£1 BILLION INVESTMENT

Derby Cityscape plans for a continental-style boulevard to link the city centre with the railway station. It would be lined with shops, flats and offices to create a "high street" feel and a public garden with stepped, hanging gardens would also be created, as well as an open space with a cafe. The main stone-paved route, called The Gateway to Castle Ward, would join Liversage Street, Park Street and Midland Place and as the approach nears the station, the paving would change to cobbles and traditional-style lampposts would be installed.

John Cadwallader, chief executive of Derby Cityscape, said, "These plans would bring life into that area while creating a natural link from the station to the city centre, which is really lacking at the moment. When people arrive at the station currently it is not clear which way they should go to access the city centre but this route would change that." Urban design manager Nick Corbett said, "It will have wide pavements and very low kerbs. It is an urban street with homes and shops but the roadway would be very narrow, only 4.1m wide, which would mean cars would have to go slowly, making it safer for pedestrians." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Oct/07)

Pride Park is Derby's major achievement of recent years, but its success has been slow in transferring to the city centre. According to Derby property developer Peter Gadsby the city has simply got to start moving forward. He said, "If Derby doesn't pull itself up and get hold it will fall so far behind." Mr Gadsby, whose CV includes the chairmanship of Miller Birch and Cedar House Investments, is convinced the Cityscape vision is achievable, he was, after all, the original driving force behind the setting up of Cityscape as a private sector-led urban regeneration company (URC). But he is equally convinced local investors and developers cannot do it alone.

He said, "We'll have failed if we don't bring in national developers. There's just too much investment needed. The question is whether or not that outside investment comes here, we've got to work hard." Without exception, the city's leading lights believe Derby does not currently have enough office space. Work is already progressing to counter this perceived problem. Cedar House Investments is underway with plans to build a modern office building in Willow Row, behind the new Joseph Wright Sixth Form Centre, which the firm is also developing. Cedar House chairman Mr Gadsby confirmed that several businesses were considering moving into the site, including a firm interested in relocating to Derby from elsewhere and a "professional" firm interested in moving from its existing Derby offices.

The development would include shops, bars or restaurants on the ground floor. Inroads are also being made by Derby City Partnership (DCP) to entice a Government department to the city. DCP, a partnership of 230 public, private and voluntary sector bodies, took on the task after Chancellor Gordon Brown announced his intention to relocate 20,000 civil service jobs from the South-East to the regions. A new office block opposite the Eagle Centre, on the site of the Siddals Road car park, is proposed to house up to 3,000 civil service staff. The move could provide one of the catalysts Derby needs to persuade developers, investors and businesses that Derby is the new place to be.

Adrian Mateo, marketing manager for DCP, said, "I think the city is on the verge of something big, but it needs to happen. We need to see some cranes in the city. Local residents probably won't like it for a while, there's a pain barrier to get through, but in the end it'll all be worthwhile." Castlefields Main Centre, the Coliseum shopping centre and Derby Register Office will all be demolished and replaced by two flagship departments stores (the relocated Marks & Spencer and Debenhams), more than 100 new shops, an 800-seat food court and will create almost 3,000 new retail jobs. City Council chief executive Ray Cowlishaw said, "The Eagle Centre could be just the turning point we need. The shopping offer in this city has got to be a major plank for development."

Traders at the other end of the city centre, in the Sadler Gate area, have long aired their concerns about the growth of the Eagle Centre. The Cityscape team has attempted to address fears that the historical northern end of the city centre will lose out by proposing that the area's hidden courtyards should be developed into a tourist attraction. Mr Cadwallader's vision was to develop a complex of shopping alleys, bars and cafes akin to The Shambles, in York. This would be built on the sites currently occupied by the former Bold Lane Magistrates' Court, Derby City Council's main social services and education building Middleton House, and Prince's supermarket.

The area, which has been dubbed St George's by the master plan authors, would also be a functional living and working area, containing offices and upper-storey apartments. The idea of mixing businesses, homes and leisure on one site is continued with the Friar Gate Goods Yard development, which combines up to 26,000 square metres of new office space with retail units and 800 homes. Riverlights, the long-awaited redevelopment of Derby's bus station, is another project, like Westfield's Eagle Centre extension, that is expected to become a relatively quicker gain for Cityscape. The £83m development, which has been on the drawing board for more than eight years, is expected to include a new 24-bay bus station, bars, restaurants, apartments, a fitness centre and a separate office block.

In the master plan, the development will be linked by a footbridge to the north bank of the River Derwent where, among other things, 28,000 square metres of new office space is planned. Around two-thirds of that office space (18,700 square metres) would be on the site of the existing Darwin Place car park and would consist of a "landmark" office development up to eight storeys high. The city council is also expecting to move to new civic offices in Duckworth Square by 2008. A £30,000 feasibility study is being carried out in advance of the proposed £42m development being approved.

The offices, earmarked for 1,756 council employees, would free up the Council House, Corporation Street, as well as other council buildings including Roman House, in Friar Gate; Celtic House, in Friary Street; and the adjoining Saxon and Norman Houses. Four properties in St Mary's Gate would be vacated, as well as Bio House, Derwent Street, which contains Housing Options. The council estimates its assets are worth £25m. The rest of the cash would be raised through prudential borrowing - a Government-approved loan set at preferential interest rates.

Mr Cowlishaw said, "The excitement will come when you see what is actually happening over the next two, three or four years, with Westfield and Riverlights leading, as well as developments like the civic centre. There's no way that a city like Derby can stay the way it is. We're either going up or we're going down. We've got to move up." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

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