Old Market Square

CABE helped Nottingham City Council deliver an award-winning public space by developing a clear and succinct design brief and running a well-managed design competition.

At Old Market Square, in the heart of the city centre, Nottingham City Council has successfully created an attractive, high quality public space to be enjoyed by local people and visitors alike. CABE enabling helped the council realise its aspirations, actively supporting a prestigious international design competition, which led to the delivery of an award-winning scheme.

Early intervention by CABE influenced the design aspirations of the local authority client and helped to increase the long-term viability of the project. With CABE’s help the design competition generated a wide-ranging international response and raised local public awareness of the benefits of redeveloping Old Market Square. This galvanised the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders.

Support from many different quarters paved the way for the vision, strong leadership and dedication of officers and members of Nottingham City Council to drive the project to its successful conclusion.

How CABE enabling helped

• advised on the competition brief and programme for public consultation
• participated in the project steering group
• helped prepare publicity material and building local support
• participated in the evaluation and selection panel
• helped to clarify design objectives and advising on design issues for the members of the judging panel
• brought the emerging proposals to CABE design review, and
• helped to publicise the successes of the redevelopment, encouraging the city council to use the momentum it generated to build a wider initiative for good design in the city.