CONTENTS DIARY OF EVENTS - The Urban Design Group

Manchester when his work with Jonathan Falkingham began to bear
fruit, highlighted by the Concert Square scheme in Liverpool which
provided a mixed use solution to a rundown site near Rope Walks. His
next work in Manchester was the reuse/rebuilding of a department store
in Oldham St converted into small retail units and apartments followed
by projects in Castlefield both re-use and new build. Other projects
include New Islington in Ancoats in Manchester, award winning projects
in Liverpool, Royal William Yard in Plymouth and Lister Mills in Bradford.
He places design quality at the top of the agenda and aims to
change people’s perceptions. His inspiring talk ended with the oath for
Athenians -”We will leave this city not less but greater, better and more
beautiful than it was left to us”.
David Rudlin, a director of URBED, described how he has worked
with communities to produce imaginative master plans. He was part
of the Hulme ‘Homes for Change’ initiative, an early project in that
area, in which the future residents of the housing were involved in the
design process. He was then involved with the Architecture Foundation
Glasshouse project known as ‘Place by Design’ when tenants of estates
were given ten days training in how areas could be changed. Glasshouse
will now go out to estates - which they term ‘Homes for Change’ - and
a particularly successful technique is the use of plasticine models of
houses which can be stacked up to create ideas about the density of
development. This process energises residents, makes them informed
clients and reflects honest consultation with the right attitude. The
next step is to run workshops on a bus which can move from area to
area with all the facilities built in.
John Hyatt Director of the Innovation Institute at Manchester
Metropolitan University spoke about his design work for the windmills
outside the major store frontage in Exchange Square where Martha
Schwartz originally intended to have palm trees which didn’t quite fit
into the city’s normal climate.
Overall the conference contained some excellent presentations and
for me the only thing missing was being able to discuss in workshops the
views about why all this had happened in Manchester.
John Billingham
Opposite page New Islington, Manchester, Urban Splash
Top left Major changes initiated by the city council in Piccadilly Gardens
Top right Millennium Quarter development – Exchange Square
Above URBED consultation approaches by bus and with plasticine, Rochdale and
Werneth
Urban Design | Spring 2005 | Issue 94 | 13
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