Public to have their say on City Park
DESIGN ideas for Birmingham’s first city centre park for over a century go on show today (Monday 9 October).
The design ideas for Eastside City Park have been submitted by the six practices which won through to the second stage of a design competition for the park launched earlier this year. The design ideas are aimed at illustrating how each team would approach the challenge of designing the park, and will form the basis for development of the final design for the park. The design ideas will be available for viewing by the public at exhibitions on the hoardings around the Town Hall and at Millennium Point until 23 October.
Leaflets with comment slips will be available from the Central Library, the Council House, Millennium Point, the Custard Factory and the Warehouse Café (Allison Street) as well as from libraries and neighbourhood offices across the city. People will be able to say which design they think is the most exciting and inspiring and also answer questions such as which designs use key features like planting and water best, which features they think are most important, and how they think they might use the park.
The design ideas can also be viewed on the City Council’s website (www.birmingham.gov.uk/eastside), and comments can be e-mailed.
The public comment exercise is part of a three-layer process, which includes technical assessment by a wide range of organisations and an expert judging panel. It is anticipated that the panel will make their decision in November, and once the City Council’s Cabinet has considered and approved their choice it is hoped that the winner could be announced in December.
The Eastside City Park design competition was launched last March and attracted well over 100 enquiries, some from firms based in Europe and India. Six internationally-recognised design practices were shortlisted by a panel of experts to compete for the chance to design and deliver the park. The teams were asked to prepare concept design schemes and technical reports illustrating their approach to the design of the park in this important city centre location.
Cabinet Member for Regeneration Councillor Ken Hardeman said, “Eastside is a key component of Birmingham's ongoing renaissance, and the park is a key component of Eastside. So it is vital that we deliver a park which is exciting and inspirational, a park for the 21st century which will become a landmark and enhance our reputation as an international city. I believe that all our citizens should have a chance to comment on the design ideas and the approach of the teams who have produced them, to help the judging panel to make the best choice.”
The City Council’s bid to the Big Lottery Fund’s Living Landmarks scheme for funding to support the creation of the park has won through to the second stage of the regional competition, with work about to start in preparation for the final stage. If the bid is successful in the final round funds will be made available to aid the creation of the park, together with an extensive programme of additional works to improve the environment throughout the Digbeth area.
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