“This Characterisation Report (link below) on the city of Nottingham was commissioned by the East Midlands Regional Team to assist them with their regular casework within the city of Nottingham.”
Over several workshops carried out by Professor Ana Souto from NTU, the people of Nottingham have drawn the city. Find out more in the Identity Project link below.
Character variation
Creative quarter
Site of the original Saxon town established in the 6th century, this area retains a medieval street pattern.
In the 17th and 18th century this was a prime residential area with large houses in open plots but it transformed by the growth of the Lace industry during the 19th century.
Lace Market’s tall Victorian factories and warehouses create a canyon like, densely developed feel broken only by the open space around St Mary’s Church.
To the north, Goosegate, Carlton Street, and Broad Street provide a mixture of retail shops and public buildings.
These create a vibrant atmosphere during the day in stark contrast to the quietness of the Lace Market where the former industrial buildings are now given over to offices and apartments. However, the character of the Lace Market, in turn alters to a lively cosmopolitan atmosphere during the evening.
The quarter is characterised by two very different halves separated by Bellward Street. To the west is the Lace Market, characterised as above and to the east, which apart from some individual note able buildings and an area around Sneinton Square, has little architectural value. There is great potential to reinvent the eastern part of the quarter.
Connecting the area back into the city is a priority
There are some creative industries reusing existing buildings within the quarter. These uses should be harnessed and promoted to give Nottingham its unique selling point.
The variety of character provides an opportunity for future operators to occupy high quality heritage assets or in contrast vacant sites with less constraints and the potential for innovative architecture.
Two buildings of regional significance are located within the quarter. The Ice Arena amongst other uses, attracts International bands and the award winning Nottingham Contemporary - an iconic building showcasing international art.
Southern Gateway
Once the focus for some of Nottingham’s more unpleasant industries, this quarter has been undergoing rapid changes since the land was first enclosed in the mid 19th century.
Sitting lower than the surrounding street level, the Canal cuts through the area acting as an arterial transport route for the 19th century warehouses and factories which back onto it.
Castle Boulevard, created in 1884 following the course of the River Leen attracted a flurry of prestigious new factories, show rooms and houses and retains a high quality built environment.
During the late 20th century the regeneration of the area has created a greater mix of uses. Historic buildings such as the two train stations now stand as prominent set pieces within a contemporary environment.
Key transport links mean that this is often the first impression of Nottingham visitors, particularly from the train.
Although there are a number of fine buildings, there are also numerous potential development sites
As a gateway, legibility could be substantially improved, including the route to and through the Broad Marsh Shopping Centre and into the city centre itself.
Tall buildings (10 plus storeys) will be encouraged around the station, tall buildings will also be encouraged along London Road. Development to the south should recognise the domestic scale of the Meadows neighbourhood.
The area is attracting municipal office uses including the DHSS,HMRC, the Courts and recently the City Council. Although a quarter characterised by mixed uses, these types of uses will be encouraged, providing ground floor activity is promoted.
Within the Southern Gateway is the Canal; an area which has proved popular for night time entertainment. The vitality associated with these uses adjacent to the Canal will be encouraged.
Royal Quarter
Dominated by Nottingham Trent University’s campus, this quarter is characterised by significant, imposing buildings with large footprints.
The Arkwright Building (1877-81), Newton Building (1956-8) and Waverley Building (1863-5) act as the historic centre pieces in the University campus.
The area also includes civic buildings such as the 1884-8 Guildhall, the 1930s Fire and Police stations on Shakespeare Street and the Royal Centre theatre complex.
Immediately to the west of the NTU campus on Clarendon Street, Goldsmith Street and Chaucer Street is an area of 19th century middle class housing – much of which has been turned over to offices.
The area is well served by public transport, including the tram. People travel into the area for educational and entertainment reasons and is typically vibrant and populated by younger people.
Due to its variety of entertainment offers, the quarter has regional significance. These uses will continue to be encouraged but well managed.
The area does have a significant amount of residential accommodation, including student accommodation and family housing. This mix of accommodation is welcomed.
The extension of the University campus and public realm will be encouraged.
Castle Quarter
The area immediately around the Castle contains the largest concentration of surviving 18th century buildings in the city. These stand on narrow plots, front directly onto the pavement and have mostly neo classical facades.
To the north the various historic buildings of the General Hospital now house a mixed use development of apartments, restaurants and hotels which spills over into the Ropewalk.
The area is characterised by high quality bars and restaurants, together with professional services, including Solicitors, accountants, surveyors etc
The professional uses and the entertainment offer are mutually complementary. The professional ‘dignified’ ambience will be retained and promoted
Therefore, high quality entertainment uses will be encouraged
The character of many of the buildings (primarily due to the floor to ceiling heights) allows for flexibility of uses within the Victorian Villas. Some are now converting back to residential from office uses. Family housing will be promoted
The Castle does not meet its potential, partly because the quarter is severed from the rest of the city centre by Maid Marian Way. The east west links back into the city will be improved.
The rejuvenation of the castle will dependent on the improvements of the surrounding environment. A priority will be to pedestrianise Castle Road and redevelop the Castle College site abutting, with high quality architecture and frontages activating Castle Road.
There is a shortage of high grade office accommodation within the city. Some of the buildings along Maid Marian Way are reaching a stage where reinvestment is necessary. Grade A office accommodation will be encouraged to reinforce the professional character of the area. Additional heights maybe acceptable if carefully designed particularly in relation to the castle.
Retail Core
Oriented roughly north/south with the Broadmarsh Centre marking the southern extent and the Victoria Centre marking the north, the city’s vibrant retail core is situated on the saddle of land between the Saxon Town (Lace Market) in the east and the French Borough (around the Castle) in the west.
