the chance to lead the way, like it has done many times in its rich creative history.鈥
Paul Clark, co-founder and director at Stories, which will provide funding and delivery support, said: 鈥淚鈥檝e loved Nottingham since my time at the university over 20 years ago.
鈥淕etting the best social, environmental and economic outcomes from the property development process is why we created Stories. We鈥檙e over the moon to be supporting the city with this pivotal project.鈥
Greg Nugent, former London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics director and independent chair of the Greater Broad Marsh Advisory Group said: 鈥淭his is an incredibly ambitious move by Nottingham City Council and a serious statement of intent.
鈥淣ottingham has a rich history of pioneering acts of creativity, and securing Thomas Heatherwick to help us re-vision the Broad Marsh site is one of them.
鈥淪tories have worked on some of the most successful regeneration projects in the 海角视频 and will help us make the dreams for this space a commercial reality.
鈥淐ities the world over are going to have to change and adapt in the coming years. Not just because of Covid-19 and its devastating effects, but also as a response to the impact of online shopping and to rise to the sustainability challenges we all face.鈥
The development of the vision for the site along with the demolition of the western part of the shopping centre is being funded through D2N2, the Local Enterprise Partnership, via the Government鈥檚 Getting Building Fund.
