Poll result: Readers split on supermarket role

More than 200 readers have taken part in our poll on which supermarket has the best track record in regeneration, with nearly a quarter voting in favour of Tesco while just under a fifth of respondents picked Sainsbury's.

But more than one-third of readers said that neither Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Morrison's had the best track record in regeneration. Ten per cent voted "other".

Readers voted on both our blog and our parent site, regen.net.

Commenting on our blog, Rob Weaver said: "Putting empirical evidence to one side I really struggle to see how 'regeneration' and 'supermarkets' can be viewed as related concepts.

"Surely everyone 40+ can remember what the UK was like before the rise of the hypermarkets. In those days there were locally owned and managed shops on most housing estates, not to mention town centres. Go into every town in Britain now and you will see Tesco Expresses at major junctions on ring roads as a kind of advance landing party before the big store 'invades' the centre. "

Nik Potter commented: "Why on earth is the Co-Operative not listed!? Not only do they tend to have stores right in the midst of deprived areas, they employ local people!"

Here are some more comments from readers on the poll. Please add your thoughts on the debate in the comments section below.

Net gain: the role of public art in regeneration

Has Ray "Robocop" Mallon gone soft?

Speaking at the unveiling last week of Anish Kapoor's and Cecil Balmond's vuvuzela-shaped Temenos sculpture, the Middlesbrough mayor, whose zero tolerance policy has had some success in reducing crime, said such public artworks were about nothing more complicated than "making people feel good".

"Flowers make people smile," he said. "So do pieces of art."

Later on, Kapoor - who has also designed a proposed Olympic Park sculpture, was also enthusiastic about the role of public art doing public good.

"Quality is everything, but on the whole public art works seem to function amazingly effectively, and there are lots and lots of examples, from the so-called Bilbao Effect, to spaces like the Rockefeller Center in New York or the Millenium Park in Chicago and the Tate Modern in London ..." he said.

"Public art does something to our sense of what we are, who we are, why we are - and those things are not without effect. They bring a sense of belonging and place."

Kapoor also said he'd been told that land values in the Middlehaven regeneration site have gone up by 30 per cent in the last five years, partly as a result of the sculpture. (Listen to the Audioboo with Kapoor here.)

Temenos already seems to belong at Middlehaven Dock. Though longer than a Boeing 747 and taller than Nelson's Column - it makes the Angel of the North look piddly - it complements, rather than dominates, the busy industrial landscape it inhabits. (Don't take my word for it - listen to the views of an expert.) Its scale is not overbearing, the sculpture's net of stainless steel cables seemingly shifting in the winds like the smoke stacks rising from the cooling towers behind it.

It is a fitting advertisement for Mallon and Kapoor's view of the regenerating role of public art.

Tory manifesto leaves more questions than answers

Regeneration was centre stage at the Conservative manifesto launch last week. But not in a way that would bring any comfort to those in the sector wondering what the future may have in store, writes Allister Hayman.

“Welcome to Battersea, a great British landmark ripe for regeneration, just like our country,” said William Hague, the Tory deputy leader, at the launch of the manifesto. The use of the old derelict power station – subject to so many schemes and visions over the past few decades – as a metaphor for Britain, and by extension, the “regeneration” that the Tory promise to bring the country was clever. But it was just that: all PR and no policy. For, apart from a section in the manifesto that praised Manchester’s urban regeneration (which has largely been directed by Labour both locally and nationally), regeneration was conspicuous only by its absence as a policy area in the manifesto.

We should not be surprised. Having been long promised a Tory regeneration green paper by Tory shadow regeneration minister Stewart Jackson that was endlessly delayed and finally shelved, the sector could not have expected much from the party in the way of clear regeneration policy. Previously, Jackson has said the regeneration paper would set out the Tory position on policy issues such as Tax Increment Financing, the reinstitution of the Single Regeneration Budget, local asset-backed vehicles and a proposed "forensic audit" of the Thames Gateway and housing market renewal areas. It was also expected to further clarify the future of economic development funding if regional development agencies are scrapped.

