Nottingham’s design initiative, supported strongly by CABE from the beginning, is an excellent example of strong local leadership championing a design-led approach to development in the city.
Design Nottingham 06 (which became Design Nottingham 07, Design Nottingham 08 and Design Nottingham 09) emerged from the competition for the redevelopment of the Old Market Square. This project showed the gap between the ambitious, design-led approach for this public space and the poor standard of many other recent buildings and spaces across the city.
Nottingham City Council brought together organisations to work towards better buildings and places, with CABE staff involved in early discussions. Design 06-09 demonstrates many aspects of CABE’s advice to clients: strong leadership, working in partnership, communicating a positive message around change, and making the case for investing in good design.
How CABE enabling helped
- advised on the structure of the initial Design 06 programme
- provided national examples which were developed into components of the initiative
- acted as a critical advisor to the programme, providing technical advice and skills as well as detailed implementation issues
- encouraged a holistic programme approach
- provided encouragement and support for early efforts, boosting confidence and morale
- facilitated engagement with stakeholders, including national and regional agencies, and stakeholders
- contributed to major events including attending the launch of Design 06 and the housing design quality workshop.
