DERBY CITYSCAPE

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A visual art and media centre to be built in the heart of Derby has won its first £2.5m slice of funding. The Arts Council approved the grant, after months of anxious waiting for the consortium behind the centre. The development, which will be known as the Quad, will be built in the city's Market Place and will feature a three-screen cinema, galleries and film-making facilities at a cost of £13.5m. Michael Say, chairman of the consortium, said the announcement gave the project a foundation to build upon. He said, "We've got £2.5m - we have to get another £11m. But this is a starting point and a catalyst to get more money in."

The rest of the funding will be sought from European and National Lottery grants. The Quad consortium, which comprises the Metro Cinema, Q Arts, Media Archive for Central England (MACE) and Derby City Council, will now appoint a development director to see the project through to its planned 2007 opening. Six architects are drawing up designs for the centre, which will be at the Corporation Street end of Market Place. The Tourist Information Centre will be incorporated into the new development. Mr Say said, "It will be a focal point for the Market Place and next door to a major entertainment centre, the Assembly Rooms. The whole thing will become a beacon for the centre of the city."

All six designs for the centre will be displayed in the Market Place as part of a public consultation exercise. After taking the views of the public into consideration, a judging panel, including representatives of the consortium and architectural specialists, will choose the winning design. As well as a cinema, the Quad will include video and photography studios and workshops, performance spaces and a moving image archive. The development will play an integral role in Cityscape, the £275m vision for the regeneration of the centre of Derby.

Councillor Paul West, cabinet member for leisure and cultural services, said, "This project is very important for Derby and indeed the East Midlands region. The Arts Council clearly shares that view. We can now progress the various funding, design and management issues with increased confidence." According to the City Council, no decision had been made on the bus station, the Council House or the Full Street magistrates' court and police station. So how can we be expected to make a decision regarding a quarter of the area when three quarters of the plans are still undecided?

People in Derby were asked for their opinions on the six designs drawn up for Derby's £13.5m visual arts and media centre. But those who went along to the first day of the two-week exhibition in the Market Place seemed unimpressed and suggested that proposals be taken back to the drawing board. Chris Woodward who visited the exhibition, thinks this is impossible because the designs are all presented differently and has lobbied the council to get them reproduced.

He said, "I'm pleased that the Quad is going to be built, but it's important to the city to get the architecture right. I couldn't get much idea of what these various options would look like. Some visualisations are done in the dark and one is in shades of grey. Another is hidden behind hypothetical trees and is surrounded by blurred images." He called for public pressure to urge the council to obtain much more realistic visuals for each proposal. He said each should be shown in full colour, in daytime and at night, with aspects from various locations.

However, the council has ruled out the possibility of redrawing the plans. Mike Brown, arts project co-ordinator for the city council, said, "We did ask the architects to produce an overview to show how the building would look at different angles, but some of them have not done this. We did realise it would be an issue when it came to comparing the designs, so our original intention was to have models of the Quad to exhibit. But, when we got the models from the architects some of them were quite fragile. So what we have done is to take pictures of the models from three different angles so people can compare how they would fit in the space."

Derby Cityscape, which is an Urban Regeneration Company, was praised by the Government Minister for Regeneration, Keith Hill, as he announced plans to increase the number of URCs across Britain. Chief executive for Cityscape, John Cadwallader, said, "Cityscape will be the catalyst for the step change in the quality on offer in the city centre in commercial, residential and retail sectors, making Derby a must-go-to destination."