Oakes Yard - a new artist’s quarter for Derby, reinvigorating the High Street and reinventing Green Lane

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) has certainly had an impact on Derby's more traditional areas, and while St Peters Street is still holding it's own, and in many ways is still prime retail space, the health of some of the secondary shopping areas that feed it, is much more worrying.

One such area is Green Lane. The desertion of Debenhams for Westfield has really left this street out on a limb. While there are signs that the initial shock has been abated, any recovery seems precarious. Without the draw of Debenhams, footfall has dramatically decreased.

Green Lane

Oakes Yard

The area between Green Lane and St Peters Street is called Oakes Yard - although not many people would know it - and it is this yard that I feel holds the key in adding more vibrancy to St Peters Street and providing a lifeline to Green Lane itself.

Oakes Yard as it is today - back of the old courts building

The yard as it is today, is nothing much to write home about but it does have some history. It was home to Robert Bakewell, who became England’s foremost wrought ironsmith, where he set up a forge in the early 1700’s.

From here he produced a series of magnificent wrought iron gates, including the ones now standing outside Derby Cathedral and Derby Industrial Museum. He also produced screens for churches and screens and tables to adorn houses and public buildings throughout the midlands. In 1706, before coming to Derby he took up residence in Melbourne, South Derbyshire, working for Thomas Coke of Melbourne Hall, where he produced his magnificent wrought iron arbor, sometimes called the birdcage, in Coke's gardens, which can still be seen today.

Bakewell died in 1752 and is buried in St Peters just around the corner.

My proposal would be to reinvent Oakes Yard with an arts led regeneration creating a unique destination.

A new pedestrian link

The city council has always maintained a long term desire to create a pedestrian link between St Peters Street and Green Lane and this link would be key to regenerating the area. The most obvious place to do this would be the current Foot Locker shop and Yorkshire Bank - an uninspiring modern infill retail unit, which to lose would be of no real concern. Historically there used to be an archway through to Oakes Yard at this juncture.

Demolish the red brick infil

The rear of the brick infil (left of the four storey)

On the Green Lane side of the yard, there would need to be the demolition of a couple of even more architecturally uninspiring buildings, the Bacons shoe shop as I remember it, and the ‘lean to’ at the side of the Indian restaurant. Removing these buildings would effectively open up the 'yard' for development and the potential to replace them with something of much more value.

More candidates for demolition

The link to the yard from St. Peters Street would be through a covered arcade, home to artisan/craft type businesses and possibly an art gallery. This could be in conjunction with Derby University – maybe an extension of its Banks Mill operation – offering studio space with prime retail frontage.

Inspiration could come from the Manchester Craft Centre or the Lemon Street Market in Truro. The former an example of a collection of small craft businesses coming together to form a whole; the latter being an excellent example of a 'link' building between a main street and a back street area encompassing a variety of small retail units, cafe and art gallery.

Manchester Craft Centre

Exterior of the Manchester Craft Centre

Inspiration - Lemon Street Market, Truro. An art gallery and artisan market

Lemon Street Market, Truro - link between the high street and the back street

A “Surprising Yard”

On exiting this new arcade you would now be in Oakes Yard itself. The arcade development would be extended along the southern edge of the yard to help frame the space and continue the retail frontage onto Green lane. Upper floors could be studios and workshops and linked at first floor level to the first floor of the arcade. The architecture of the Arc development in Bury St. Edmonds could provide the inspiration for this aspect of the development.

The Arc - Bury St. Edmonds

Within the City Council’s regeneration framework there is a “Surprising Yard” theme, designed to make the best of the hidden yards of Derby - a feature of the medieval street pattern and which helps give Derby it’s unique identity.

The yard would be a new outdoor space for the city with views of the rear of the Old Courthouse, and onto Green Lane . The space would be designed to build upon the urban nature of the site, with no single architectural style dominating, an eclectic mix of old and new.

There is already a slightly bohemian feel about Green Lane which I would further encourage. It is home to a mix of independent and niche shops, a vital part in the retail mix of a city, and the establishment of an urban design code to reflect this, would provide a strong identity for the area. The Northern Quarter in Manchester provides an example of how an urban design framework has helped define that part of the city. Another example is the North Laines area of Brighton. Another is Neals Yard in London.

Manchester Northern Quarter - mosaic

Neals Yard - London

A new Artists Quarter

Green Lane could be home to a new artist’s quarter for Derby, complimentary to a possible reopening of the Hippodrome and helping to bring back into use many unused or underused properties in the area, such as the old Methodist chapel on the corner of St Peters Churchyard.

Map showing the new development and the wider Artist Quarter boundary

Folkestone has been very successful in regenerating a run down area in the oldest part of town by buying and renovating properties for letting to artists and creative businesses. Headed by a charitable organisation, The Creative Foundation, the vision is that this “will attract people into that part of town, and create a vibrant and exciting environment buzzing with life and ideas; and bustling with studios, shops, galleries and street art.”

By creating an official artists quarter, Derby could emulate the success of this scheme and provide the area with a real identity.

Whilst writing this article it has come to my attention that Derby’s Quad has part forward plans to transform a disused factory, on Siddals Road near the railway station into an arts centre. Perhaps they could be persuaded to have a look at Oakes Yard?