East Midlands
Regional Contact: Laura Alvarez
Tel: 0115 962 9000
Fax: 0115 962 9001
Email: udgeastmidlands@googlemail.com
Following the recent consultation period, the UDG East Midlands Strategy has now been finalised and can be viewed by clicking here.
The following event may be of interest to those in the Midlands area:
Talking Cities: Quality streets are for sharing.
Thursday 13th May 2010, 5.45pm
School of Jewellery, Birmingham
What are quality streets? Are they places for people, for cars or both? Phil Jones will share new thinking on the importance of well designed streets and discuss how we can create a sense of place through the streets we use every day.
With 25 years experience in the planning and design of development infrastructure, Phil Jones specialises in achieving synergy between transport planning and urban design, with the aim of creating places and spaces that meet aesthetic, social and functional aims. Part of the team behind Manual for Streets for Department of Transport, Phil is a member of the CABE Space Enabling Panel and MADE Expert Panel member.
Cost: £10 on the door, or pay in advancevia PayPal (making payment of £10 to gerard@made.org.uk)
Venue: School of Jewellery, Birmingham City University, Vittoria Street, Birmingham, B1 3PA
Talking Cities is organised by MADE, Birmingham City University and Birmingham Architectural Association, with support from CABE and Arts Council England.
event report: DESIGN CONVERSATIONS
22 September 2009, Derby
Organised by Derby Cityscape & UDG East Midlands
The Design Conversations event held in Derby on 22 September and run in collaboration between Derby Cityscape and the UDG East Midlands region was a resounding success. Over 70 delegates attended the day’s activities, many travelling from outside the area.
The morning session was held at QUAD, a new arts venue on the Market Place in Derby which first opened September 2008. The day commenced with a welcome from Keith Jeffery, director of QUAD, giving some background information about the building and the ethos of the venue.
The first main speaker was John Cadwallader, Chief Executive of Derby Cityscpe, discussing the URC’s role in the regeneration of Derby. He gave an overview of the masterplan, key projects, partnership working and major achievements.
He was followed by Kelvin Campbell, Director at Urban Initiatives, who talked about the importance of branding and specifically how Birmingham has used it as a tool for regeneration. His presentation generated a lively debate amongst the audience.
Maggie Bolt then discussed the topic of Public Art & Identity of Place. She showed a whole range of public art projects and talked about the process of involving artists and consultation.
Tim Stonor’s presentation, Street Design & Behavioural Patterns, really captured the audience’s imagination; he explored pedestrian behaviour and the effectiveness of simple design ideas as opposed to complex, engineered solutions.
After lunch, delegates were offered the option of two different walking tours, either to Cathedral Green - a prime public open space completed early this year - or to Derby College’s iconic new Roundhouse campus, taking in other development projects on the way.
At the Roundhouse, the deputy principal of Derby College introduced the project and its funding mechanisms followed by Ian Harris, Director at Maber Architects, who talked about the design approach of integrating painstaking conservation of original elements with sympathetic design of the new build. Three groups were led round the buildings by colleagues from Maber and Derby College. The audience was awed by the scale of the structures and attention to detail in revitalising them.
The day provided a great opportunity to network with a mixed audience of developers, consultants, product suppliers, academics and public sector colleagues working in planning, urban design and regeneration.
Special thanks go to Pranali Parikh of Derby Cityscape and Laura Alvarez, the UDG’s East Midlands representative for all their hard work in organising the event which it is hoped will lead to further fruitful collaborations in the future and help to raise the bar for design in Derby and the East Midlands area.
