Progress is continuing on city’s new ‘Green Heart’
PROGRESS is being made on a crucial element of the Broad Marsh regeneration ahead of its expected completion later this year.
The project to turn roughly half the former Broadmarsh shopping centre site into a wildlife-rich green space is now well under way.
Workers were seen on the site of the Green Heart at the start of the year and the temporary green fencing on Lister Gate was recently extended further back towards Stanford Street. The space will feature sandstone benches, trees and urban wetlands.
Under the plan developed by Townshend Landscape Architects with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Heatherwick Studio was retained as a strategic design advisor for the project. A long bench will arc through the planting and marsh on the site, set to be the size of a football pitch.
It is claimed the urban wetlands will potentially prevent flooding given the rainwater they will capture and hold.
Nottingham City Council leader Councillor David Mellen previously said: “The creation of the Green Heart will take the transformation of Broad Marsh a major step further and be a beautiful addition to the city centre which is unique to Nottingham.”
In terms of the rest of the site, a master planner was appointed last year to realise Heatherwick Studio’s design concept, which will see the frame of the shopping centre retained as part of a development featuring new homes, commercial and office space.
Several bids for that element of the project to be externally funded have failed, but the council continues to develop a detailed business case.