Nottingham Archives - Planning Design Ltd

Revisiting a redeveloped Lenton Gardens

22nd August 2023 by Gary Stringer

A visit to an award-winning housing development bought back memories of student life for our Part II Architectural Assistant Tina Humphreys. Here she looks at the redevelopment of the Lenton Gardens estate in Nottingham.

The housing scheme in Lenton Gardens by jtp Architects has won a variety of awards such as LABC East Midlands Building Excellence Awards 2016- 2017 for Best Social or Affordable New Housing Development and was also shortlisted on the RIBA East Midlands Awards 2018 Regional Awards.

Back in 2014 I was in my first year of university studying architecture and living in student accommodation in Lenton, which is a converted historical industrial building. Opposite the student halls was this bleak and rundown site which had 6 high-rise residential towers of brutalist-style architecture. Concrete prefab façade with small windows and a very monotonous style. There were green spaces surrounding the towers but nobody used it or in fact dared to walk through it!

In 2012 Nottingham City Homes and Nottingham City Council made the decision to replace the existing residential tower blocks with new accommodation of better quality and to create a better way of life. The brief was to bring back key movements through the site from north to south and east to west. In addition, the aim was to provide a mix of affordable family housing and as well as homes for the elderly, and to provide a sense of community with cafe’s and office spaces. To do this jtp Architects worked closely with the Lenton community by holding drop in sessions and workshops during the concept stage and reporting on the feedback they received about the layout and design of the new homes.

The final result is a good mix of flats, semi-detached houses, detached houses and bungalows, with soft landscaped green spaces in between. The architectural style uses traditional red and blue brick and white render with some traditional features from housing within Lenton area but in a modern way.

The scheme also incorporates sustainable features such as PV panels and meets, what was back then the Code for Sustainable Homes level 4.

Tina Humphreys, Part II Architectural Assistant, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Planning & Design Practice believe in good architecture, to improve our quality of life, create real value and to drive sustainable development, creating robust, resilient homes and buildings to face the challenges of climate change. For a no obligation consultation to discuss your project or property, please get in touch.

NDSA – Round table discussion on Government’s Planning White Paper

29th November 202220th April 2021 by Gary Stringer

Our Managing Director, Jonathan Jenkin recently joined an expert guest panel to look at the potential implications of the Government’s planning white paper on the built environment and it’s possible impact on the architecture profession.

The Nottingham and Derby Society of Architects – NDSA – recently hosted a live Round Table Discussion with an expert panel of consultants, architects, planners, planning committee officers and other built environment stakeholders and professionals. This was a first of it’s kind for the NDSA in terms of format but also in the comprehensiveness and complexity of the issues raised.

We are very fortunate to have had the time of those who participated. Both the effectiveness of the format and the power of debate is evidenced in the results of our opening and closing poll, which asked attendees of their views on the White Paper.

Included within the guest panel in running order were:

Philip Waddy, Chair of RIBA National Planning Group and Managing Director of WWA Studios
Laura Alvarez, East Midlands Convenor for the Urban Design Group and Senior Principal Urban Design and Conservation Officer at Nottingham City Council
Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director of Planning Design Ltd
Linda Woodings, Basford Ward Councillor and Portfolio Holder for Planning, Housing and Heritage
Jamie King, Founder and Director of Nottinghamshire based practice KOR Architects
Pavlos Kotsonis, Planning Committee member and Nottingham City Councillor
David Birkbeck, Design for Homes director and co-author of Building for Life

It was our hope that the NDSA, as a group working together within the architecture profession and as representatives of the two counties RIBA membership, that we could provide a platform for healthy debate and discussion and ultimately for us all to come away with an improved understanding of the key areas contained within the White Paper. What the proposals mean for us as industry professionals but also the broader implications were something we had hoped to be highlighted throughout the event.

The evening began by handing each guest speaker the floor to lay out in succession their own understanding of the White paper and possible implications, drawing from their respective areas of experience and expertise. From this we were able to pull together a very rounded view, one which was otherwise inaccessible to us.

The panelists were previously asked to draw our audiences towards specific areas of attention, concern or intrigue. From this, we successfully learned much about the content and nature of the 80 page document issued by the government in Autumn of 2020.

