North East

Contact: Georgia Giannopoulou

Tel: 0191 222 6006

Report of UDG North East Regional Event, 22 June 2010

Places in Transition

The first regional event for the UDG in the North East was held on Tuesday 22 June in the context of the North East Festival of Architecture (NEFA). The festival is organised by Northern Architecture, a respected and influential charity that promotes good quality of design in the North East and contains a variety of events in all spectrums of the built environment with this year’s theme being “Reducing CO2” .

The event itself was organised and opened by UDG regional convenor and Urban Design lecturer at Newcastle University, Georgia Giannopoulou and was supported by Devereux Architects and the UDG. The venue was the recently refurbished Great North Museum, in the bright and airy Clore Suite, and was followed by drinks in the breakout garden area.

Places in Transition, was a collection of mini taster presentations on a variety of issues around the Transition Towns initiative, such as retrofitting buildings, health, transport, permaculture etc. as well as case studies from the north east showing successful ongoing transition communities. The event's speakers were:

¨ Mark Siddall, Devereux Architects

¨ Chris Benson, Transition Towns

¨ Geoff Gardner, ATKINS

¨ Henry Amos, BrightBlue Studios

¨ Roger Higgins, Carlisle City Council

The presentations were well received by a diverse and enthusiastic audience including academics, professionals and community members.

The event certainly raised awareness in Transition Towns as well as the Urban Design Group with many attendees keen to find out more and join the network. The event was complemented by the presence of the Group's former chair, current Vice-Chair Duncan Ecob and UDG Chair Amanda Reynolds who summed up and led the questions.