The virtues of the 24/7 university library in Covid times
The Beatrice Shilling Building at Royal Holloway University London (by Stride Treglown) The return to university has led to new outbreaks of the C-virus and placed some students in lockdown. The BBC has reported that some complain of being locked down in their student university halls in a situation described by student unions as shambolic. Cora Kwiatkowski, Divisional Director at Stride Treglown says that students in 2020 face an extraordinary burden in navigating the ongoin
MICA's re-purposing of post-war buildings in city centres
Construction underway on new raised quad for Jesus College Oxford (MICA) How can the re-purposing of university buildings restore the health of our high streets? MICA's work for the Northgate construction in Oxford, demonstrates just that. MICA was appointed by Jesus College to create a new mixed-use development on the busy thoroughfare of Cornmarket, comprising ground floor retail with academic facilities and accommodation above. The project is also a catalyst for the improv
Germany's urgent case for mixed-use regeneration
Wupperthal's City Plaza building, North-Rhine Westphalia (designed by Chapman Taylor) - home to Primark Germany's town centres are facing a pressing need for mixed-use urban regeneration post Covid-19, a need that has been slowly growing due to the trend towards online shopping. The country is re-thinking its urban environments to create environmentally, social and economically sustainable places to draw people and businesses back. Future Cities Forum spoke to Jens Siegfried,
Historic England on high street resilience in Derby and Nottingham
View of Iron Gate with corner of Saddler Gate and Derby Cathedral in background - East Midlands Business Link Future Cities Forum has been speaking to Clive Fletcher, Historic England's Principal Advisor and Lead Specialist, Historic Places, about the current opportunity to re-purpose heritage buildings for shop and office space in the economic regeneration of towns and cities. The UK government in its 'build, build, build' announcement last June, called for a radical change
University of Sheffield research to help with cultural economic recovery modelling
The Crucible Theatre Sheffield with The Lyceum behind (University of Sheffield image) Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the UK Research and Innovation Covid-19 Rapid Response Fund, a new research project in partnership with key cultural organisations in Sheffield, will collect crucial data on audiences, venues and freelancers that can be fed into policies and economic recovery plans for the city. The University of Sheffield says that the true e
Swedish Voi e-scooter trial for West Midlands
Swedish company Voi has been appointed to operate e-scooters in the West Midlands with a trial taking place firstly in Birmingham and Coventry with a further roll out across the wider region. Lucy Yu, Voi's Director of Public Policy, said: 'In the UK, 60 per cent of car journeys are between one and three miles, which significantly increases congestion. Cars no longer suit the way we live today, and we estimate that 20 per cent of short journeys could be replaced by low-carbon
National Lottery Heritage Fund to join our master planning forums
We are delighted that the Chief Executive of National Lottery Heritage Fund, Ros Kerslake, is to join our Future Cities Forum master planning debate on 12th October. Ros is a much valued member of our community and first spoke at our RIBA conference in January 2018 advising organisations on how best to apply for heritage funding. Since the outbreak of Coronavirus Covid-19, there has been debate on the future of our cities, how best to master plan them for health and safety an
Transport-led development and city gateways
Pitt Street over-station development in Sydney (Foster and Partners) Post Covid-19 some workers are reluctant to go back to the office, so will stations with their retail offers continue to attract investment? Future Cities Forum will be discussing this important topic over the next few weeks in our new series of master planning, transport, office and retail forums. Sydney Metro is Australia's biggest transport project and by 2024 the city will have 31 metro railway stations
Regenerating prisons for business and leisure
Treadmills' new civic square, performance space and cinema (Central Northallerton Development Company CGI) How do developers go about deciding what to do with our 19th century prisons when they close? Are they ripe for re-use or does the image of crime hang over them putting off new business 'inmates'? North Yorkshire's HM Prison Northallerton operated from 1788 until December 2013 and was built on a former 'house of correction'. Architect and engineer, John Carr, built a qua
Coventry preserves historic houses for year of culture
Priory Row (Lychgate Cottages) in Coventry (Courtesy Historic Coventry) Specialist conservation contractors have been appointed to transform some of Coventry's oldest buildings into special short stay visitor accommodation in time for the city becoming UK City of Culture 2021. Historic Coventry Trust (HCT) has awarded the £606,000 contract to Messenger Construction Ltd to restore three timber-framed Lychgate Cottages in Priory Row and convert them into four self-contained uni