Tag Archives: preston

The Preston Model: lessons for local value in property, construction, food …

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The local Preston Model for ‘guerilla localism’ has received coverage in the Guardian over the last month or so. For those interested in how localism approaches can favour SME’s rather than out-of-town large investors, these reports make good reading.

In 2011 Preston hit rock bottom. Then it took back control

The Preston model – event review: ‘Cities are looking to us for hope’

Related: in the light of Carillion collapse, Nottingham City framework will be broken down into smaller packages to favour smaller construction organisations in the region.

Related: my LinkedIn article Co-Benefits of Built Environment.

Talking, Sharing, Launching

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My 2017 diary is shaping up with some great and exciting presentations & talks, sharing insights from FutuREstorative, introducing the Living Building Challenge, launching more collaboratives in the UK and launching RESTORE, our European COST restorative sustainability research programme. And more…

Jan 11th Preston
Sharing insights from FutuREstorative, Living Building Challenge along with healthy buildings topics such as biophilia and salutogenesis with the UCLan Healthy University Group in relation to the University Master Plan Development

Jan 25th Manchester
Book Talk. Sharing insights from FutuREstorative at Constructing Excellence Manchester, Breakfast Meeting
Archive

Jan 31st London
Sharing insights from FutuREstorative at Constructing Excellence Sustainability Working Group event: Healthy Buildings and Wellness
Archive

Feb 6th London
Intro to Living Building Challenge Talk and the Launch of a Living Building Challenge Collaborative for London in association with Mott MacDonald
Archive

Feb 23rd Lancaster
Lancashire Green Drinks
Book Talk. Green Build and Green Coffee. Sharing insights from FutuREstorative. With Ian Steel, Atkinsons Coffee at the Hall, Lancaster
Details and Registration

Feb 24th  Glasgow
Intro to Living Building Challenge Talk and the Launch of a Living Building Challenge Collaborative for Scotland in association with The Scottish Ecological Design Association (SEDA)
Details and Registration

March 9th Brussels
Kick Off Meeting: After 2 years writing submissions and developing the EU COST Action with EU colleagues Carlo Battisti and Emanuele Naboni, we finally kick off RESTORE, our EU COST Research Programme

March (tbc)
Sharing insights from FutuREstorative and Construction Carbon (with Carbon Trust) at Constructing Excellence Lancashire

April (tbc)
Sharing insights from FutuREstorative and Construction Carbon (with Carbon Trust) at Constructing Excellence Liverpool

April 26th  Trento, Italy
Supporting Regeneration Edition 3 Living Building Challenge Competition. Applications still open
Details and Registration

May, London Be2camp style book event with FutuREstorative contributors.

November 10th Leeds
Talking, a little way of yet but delighted to be a guest speaker for the CIBSE Yorkshire Awards Dinner in Leeds

More soon …

“the future will require us to build better places”: Preston Tithebarn

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Juxtapositoning of messages today:

… that the Tithebarn project in Preston has got (yet another) go ahead:

Preston’s £700m Tithebarn scheme has been given the go-ahead by a High Court judge. (LEP)

… that a survey from the Guardian on the future of the High St reveals that over 70% feel the high street doesn’t have a future, and that recent news re Thorntons. Jane Norman, TJ Hughes and Habitat is “a structural change and more bad news will follow”

… as James Kunstler says in  The Geography of Nowhere: Rise and Decline of America’s Man-made Landscape""  (currently reading):

 ‘The future will require us to build better places, or the future will belong to other people in other societies.’

Artists impression of Preston Tithebarn project – or is it Arndale Manchester, or the Bull Ring – or … nowhere?

Interesting times

zero carbon ‘floating’ development for Preston

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Green, innovative and zero carbon project development on our doorstep in Preston, Lancs, !

The RIBA have recently awarded a zero carbon design as the visitor center at the new Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve in Preston, to regenerate a former quarry site into a major visitor attraction.

The project called “A Floating World”, consists of zero-carbon floating buildings (the name coming from the fact that the zero-carbon buildings will be built on an island of floating pontoons)

Adam Khan Architects, won the RIBA design competition to work on the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Britain’s largest eco-regeneration scheme. The project is zero-carbon in both use and production, with materials of low embodied energy – thatch, willow, timber, with off-site prefabrication and on-site energy generation and waste treatment.

Floating world will feature cafe, shops, gallery, education areas and meeting rooms and is part of the £59 million Newlands Scheme, a project that will turn 900 hectares to community woodland and green space.

On announcement of the winner, Peter White, Head of Infrastructure & Development at the Northwest Regional Development Agency said:

“This site has the potential to become an important visitor attraction for the region, building on its rich natural assets and impressive biodiversity. The Agency is supporting its development through Newlands, a wide reaching scheme that aims to reclaim brownfield land and transform it into thriving community open spaces, and has so far invested £800,000 in Brockholes. The chosen design will not only create an inspirational open space for the local community to enjoy but will also enhance a key gateway into Lancashire and attract further investment into the area. We look forward to working with our partners to progress these plans.”

More on this as the project develops …