But now the sector goes into the election not knowing where the Tories stand on these and other issues that concern regeneration practitioners. With the Tories making Britain’s “Broken Society” a key theme in their pitch to voters it is not unreasonable to expect that they would have delivered on their promise to set out some policy positions for those who actually work on the ground in Britain’s so-called broken communities. Yes, they provided details of their 'Big Society' plan to reinvigorate the voluntary and community sector. But while giving residents the power to take control of local parks and swimming pools is commendable, that alone is not going to bring forward the regeneration of Battersea power station.

Such large-scale projects of course require public intervention, which in the case of Battersea will require public money to build an extension to the North Line. If regeneration is anything it is state intervention in market failure, which by its definition requires an active state. Yet the Tory manifesto and the rhetoric of senior members of the shadow cabinet, not least shadow business secretary Ken Clarke, have been increasingly hostile to such notions. Indeed, last week Clarke mocked Labour’s “active industrial policy” championed by business secretary Lord Mandelson and said the Tories would be much more hands off.

This is worrying. Arguably – and many economists do argue this – the Government’s interventions in the economy since the financial crisis were all that stopped the country from plummeting into a truly deep recession, perhaps even depression. Additionally, Lord Mandelson can point to some recent successes in attracting investment to the UK – Nissan’s green car, offshore wind manufacturers - which of course can not entirely be credited to Government policy, but nor can that same policy be entirely discounted.

But plainly, the Tories have hardened their position on the right-side of the economic debate and want a smaller state, and a bigger community sector. It will be a revival of civil society and an unleashing of enterprise that regenerates the UK they argue, not an active state. They want to boost the private sector’s share of the economy across the country - a laudable aim – but expect to do so without the “grants and subsidies” that Clarke said Mandelson has been distributing like “a Bourbon monarch [going] round in his coach throwing out gold coins”.

But many in the sector question whether such a laissez faire approach is really the right one. Yes business would benefit from cutting red tape – that is a given – but the economy remains weak and is in need of serious recalibration. As a recent report by the think-tank the Work Foundation made clear, the industries of the future – high tech manufacturing, green technologies, the creative industries – as well as the research and development and innovation that lead to as yet undiscovered opportunities, rarely emerge out of thin air.

Rather, they are conjured through partnerships between the public and private sector, as evidenced, for example, in Germany. The worry is that, in the Tories' championing of the third sector and their evident eagerness to hack back the state, the subtleties of these kinds of relations between public and private sectors may be trampled – and with them the green shoots of recovery. If Battersea is to be regenerated – and by extension the UK – the Tories would do well to recognise that just as they might like now to cut tax but can’t, so too should they realise that a little bit of action from the state to help recalibrate the UK economy would not be the end of the world. Indeed, it could be the start of a new one.

A mission to change regeneration’s DNA

Frank Lloyd Wright might have called trees "one of the greatest resources on the Earth", but I hadn't had a deep and meaningful conversation about them since I learnt about their role in guzzling greenhouse gases at primary school.


That was until last week, when I went to London's Earl's Court for Ecobuild, the conference and trade show dedicated to sustainability in design and the built environment and the biggest event of its kind in the world.



There, at the Trees and Design Action Group’s stand, I met architects Sir Terry Farrell of Thames Gateway fame and Sue James of Capita Lovejoy.

Farrell was recently named Knowledge Champion for the RIBA Knowledge Community on Trees in Urban Greening, for which TDAG is the expert advisory panel; James is the TDAG’s convenor.

The TDAG’s aim is simple enough: "It’s to get more people planting trees", says Farrell.


Formed in 2007, the TDAG is made up of builders, insurers, local authorities, utilities and environmental agencies and aims to ensure that green infrastructure is valued as much as grey infrastructure. Its influence has already reached top levels, its goal to see the capital's boroughs have a tree strategy having being written into a clause in the replacement London Plan.

Talk to James and it becomes clear that she is on no less a mission than to change the very DNA of regeneration. She describes green infrastructure as “the glue that can hold the urban realm together” and sees the current model for renewal as a failed one.

“We must hold off building,” she says. “Let’s just think what we’re doing before we assume building is the solution. (Let’s use) green infrastructure to set the stage for development. Too often it’s the stuff that’s added in afterwards.”

