'Green scheme' launches design competition

The Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Forestry Commission have launched a design competition for a project that will become the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Britain’s largest eco-regeneration scheme.

In partnership with RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) and Lancashire Wildlife Trust, the competition invites architects to design a suite of visitor facilities for the Brockholes wetland and woodland nature reserve in Preston, which is earmarked for transformation into a visitor attraction of national and international significance under the ‘Newlands’ scheme.

Brockholes is a 106ha former quarry site that sits in a key strategic location aside junction 31 of the M6 motorway.

It is the latest site to be purchased through Newlands – a £59 million, NWDA-funded regeneration scheme that is transforming over 900 hectares of the Northwest brownfield land into community woodland and green space.

Under Newlands, there are plans to turn Brockholes into a visitor attraction that will not only be a landmark centre of excellence for recreation and wildlife, but will also act as a catalytic driver for economic and social development within the local area.

If developed, Brockholes will also signpost visitors to the range of landscape, recreation and biodiversity assets present in England's Northwest.

The visitor facilities at the centre of this design competition form a key element of the scheme, and they will include a café, shop, gallery, education and meeting rooms.

The competition invites architects to submit designs for the full suite of visitor facilities, to inspire and encourage people to visit the site and engage with the natural world. The designs should also aspire to be a carbon neutral construction, drawing on local resources where possible.

On announcement of the competition, Peter White, Head of Infrastructure & Development at the Northwest Regional Development Agency said: "Regeneration projects such as Brockholes are key to improving the image and perception of England's Northwest, encouraging investment and aiding future economic development."

"Within that wider project it’s essential that we support the type of design for the visitor facilities that promotes the attractiveness of the surroundings and inspires visitors to keep coming back."

In support, Keith Jones, Regional Director of the Forestry Commission said: "This competition is a great example of Newlands’ commitment to quality site design as well as cutting edge brownfield remediation."

"If Brockholes, alongside the other Newlands project currently under development, are to deliver real economic and social benefit, they need to include sensitive, responsive and above all, innovative design."

"The Newlands partnership is pleased to announce the Brockholes design competition in partnership with RIBA, and looks forward to working with the successful applicant in the future."

Entries will be judged anonymously in the first stage then the authors of the five preferred schemes will be invited to present them to the jury panel. A total prize fund of £11,000 is available for the jury panel to allocate as they see fit.

Launched in the Summer of 2003, Newlands is now the largest land regeneration project in the country – and the foremost of these programmes to use forestry as the basis for change.

Several projects across the Mersey Belt area of the Northwest region are already being developed to have direct impact on the local economy and communities. Newlands has now expanded to cover the whole of the Northwest region.

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