Following the round of presentations we moved into open dialogue amongst the panelists themselves, who had the opportunity to expand upon key points and the overlapping topics to emerge from the run of presentations. The panelists also had the opportunity to present a counter argument to some of the positions adopted on the White Paper by their fellow speakers.

The event featured a live Q&A where those in attendance were able to pose questions directly to the panelists. Permitting our membership the opportunity to engage directly in the debate is a feature in all our live events, which on this occasion was moderated by NDSA Committee Officer Sara Saadouni.

We opened and concluded the event with a poll, asking if attendees were generally for, against or undecided on the overall content of the White Paper. The results read as follows:

Opening poll results:

For: 26%
Against: 21%
Undecided: 53%

Closing poll result:

For: 18%
Against: 68%
Undecided: 14%

At subsequent Committee meetings and upon much reflection, the NDSA felt the event showed that the complexity of the subjects covered raised questions over how RIBA members are generally informed but also represented at a National level. Some work is now under way by the NDSA to examine how this arrangement can be improved upon.

This event was recorded and is available for free to all on the NDSA website and on their YouTube channel.

Engaging with NDSA

30th November 202215th July 2020 by Gary Stringer

As current office holders of the NDSA, we are committed to providing a progressive, inclusive platform through which we can positively engage the architectural profession and broader community. We hope that by directly involving our membership with key stakeholders within our industry, we can stimulate critical and constructive debate to ultimately make meaningful contributions towards the betterment of the places we all live.

We have been working towards realising these goals by developing a number of mechanisms around active contributors of The Committee, drawing on intellectually engaging guest speakers with local connections. We have reviewed, replaced and reinvented some established NDSA traditions along the way.

This has manifested itself in a number of ways, some of which are outlined below.

NDSA – Digital presence

We have expanded our social media presence, with a distribution of responsibilities across various Committee members. We are currently expanding our outreach capabilities by working with proven online platforms in an effort to deliver quality content. Please like, share, connect, subscribe or follow our profiles and content wherever possible, it directly helps us to grow our audience and fulfill our mission to promote local talent. We also readily welcome contributions from our membership, so if you would like to write an article, present a project or something else, please get in touch. We are currently active on the following platforms:

YouTube
LinkedIn
In stagram
Twitter

Urban Room

This is a critically useful facility used by the NDSA for a range of functions throughout the year. Through a local partnership (involving Nottingham City Council, English Heritage, Historic England, University of Nottingham & Nottingham Trent University) we make use of Nottingham’s Urban Room, an initiative derived from The Farrell Review (http://www.farrellreview.co.uk), a blueprint for a successful civic space, the goals of which are to help further progressive surrounding urbanism through community engagement. As designers we utilise this space to challenge the consequences of our role in the development of, and participation in, our Urban Realm.

For the Website of the Urban Room please visit https://www.38carringtonstreet.org.uk

Exhibits

NDSA Chair Joshua von Fragstein hosted the inaugural Derby Architecture Celebration (link). The event was well attended with many guests bracing the terrible weather and traffic chaos from the sudden closure of Clifton Bridge in Nottingham. Hosted at the Derby Museums and with guest speakers travelling nationally to deliver presentations on their exceptional Derby & Derbyshire based projects, the evening set a new standard for the NDSA. We aim to build upon the success of this exhibition to host more like it in the future

A snapshot article of the event can be found here on our website:

Student Awards

The NDSA Committee agreed to discontinue the £300 one off cash prize traditionally handed out annually to a student at UoN & NTU each year, replacing it instead with an annual event centred around winning students, chosen from a Values & Principles based selection criteria.

The proposal was successful in being awarded RIBA Local Iniative Fund finances to host. It took the format of a set of presentations of winning projects by successful students, accompanied by local, regional or national intra-industry professionals whose expertise and areas of research interests have clear cross overs with the themes within the winning projects.

The presentations were followed by a period of networking, affording the students the opportunity to meet with and speak to the industry wide professionals invited to the event.

The event was successful in bringing together the students at the conclusion of their studies, with professionals from complementing disciplines who provided positive, progressive feedback on the projects. The students obtained an extended avenue of professional advice and support with digital records of their presentation being hosted online by the NDSA.

Education Officers Michael Hodgson & Ayesha Batool worked tirelessly with the supporting Work Group members Joshua, Rory and myself to shortlist the end of year projects from multiple courses across both Nottingham Based Universities and coordinate the subsequent event.