Such an approach has a role to play in stemming antisocial behaviour, James says, citing research by Dr Frances Kuo. “On housing estates, if you improve the green spaces you may improve the perceptions (of people living there) …(and) improve lifestyles and behaviour.”

James cites the EC1 NDC in Islington, North London, as an example of what can be achieved when green – not grey - infrastructure, are given equal billing. Says James: “We need to show people that they’re valued members of society. If they feel better in it, perhaps they’ll behave better in and may want to stay in it more, showing them that they’re valued members of society. Isn’t that the best hope for regeneration?"

Photo by EZTD

Japanese lessons

Bullet train technology. X-shaped pedestrian crossings. Knotweed. These are all things for which regenerators must thank the Japanese. To this list we can now add pod-style hotels.

Last week, Westminster City Council granted permission for a hotel with 495 rooms, some of which will measure a mere 12sq metres, at the Grade II-listed Trocadero building in London’s West End. These pod-style rooms are inspired by the even tinier sleeping compartments stacked side by side and one above the other found in Japanese capsule hotels. If you’ve ever stayed in one of those, you’ll know it’s like sleeping inside a shoe, only worse-smelling.

Pod hotels aren’t, strictly speaking, new to this country. The first, Yotel, was created by Gerard Greene and Simon Woodroffe, who knows a thing or two about borrowing ideas from the Japanese – he’s the entrepreneur behind the Yo! Sushi restaurant chain. It opened at Heathrow Terminal 4 in 2007; others have since followed.

Here are four other Japanese innovations we think could work in this country:

1. Underground bicycle parks. Automated parking spaces such as Eco Cycle in west Tokyo’s Jiyugaoka district store cycles beside the train station in moving carousels for members who pay around £18 a month to use the park, resulting in less clutter and less cars.

2. (Proper) superfast high-speed broadband. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the UK is placed a lowly 21st out of 30 in terms of internet connection speed, below Greece and Portugal. Most subscribers in Japan access the internet through fibre optic technology and the top advertised speed is 1 gigabite per second. Although business secretary Peter Mandelson’s Next Generation Fund proposes to upgrade the UK’s digital infrastructure so that 90 per cent of the country has access to super-fast broadband, this is likely to be at a speed of 50 megabits per second only. Can Britain remain competitive when the playing field isn’t level?

3. Turn Heathrow into a transit hub. Haneda airport is the world's fourth-busiest airport and less than 15 minutes from downtown Tokyo. Could Heathrow ever become so close to the capital? Interviewed by the Sunday Times last year, transport secretary Lord Adonis talked about integrating Heathrow into the future north-south High Speed 2 rail line, calling it "an attractive idea.'' Such a hub would encourage more passengers get to the airport by train and mean some passengers ditch air travel altogether for trips to the continent.

4. Garden cities. Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara has for a while been encouraging companies to grow plant and vegetable gardens on top of skyscrapers to lower city temperatures and provide green spaces for the public. If communications giant NTT can harvest sweet potatoes on its own rooftop farms and human resources firm Pasona can run a farm that adjusts temperatures, humidity and lighting so vegetables can grow under the ground, how about, say, Swiss Re growing gherkins on the side of the Gherkin in London’s City? Or is that just pie in the sky?

Photo by Kaarin T

Full list of ADZ bids

London mayor Boris Johnson has bid to pilot the infrastructure funding mechanism to extend the Northern line from Kennington to Battersea Power Station (left).

The full list of the bids for Accelerated Development Zone powers, compiled by Regeneration & Renewal following a Freedom of Information request, appears below. To read related stories from this week's magazine, click here and here.

