Stamford Gateway

CABE’s enablers helped Stamford Vision organise an international design competition that led to the redevelopment of Stamford’s Sheep Market and Red Lion square in 2007.

Stamford Vision is a public-private partnership community interest company that initiated and managed a project to give renewed vibrancy to Stamford’s historic core. The Stamford Gateway project included grants to bring spaces back to profit and open up a better gateway across the meadows to the railway station.

How CABE’s enabling helped

shaped the process
ensured the brief was clear about outputs
suggested things to consider in a timely manner
ensured visual material was appropriate for a lay audience
gave the client confidence to engage other specialists
persuaded council officers and potential funding bodies of the scheme’s merit.

The one-to-one consultations with those shopkeepers and residents immediately affected by the scheme also proved positive. Trade is flourishing and five shop fronts have been redecorated by the owners as a result of the high quality public realm on their doorstep.

The client described CABE’s enabler as ‘fantastic, with a whole wealth of knowledge’. It was not like employing a consultant as the project remained under the client’s control. The client felt that she was properly informed and everything was talked through.

Background

Stamford is one the finest stone-built towns in England and features fine medieval and Georgian buildings. It was the first designated conservation area in 1967 and has over 600 listed buildings in the town centre. It is well known as a film location and tourist destination but it is also a bustling, prosperous town of 20,000 people.

Parts of the town have not been well maintained over the year, in particular the Sheep Market and Red Lion square. These areas are typical of medieval market towns - unplanned, asymmetric spaces which tend to be taken over for car parking.

The Stamford Gateway project arose after consultations and an exhibition in 2000. Three further exhibitions, numerous meetings with groups and one-to-one consultations with shops and residents led to a consultation report setting out feedback from everyone involved.

Enabling process

CABE’s enabler was appointed in August 2003 after a preliminary meeting with the client to assess the assistance required. The key tasks included:

preliminary site visit and client meeting
preparing for workshop
participating in client led day workshop
advising on brief preparation
commenting on content of brief
providing guidance on competitive appointment process
conducting interim project meeting to finalise brief & materials
evaluating expressions of interest and shortlisting
briefing meeting with shortlisted candidates
evaluating of design submissions
interviewing finalists
feeding back to CABE.

The process was relatively straightforward without recourse to many additional days. Extra time was given to explore appropriate forms of contract for the works and to advise on governance and the establishment of the partnership as a community interest company.

The design competition

Stamford Vision sought advice from English Heritage and CABE to run a national design competition. A CABE enabler was appointed to advise on the competition process and sit on the judging panel (chaired by architect Ted Cullinan).

CABE’s enabler initially questioned the idea of a competition as the scheme was relatively modest and the design solution demanded a well-mannered scheme. A competitive process had the potential to derail the brief as entries might produce designs with a ‘wow factor’.

This fear was mitigated as the client was clear about the brief and the vision for the spaces. The judging panel was led by a strong chair and knew exactly what was required during the discussion.

Around 40 submissions were received and four were short listed. All short listed submissions received £2500 while the winner took home £5000. Along with the costs of advertising the competition this represented a substantial outlay for the partnership.

The competition involved a cross-section of people and made links between professional officers in the county and district local authority councils. Highways proved prepared to take a risk after previously implementing an unpopular scheme which had to be removed.

Developing the design

The winning scheme is entirely hardscape and changed remarkably little during design development. The initial suggestion for a maypole and a water trough was altered as a result of public consultation. A contemporary response to the Eleanor Cross, which once stood in Stamford, was conceived as a beacon across the water meadows. A solid piece of timber with the place names of the route and the resting places where crosses were raised occupies the other space.

Completing the project

Putting all the short listed schemes on display was somewhat counter productive as people were confused as to what was included in the chosen scheme. This may have contributed to public opposition.

350 people demanded a poll of all residents on the scheme. There were several issues including:

suspicions that non-elected body was taking the lead
criticism over extent of consultation
concerns about a one-way system being introduced
misconceptions about loss of car parking
fear of change.

These issues delayed the project a further year.

The final scheme took these concerns into consideration and abandoned the unpopular one way system at the cost of a loss of parking spaces. There were protests when construction started but the gateway was finally officially opened with a pageant in September 2007. The council is taking a positive role in organising events on the new squares, which now also attract spontaneous events from hip hop to morris dancing.

Project team

Catherine Hammant - Stamford Vision
John Plumb - Stamford Civic Society

Design team

Lead designer - Letts Wheeler Architects
In collaboration with - Wolfgang and Heron (Public Art)
Highways engineering - Technical Services Partnership (Lincolnshire)