A brief clip capturing reflections from our Guest Panelists can be found here.

History

Work is under way to digitally archive the full history of the NDSA. Chinzia Russo, Mark Jermy & Josh von Fragstein have begun a long term effort to catalogue and make freely available the history of the Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Society of Architects. This archiving exercise has doubled as a research project, with Michael Hodgson unearthing notable NDSA officers and the respective roles they had in society. This work will be hosted and maintained on the NDSA website.

Solvency

Committee member Rory Wood has worked hard to reconnect the NDSA with construction industry partners, enabling us to obtain the necessary finances to maintain operations. A Summer BBQ was held, acting as a kick starter for the new committee. Many society members and industry partners met to offer suggestions and pledge their support. Sponsorship’s for forthcoming events were a key indicator of the successes from this event. Having started out this tenure with no capital surpluses and only minimal reserves, the work of Rory has been instrumental in securing the functionality of the NDSA. We offer sponsorship opportunities for our events, publications and online platforms in order to secure the short, medium and long term future of the NDSA. While the NDSA is run on the goodwill of volunteers, who give up their time to be part of something bigger than themselves, there are resource costs that need to be met annually. Please get in touch with us if you would like to sponsor the NDSA.

Considerable contributions from Andrew King and Thomas Dichmont in particular were key to laying the groundwork for much of the above.
We encourage you to reach out, get involved and become empowered to positively influence the development of our environment. If you have ideas for events, seminars, lectures or articles then we are here to work together to help take them forward. To stay up to date with the NDSA please subscribe to our mailing list here https://www.ndsa.org.uk/join-us

Paul MacMahon
Honorary Secretary NDSA

Planning Success on a Difficult Green Belt Site

3rd February 2020 by Gary Stringer

We are pleased to have received planning permission for a spacious three bedroom single storey dwelling on Green Belt land to the east of Derby, located within the Derby/Nottingham Green Belt.

The site lies to the south of a village, in an area of low density housing interspersed with small fields, paddocks and woodland. The site is not part of an area of continuous development and is not infill.

The site was created by subdividing a large garden and using an existing garage as the basis for a new home. The land had permission to alter and extend the garage but the design was very poor and in order to keep the height down, head heights within the building were sacrificed to the absolute minimum, creating a home with severe limitations. Notwithstanding the very poor design the consent created a backstop for the consideration of revised proposals.

We worked with the LPA and proposed a replacement three bedroom dwelling. We proposed digging down so as not to increase the height of the building but to provide an attractive two storey dwelling with good head heights. The volume of the new building was substantially greater than the approved conversion and extension.

We had a good pre-app and we submitted the application. New buildings in the Green Belt represent inappropriate development and should not normally be permitted but the council had to this point taken a relaxed attitude towards infilling and we remained confident that planning consent would be granted.

There were major staff changes in the council team and we lost ’our’ planning officer from the case almost as soon as it had been submitted. The planning team had new leadership .The leadership are determined to tighten the council’s approach to the Green Belt and we were the first casualty. The application was recommended for refusal and we withdrew it. We then tried for a second pre-app but were told that the council did not have the staff resources to continue with a pre-app service.

We tried to submit amended proposals for a replacement dwelling and eventually applied for a smaller replacement but were again knocked back. Eventually we were able to get a meeting and agree the parameters of a fresh application. We agreed to retain the existing building but to extend it across the site to create a good sized three bedroom single storey dwelling. We were able to double the size which addressed the problems of the extant consent but technically we were still at the edge of acceptability. We were pleased to finally receive the consent and work is expected to start later this year.

This was a difficult case, the LPA were inconsistent in their approach and then they were uncommunicative. We wasted time and client’s money on proposals which could have been stopped had we’d been able to meet and negotiate. We will always try to get the best permission we can for our clients. But where a council is working outside of national guidance there can be real problem and in such circumstances as there is no appeal option.

Revisiting a redeveloped Lenton Gardens

NDSA – Round table discussion on Government’s Planning White Paper

Engaging with NDSA

NDSA – Digital presence

Urban Room

Exhibits

Student Awards

History

Solvency

Planning Success on a Difficult Green Belt Site

Offices

Services

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