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St Peters Quarter set for funding boost

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The city council is going to submit a Business Case to ask for funding from the governments ‘Future High Street Fund’ for the ‘St Peters Quarter’ area of the city centre to tackle the gap between the Intu centre and the Cathedral Quarter. The fund is designed to help councils develop their centres so they can adapt to the changing retail environment. For Derby this investment will be centred on St Peters Street, East Street, Albert Street and Victoria Street, with particular emphasis on the gateways into this area. There isn’t much detail in the plans yet but this is what is known at the moment: Eastern Gateway: transforming the entrance to the Eagle Market and creating a more welcoming arrival from the bus station. St Peters Street – City Living: the development of a ‘prominent retail pitch’ into city homes. Northern Gateway - Market Hall: Transforming the market to a new food, leisure and flexible niche market and revitalising the ‘Osnabruck Square’ entrance, creating a better
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Becketwell - is this the one?

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After many a false start, we finally have plans on the table for a comprehensive redevelopment of the Becketwell area. View of the development from The Strand The initial planning application is for two residential buildings to replace the old Debenhams and the United Reformed Church buildings on Victora Street, the tallest of which will be 19 storeys in height. View of the development on Victoria Street One of the blocks would contain 246 apartments with a café use on the ground level, while the second block would contain 96 apartments over a commercial retail unit. They would be build to rent apartments and feature residents lounge areas and a roof terrace. Car parking is provided at the rear. The 19 storey residential tower overlooking a new public square The development would overlook a new public square and would be the first element to be developed in the 'Becketwell' area that will also cover the former Pennine Hotel building, Duckworth Square and bu
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Friargate Good Yard and Derby University - a perfect fit!

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It’s been derelict for over 50 years. It’s an eyesore. But despite the attention of arsonists and vandals over the years it remains one of Derby’s most magnificent buildings. The last major proposal for the site was back in 2011 when planning permission was granted for a (Tesco) supermarket with a large extension to the warehouse with parking underneath. Housing was proposed for the western end of the site bordering Great Northern Road. Following the economic downturn nothing came of these plans, like many before it, although the western end of the site has since been sold off to the Cathedral School. Plans for a new build school have been submitted and they are currently waiting on a decision. The warehouse itself built in 1877 by Kirk and Randall, and listed as Grade II in 1986, is part of the wider Friargate Station development on the now defunct Great Northern Line through Derby. The Grade II Bonded Warehouse from above - showing the serious state of disrepair Alt
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Lip stick on a pig

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So the designs are in for the refurbished Assembly Rooms. Is this lipstick on a pig or what? The 'new' Assembly Rooms in the day ... ... the 'new' Assembly Rooms at night
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The new music and performance venue has been cancelled

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The new music and performance venue to replace the Assembly Rooms is now not going ahead. The Assembly Rooms before it shut down due to fire Now the Council is run by the Conservatives, they have decided that the better option is to refurbish the existing building. Going to cost about £20 million. What a farce. Over 3 years since the Assembly Rooms was closed due to the fire and now it appears we are back to square one. By all accounts the Assembly Rooms was given a wide berth by promoters who thought the sound and acoustics was poor, the venue capacity neither big or small and the layout not great for putting on a commercial show. Are all of these concerns going to be addressed in any refurbishment work? I have to admit there are some aspects to the architecture of the building that I like but ultimately the building fails in two key respects. Firstly, as a venue for performance acts, it is just crap, for the reasons mentioned earlier. And secondly, it fails enclose the
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New music and performance venue to replace the Assembly Rooms

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Concept plans have been revealed showing a new music and performance venue to replace the Assembly Rooms. Although not a full planning application yet, the Council looks serious in putting a plan together and have already got £8.6 million of funding from the D2N2 to help pay for it. The entire project will likely cost over £44 million and will see the existing Assembly Rooms and car park demolished with the new venue to have the capability to host music concerts, sports events, comedy, theatrical performances, conferences and exhibitions and be available for use by both amateur and professional groups. The Council are looking to find an operator to run the new venue so they can have input into the design of the new venue. The proposals come 3 years after the venue closed following a fire. While I am up for Derby getting a new venue, and the Assembly Rooms venue seems particularly unloved, I have my doubts at the location and the constraints of the site. For me, North
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Oakes Yard - a new artist’s quarter for Derby, reinvigorating the High Street and reinventing Green Lane

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While reports of the death of the High Street may be a little premature, British High Streets are certainly under threat. Last years Portas Review, was at least recognition that something needs to change. One of the 28 recommendations was that all new out of town development should stop. This simple step may go some way to stop the rot but what is really needed is for new "in-town" development, and Portas identifies a number of ideas to try and bring back some vitality. St Peters Street is Derby’s classic high street and like many other high streets across the country, it is suffering. It is however, an immensely important street for the City - acting as the ribbon connecting the various shopping areas and its health is vital if the city centre is to operate as an effective whole.   St. Peters Street - Derby's classic 'high street'   The "Westfield Effect" (where retailers flee one part of the city to inhabit a new shiny shopping centre
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HS2 - winners and losers in the East Midlands

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The long awaited announcement of the governments preferred routes for High Speed Rail 2 north of Birmingham came with few surprises.    North of Birmingham the line will split (the so called Y network) with one route serving Manchester and the North West, with the other travelling through the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and to Leeds. Derby and Nottingham would be served by a parkway station at Toton Sidings, roughly equidistant between the centres of the two cities. While I appreciate that it will be good for Derby in that the city won’t be completely ignored by the new  High Speed Rail network; I am still a little disappointed. I just can't get excited about a station at Toton. At first glance it seems the ultimate compromise, not favouring one city over the other. But even by the governments own economic impact assessments a station at Toton will not generate as much benefits as a station in either of the two city centres. A fear a political decision if ever there was
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