Council/partnership ... Scheme

Adur ... Shoreham Harbour Growth Point
Allerdale ... Derwent Forest
Allerdale ... Workington Hall
Allerdale ... Former Corus Site, Workington
Allerdale ... Mayport Harbour
Aylesbury Vale ... Aylesbury Waterside
Barbergh ... Brantham Industrial Area
Barnsley ... Barnsley Markets
Basingstoke & Deane ... Basing View
Bournemouth ... Wessex Fields A338/Riverside Avenue and Park & Ride
Bournemouth ... Bournemouth Town Centre
Bracknell Forest ... Bracknell Town Centre
Bristol City
& South Gloucestershire ... Severnside/Avonmouth Environmental Enterprises
Cambridgeshire ... Cambridge Station Area
Charnwood ... Loughborough Eastern Gateway
Chelmsford ... Chelmsford Flood Alleviation Scheme
Coventry ... Friargate
Coventry ... City Centre Precinct
Coventry ... Stoneleigh Park
Crawley ... Town Centre North
Derbyshire ... Markham Vale Regeneration Scheme, Seymour Development Area
Dorset ... Detail not available
Elevate East Lancashire ... Blackburn Cathedral Quarter
Gloucestershire ... Cotswold Canals Regeneration
Gloucestershire ... Cinderford Town Centre
Gloucestershire ... Newent Town Centre Regeneration
Gloucestershire ... Cirencester Town Centre
Gravesham ... Gravesend Heritage Quarter
Great Yarmouth ... Beacon Park
Greater Birmingham ... Wednesbury-Brierly Hill-Stourbridge Rapid Transit
Greater Birmingham ... Wolverhamption Public Transport Interchange
Greater Birmingham ... Longbridge Strategic Investment Site
Guildford ... Dominic Square City Centre Redevelopment
Harlow ... Harlow Town Centre
Haven Gateway Partnership ... A12/14 And Felixstowe Dockspur Roundabout
Herefordshire ... Edgar Street Grid City Centre Redevelopment
Herefordshire ... Model Farm Employment Development In Ross-On-Wye
High Peak ... Bingswood Estate
Hull ... Fruit Market
Hull ... Hedon Road
Kent ... Ebbsfleet Valley
Kent ... Eureka Business Park
King's Lynn and West Norfolk ... Southern King's Lynn
Kirklees ... Batley Gateway
Kirklees ... Mirfield 25 Huddersfield
Leeds ...Aire Valley Leeds Regeneration
Leicester ... Leicester Waterside Regeneration
Leicestershire ... Detail not available
Liverpool ... Detail not available
London Mayor of London ... Northern Line Extension
London Borough of Barnet ... Colindale Growth And Regeneration Project
London Borough of Croydon ... A23/A235 Growth Related Infrastructure
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham ... West Kensington, Earls Court, North Fulham Regeneration Area
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham ... Fulham Riverside Regeneration Area
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham ... White City Opportunity Area
London Borough of Haringey ... Tottenham Gyratory
London Borough of Lambeth ... Brixton Town Centre
London Borough of Merton ... More Morden Town Centre Development
London Borough of Redbridge ... Ilford Town Centre - Britannia Music Site And 40 Ilford Hill
London Borough of Southwark ... Elephant And Castle
London Borough of Sutton ... Hackbridge Project
Luton and Central Bedfordshire ... East Luton Strategic Employment Corridor
Luton and Central Bedfordshire ... North Houghton Regis And Luton Strategic Employment Site
Manchester ... Northern Gateway Cooperative Complex
Manchester ... Sportcity East Manchester
Manchester ... West Wythenshawe Economic Development Corridor
Mid Sussex ... Burgess Hill Town Centre
Mid Sussex ... Haywards Heath Quarter
Mid Sussex ... East Grinstead Town Centre
Middlesbrough ... Hemlington Grange "Raising Hope"
Newcastle ... Science Central
Newcastle ... Discovery Quarter
North Devon ... Bideford- Five Sites
North Devon ... Ilfracombe - Five Sites
North Staffordshire Regeneration P'ship ... Urban Core A - Transport Interchange And East West Precinct North Staffordshire Regeneration P'ship ... Urban Core B - Railway Station And Central Business District
North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership ... Priority Employment Generators, Etruria Valley
Norwich ... St Stephen's Street
Nottingham ... Nottingham Medipark
Plymouth ... North Cross And Plymouth Railway Station Development
Plymouth ... Language Business Park Extension Into Language Energy Park
Plymouth ... Millbay
Portsmouth ... City Centre North
Preston ... Preston Tithebarne Retail
Purbeck ... Wareham Former Council Depot
Push ... Eastleigh Riverside
Push ... Dunsbury Hill Farm
Rochdale ... South Heywood Development Area
Rotherham ... Rotherham Renaissance Flood Alleviation Scheme
Sedgemoor ... North East Bridgwater
Sheffield ... Sevenstone
Sheffield City Region ... Dearne Valley Eco-Vision
South Hams ... Ermington Workshops Redevelopment
South Norfolk ... Detail not available
St Albans ... City Vision Regeneration
St Edmundsbury ... Suffolk Business Park Extension
Staffordshire Moorlands and High Peak ... Detail not available
Stroud ... Youth Centre
Stroud ... Cam Town Centre
Sunderland ... Vaux Project
Sutton ... Detail not available
Swale Borough Council ... Sittingbourne Town Centre Regeneration
Swindon ... Union Square; Swindon Central; North Star
Thurrock ... DP World London Gateway
Torbay ... Torbay Town Centre
Tunbridge Wells ... Charles The Martyr/Pantiles Crossing
Tunbridge Wells ... North Farm Industrial Estate Access
Wakefield ... Wakefield City Renaissance
Warrington Borough Council ... Bridge Street Quarter
Warrington Borough Council ... Garven Place / Bank Park
Warrington Borough Council ... The Wire Works
Wellingborough ... North Of Park Farm Industrial Estate
West Bromwich ... Town Centre Retail
West Lancashire Borough Council ... Skelmersdale, Industrial Park
Wigan ... Wigan Arc Pemberton
Wigan ... South Lancashire Industrial Estate Extension
Wigan ... Former Parsonage Colliery Site - Leigh
Woking ... Woking Town Centre Infrastructure Improvements
Wolverhampton ... Summer Row
Worcestershire ... British Sugar Factory Site
Wycombe ... Hughenden Quarter
Wycombe ... Handy Cross Gateway
Wycombe ... Swan Theatre
York City Council ... Castle Piccadilly
York City Council ...York Central

