Broad Marsh vision will be a balancing act, says designer
The man tasked with providing a vision for the revamped Broad Marsh, urban designer Thomas Heatherwick, gave his first impressions of the challenges ahead to during a SOME PARTS OF DEFUNCT SHOPPING CENTRE COULD BE SALVAGED AND INCORPORATED INTO PLANS
WORLD-RENOWNED urban designer Thomas Heatherwick says the main challenge facing the future of the Broad Marsh site is “juggling” ambition with generating income to prevent the final vision being ruined.
In July, the Post revealed Mr Heatherwick was appointed alongside property development firm, Stories, to develop a framework for the condemned site.
The complex space, which is roughly the size of Wembley Stadium and consists of a network of medieval caves, was once inhabited by the Broadmarsh Centre before shopping centre giant intu collapsed into administration last year.
On Friday, Mr Heatherwick paid a visit to the Broad Marsh site to get a feel for what could come next.
While he believes it is feasible to generate a vision by October, as planned, he emphasised a balance will be needed between ambition and money.
Millions of pounds are still needed for the demolition of the Middle Hill side of the former shopping centre and, as Mr Heatherwick understands - perhaps more than most following the failure of his Garden Bridge project in London due to funding issues - whatever comes next must appeal to investors too.
“I think it is possible to have an outline by October,” he said, speaking to the Post as he stood in front of the twisted shell of the former Broadmarsh Centre.
“But the key thing is that it is easy to make a list of all the things that would be great, but it is important to juggle how would those things be paid for?
“I’m idealistic and there are a lot of great people really wanting to be ambitious, [but] the bit that usually ruins visions is the money, so how can we find a way to make the money bit work so it can pay for the visions? Balance the two.
“It is easy to say knock it all down and build a park, but there is no money to build that, so you do need things that will be income generating. That’s where the real complexity comes in. That’s the juggle.”
Mr Heatherwick was joined by the Marcellus Baz, founder of the Nottingham School of Boxing, and a number of young people who were voicing their thoughts on what should come next.
While a vision, or multiple visions, have yet to be set in stone, among the ideas were the incorporation of sport and activity into the city centre as well as nature and learning.
Mr Heatherwick also had some initial thoughts, which he shared with the Post, including the potential of retaining some of the old and defunct Broadmarsh structure.
He made reference to the High Line in New York, a disused elevated railway line which has since become a 1.45-mile public park, and said he would like to see the similarly disused structure in Nottingham utilised in a comparable way.
Its final vision may also bare the hallmarks of Gordon Matta-clarke, an architect also referenced by Mr Heatherwick who is famed for transforming old, largely brutalist structures in the Big Apple into art.
“It is exciting because I think that we shouldn’t just eradicate or pretend it never happened and then build something shiny,” he added. “There is a chance to borrow some of that and the truth of that structure and maybe we don’t pull it down. Maybe we can salvage some of it? “I think it is worth exploring that because there is a giant skeleton and you can demolish it and pretend it never happened, or there is the possibility for it to form something within the distinctiveness of what gets built.
“I’m interested in the bones sticking up, like dinosaur bones, so how much can we get rid of all the floors and open it up, but keep that bone structure? “At the moment we are really trawling. The right project here is going to be a collaboration of any people’s thoughts so we don’t have any fixed ideas. “City centres used to be only about shopping, pick any city centre you like, and yet again it becomes all about shopping, so that is the question, how can you make something [that isn’t just about shopping]?
“Nature is coming through for many people but also activity. We are just coming out of the Olympics where we have seen sport is about so much more than just football.
“In Hong Kong where we have spent quite a bit of time on a few projects, there, in the most intense piece of city with all these towers, there is one place called Southorn Playground where there is a football pitch, a full-court basketball court, people playing chess and walking their birds.
“In other parts of Hong Kong there are gigantic towers and a horse racing track in the centre and it is incredible to see the juxtaposition.”
Mr Heatherwick emphasised there is “nothing authentic about shopping and more clothes shops for well-to-do people”, a thought echoed by the leader of Nottingham City Council, councillor David Mellen, as well thousands of people in Nottingham too.
He added that, currently, the door is being left open for “more wildness” ahead of October, when a framework for the site is set to be revealed.
I’m interested in the bones sticking up, like dinosaur bones. So how much can we get rid of all the floors and open it up, but keep that bone structure Thomas Heatherwick