The retail core benefits from a uniquely extensive pedestrian environment offering a high level of inclusive accessibility for visitors. It is the main focus for comparison shopping within Nottingham and has a high representation of multiples, complemented by a substantial and diverse range of independent outlets and prestigious brands that combine to offer excellent consumer choice. It also benefits from a mix of modern, large scale store formats and unique individual buildings of different sizes, periods and architectural styles, providing a range of options to meet different retailer needs and preferences.
A number of key shopping streets that form a strong retail spine between the Victoria and Broadmarsh Centres and are characterised by high levels of pedestrian footfall are reinforced by a network of secondary streets and narrow alleyways that incorporate a mix of retail and complementary uses, adding to the interest and permeability of the shopping area.
The Old Market Square, once a shared market between the two historic settlements, lies at the heart of the traditional retail area between the two substantial anchor shopping centres and continues to act as a central focal point where the city’s commercial, retail, leisure and cultural characteristics converge around a unique and distinctive civic space that forms a strong symbol of Nottingham’s identity.
A series of historic east/west routes cut across the main retail core, providing pedestrian linkages to tourist areas and independent retail clusters at the Castle and Derby Road to the west, and the Lace Market and Hockley to the east. These routes retain a significant proportion of historic buildings, complemented by good quality streetscape and public realm. A growing number of high status and exclusive brands have selected some of the more prominent and well positioned properties that lie along them for their retail outlets as a reflection of brand quality distinction.
The continued success and strengthening of the retail core will be reliant upon substantial enhancement and remodelling of its two anchor shopping centres coupled by further investment in the traditional shopping streets connecting them to further exploit the rich diversity of buildings, spaces and cultural assets available and add to overall retail, leisure and commercial attraction.
East / West link
The retail pull within Nottingham is generally north / south between the two shopping centres. However, the night time economy although less structured, generally is east /west. A key route through the city is the east / west route between Canning Circus and Sneinton Square. Although there have been some improvements to the route including the remodelling of the Old Market Square, Sneinton Square and Canning Circus the route does not fulfil its potential.
As part of enlivening the streets, environmental improvements will be implemented along the route. Priority will be given to footway widening and greening the route, to encourage greater footfall and outdoor seating.
Markets and kiosks of the appropriate quality will be encouraged to add further animation of the streets and spaces, particularly those areas of the route within the Retail Core.
Junctions will be made easier for pedestrians to cross.
Definitions
Place identity
Identity is the set of qualities, beliefs, traits, appearance, and/or expressions that characterize a place. Identity emerges throughout history, as a place’s population start to develop and comprehend its self-concept, and it remains a consistent aspect throughout different eras.
Character
Place character relates to the specific spatial qualities, attributes or features of a location that make it unique. Place character is affected by a series of factors such as geology, location, politics and socio-economic make up.
Local distinctiveness
The Dictionary of Urbanism (Rob Cowan, 2005)
The positive features of a place and its communities, which contribute to its special character, sense of place or genius loci. A concern for local distinctiveness (whether that term was used or not) has been a response to the decline of vernacular building and the tendency for places to look the same. In 1852 John Ruskin was regretting that all towns were coming to look the same, with the visitor’s first view being of a railway station of more or less standard design (Timms and Kelley, 1985). The architects of the arts and crafts movement, for example, tended to favour local materials and traditional styles, and tried to revive traditional building and craft skills, while also creating buildings that were distinctive and modern.
The concept of local distinctiveness, as developed by common ground in the 1990s, was incorporated into UK government planning guidance in Planning Policy Guidance Note 1 in 1997. The idea had been discussed by Michael Hough in his 1990 book Out of Place: restoring identity to the regional landscape (Hough, 1990). ‘Local distinctiveness,’ writes Sue Clifford, Common Ground’s joint coordinator, ‘is about the conspiracy of nature and culture to intensify variegation and it is about anywhere. It is about detail, patina, authenticity and meaning, the things which create identity. Importantly it focuses on locality (neighbourhood, parish), not the region. It is about accumulations and assemblages, about accommodation and change, not about compartmentalisation and preservation.
It must include the invisible as well as the physical: symbol, festival, legend, custom, language, recipe, memory may be as important as street and square. Places are not just physical surroundings. They are a web of rich understandings between people and nature, peoples and their histories, people and their neighbours.
People understand places and value them because they mean something to them. Little things (detail) and overlapping clues to previous lives and landscapes (patina) may be the very things which breath significance into the streets or fields.’
Stephen Owen (1997) has argued that the key to local distinctiveness is to recognize that every aspect of what we now see as locally distinct about a place was once a response to something:
“The local distinctiveness displayed by attractive villages and small towns evolved mainly through local responses to local circumstances…If we are concerned with local distinctiveness today, says Owen, we should aim for a similar responsiveness to that which created the places we value.”
We must make places that respond to the local physical environment (the built fabric, such as characteristic street layouts, consistent use of building forms, and the use of local building materials), the natural environment (such as the shape and structure of land, patterns of sunlight, shade, shelter, vegetation and hydrology), and to local social and economic need (such as employment, particularly for people on low incomes and with low educational achievement), homes (at affordable prices for people on low incomes) and services (such as primary schools, bus services and shops).
The question is: how can we make places that are responsive in that way?
The answer, says Owen, is that responsiveness “can be achieved through local community involvement (including the identification of needs, knowledge of local physical character), local production of development (including appropriate site development and building technology, use of local materials, and small scale of development), and through localising the planning system (including determination of the scale and pace of change, integration of design with social and economic issues, enhancement of design skills, localisation of state power, and increased understanding of the local physical environment).”