Landscape Institute Awards

View Larger Map

Spent a bit of time this afternoon combing the streets (well, virtually, anyway) in search of the very best street-level panorama of this year's winners of the Landscape Institute Awards. Alas, all I could come up with was this: a view of Queen Square in Bristol.

Bristol City Council's Urban Design and Conservation team took home the Heritage & Conservation prize at yesterday's awards for their restoration of what is apparently one of the largest Georgian squares in the UK.

Elsewhere on the night, the President’s Award went to St Andrew Square in Edinburgh, designed by landscape architects Gillespies, while the Peter Youngman Award, which honours an outstanding contribution to landscape, was bagged by the Olympic Delivery Authority for their plans for the 2012 Olympic Park. (For a full list of the winners, click here.)

But when trying to find a representative view to link to for these spots, Google's online maps pretty much drew blanks. Well, they did for me at least. Any citizen cartographers with a more attuned compass may have better luck. Leave a comment - and link - if you do.

Chester 1-0 Rhyl

Three Dragons' Den-style investors descended on this year's Northern Regeneration Summit for the newly-created "Pitch-Pit" forum, which aimed to give insight into what boxes would have to be ticked to make investors part with their cash. Theo Paphitis from Dragons' Den wasn’t there to harp on about his children’s inheritance, but three key investors in the regeneration sector were present to hold the fort: Guy Butler of Grosvenor, Simon Wilkes of Legal and General Property and Ken Knott from Ask Property Developments.

First up were Charlie Seward and Noel O'Neil from Chester West and Chester Council, who pitched their vision for a sheme in Chesterfield. While their pitch was a no-thrills affair it did outline their ideas for the town, which included plans for the development of three former industrial sites to create a new business space alongside retail and leisure projects.

Guy Butler suggested they give the scheme a bit more punch by linking up with universities, but said he was impressed that the council has taken on the lead on Compulsory Purchase Orders. "As a developer, CPOs are a major thing we are not interested in, and would influence me to positively walk away from a scheme," he said. "However, if you [local authority] take on the land assembly, that would de-risk the site and interest us."

Meanwhile, Ken Knott wanted to see more detail on the sequencing of the three sites, and which one would be developed first to act as a trailblazer for the rest of the scheme. He said he wouldn’t bid for the scheme "but would get in the car to have a look".

Simon Wilkes said the pair’s pitch focussed too much of the "scene-setting" and not enough on the vision.

Next up was the "Keeping it Rhyl" pitch from regeneration consultants DPP Shape. After a colourful opening by one half of the team, architect Mike Timpson, the hooked audience awaited for the specifics of their ambitious plans for Rhyl, a struggling Welsh seaside town (picture above by mseasons). They never came.

Simon Wilkes was first to congratulate the team for its "visionary" approach, but said the pitch lacked enough substance for him to make an investment decision, and Ken echoed this by saying he was "immensely disappointed" by lack of detail.

The poll was cast and although close, the audience voted in favour of the let's-stick-to-the-facts speech from Chester West and Chester Council.

POSTED BY SUSIE SELL

Off target?

The Government’s target of making all new homes conform to zero-carbon standards by 2016 is effectively unattainable. This is the view of the Audit Commission’s chair, Michael Higgins, who told this magazine that it will be “all but impossible” to meet the goal. His comments came in the wake of a report published by the public services watchdog on housing, in which it largely blames the absence of an agreed definition of "zero-carbon".

The watchdog is not alone in its views. In a report out this week examining how the housing sector should respond to the upturn in the economy the Home Builders Federation echoed warned that the a desire to maximise the supply of new homes was potentially at odds with Government’s zero-carbon target.

None of this has been helped by confusion over the agreed definition of what constitutes a zero-carbon home. A consultation was held to clarify the Government’s position after two Whitehall departments produced conflicting definitions but in July the housing minister John Healey decided to set up a dedicated task groups to advise on the appropriate level of energy efficiency required for zero-carbon homes, pushing a finalised definition back further until at least the end of the year.

Challenges also remain over consumer appetite and the skills capacity of the sector to meet the demands set by the zero-carbon standard. Add to these difficulties an economic downturn that has knocked the sector for six and the outlook for eco-friendly homes begins to pall. In fact, there have already been problems on the ground as the effects of the recession struck home. Earlier this year a flagship zero-carbon development in Wigan was put on ice because of concerns over its financial viability. And the Government had to step in with a £16 million cushion to support one of its Carbon Challenge initiatives – Southbank in Peterborough.

As the Audit Commission suggests, meeting the 2016 target is going to be tough. If the Government wants to give itself any chance of meeting the goal it must set a final definition of zero-carbon as soon as possible and stick to it.

Let's stop this reactionary rhetoric on housing

Research published this week by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission indicates that – contrary to the perception of many – only a small minority of council housing is allocated to immigrants. The vast majority of residents living in social housing, nine out of ten, are born and raised in the UK.

Good news for those in the sector who have long known that the myth of queue jumpers is founded on misinformation and ignorance. But it’s unlikely the report’s findings will make a difference to those whose minds are already made up about who gets to live in Britain’s state-funded housing. Already the figures have been branded a whitewash by Sir Andrew Green, head of Migrationwatch UK and beloved spokesperson of the tabloids.

Unfortunately it is to Green and his ilk the Government appears to take heed. Last week new housing minister John Healey announced that councils will soon be able to prioritise local people in an overhaul of allocations policies. On the Today programme he may have defended the policy as one aiming to give local authorities more flexibility rather than being designed to appease Daily Mail readers but it’s hard to wholly believe his sincerity.

The authors of the EHRC report are sensible enough to highlight what they see as the reasons behind the public’s perceptions about council housing allocations and to emphasise that, however misguided these perceptions are, they need to be addressed by policymakers. It acknowledges that myth-busting exercises about social housing allocation carried out by councils are of limited use particularly in face of the onslaught from many of the tabloid papers whose anti-migration messages can only fuel discontent.

That doesn’t mean that local authorities should sit back and do nothing – public concerns do need to be addressed at a local level - but the lead on this issue must come from central Government. Resentment will always fester over a scarce resource so increasing the number of new homes is the most sensible way forward. Tinkering with the allocations policy is, as John Healey admitted, no substitute for building more houses. At least, on this front, the Government is, at least, looking in the right direction.

Posted by Samantha Thorp

Goalmouth Close

Recent years have seen football stadiums in most of England's large cities replaced with bigger, shinier versions. Here we take a look at what has happened to some of those former grounds - many of which were steeped in history - since then.

1. Roker Park, Sunderland

Roker Park - famed for the so-called "Roker roar" - was the home of Sunderland between 1898 and 1997. The site was too confined for expansion, so in the early 1990s the club began a search for a new home. In 1997, Sunderland moved to the Stadium of Light in nearby Monkwearmouth, on the site of the closed Monkwearmouth Colliery. 

Following the move to the new stadium, Roker Park was turned into a housing estate (see Google Map, below). To commemorate Roker Park, the streets were named Promotion Close, Clockstand Close, Goalmouth Close, Midfield Drive and Roker Park Close.

2. Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough

Ayresome Park was the home of Middlesbrough between 1903 and 1995 . Three 1966 World Cup matches were staged at the stadium, including North Korea's famous win over Italy. By the early 1990s, the stadium needed major work to bring it up to date. Middlesbrough moved to the new Riverside Stadium in 1995.

The stadium was briefly retained as a training ground, but was demolished in 1997. It is now a housing estate, and its roads include The Midfield and The Turnstile.

3. Maine Road, Manchester

Maine Road, in Moss Side, Manchester, was the home of Manchester City from its construction in 1923 to 2003. Its record attendance was set in 1934, when nearly 85,000 people attended an FA Cup tie against Stoke City. In 2003, Manchester City relocated to the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester. Maine Road was demolished in 2004. Construction of a new housing estate on the site of the stadium is currently underway (see Google Streetview image below).

4. Baseball Ground, Derby

The Baseball Ground was the home of Derby County from 1895 to 1997. The stadium was built on a gypsy camping ground, prompting a notion that the club was under a gypsy curse causing a lack of fortune in the FA Cup. In 1997, Derby County moved to Pride Park, but the Baseball Ground wasn't demolished until 2003. A joint venture plans to build nearly 150 homes on the site. Google Streetview shows the progress made to date (below).  

5. Highbury, London

Highbury - or Arsenal Stadium - was the home of Arsenal between 1913 and 2006. Restrictions, such as one of the stand's status as a listed building and the fact that the stadium was surrounded on all sides by homes, made expansion difficult. The club built the Emirates Stadium at nearby Ashburton Grove and moved there in 2006. 

The stadium is currently being redeveloped and converted into apartments as part of a scheme called Highbury Square, which is expected to be ready next year. The exteriors of two stands are being preserved and incorporated into the development. The pitch will be a communal garden.

Ghost developments

News reaches us that a village built in Scotland during the 1970s oil boom but abandoned without ever being occupied is to be redeveloped.

Pollphail at Portavadie in Argyll was built to house workers needed to construct concrete oilrigs, but work dried up before they could arrive on site. The village – big enough to house 500 people – has since fallen into disrepair. Local councilor Bruce Marshall says that for the last 35 years the homes have been inhabited by sheep and bats. You can see some images of Pollphail - including a row of rusting washing machines - at this local photographers’ website.

But now, after nine years in the planning process, a revamp of the village is to go ahead. Demolition will clear the area for 270 new properties.

This got us thinking about other 'ghost' developments. Here are four more examples:

Tobacco Dock, Wapping, east London

In 1990, this Grade I listed warehouse building was converted into a shopping centre, in a bid to create the Covent Garden of the East End. But the scheme was unsuccessful, and since the mid-1990s, it has been almost entirely unoccupied. The site is still well maintained, with full time security guards and a kestrel to discourage pigeons.

Hammersmith Ark, west London

This building, completed in 1992, has had a unhappy history, despite being one of London's most striking landmarks. It has lain empty for three-quarters of its existence - only being occupied by drinks firm Seagram between 1996 and 2000. An expensive refurbishment of the building's interior - completed last year - has coincided with the collapse of the property market. Nevertheless, earlier this year, the Ark was reported to be closing in on its first tenant for eight years.

Fordlandia, Amazon Rainforest

This now-abandoned prefabricated town was established in the Amazon rainforest in 1928 by American industrialist Henry Ford. It aimed to secure a source of rubber for the car manufacturing operations of the Ford Motor Company. It wasn't initially a roaring success, as none of Ford's managers had the requisite knowledge of tropical agriculture. In 1930, the native workers - unhappy at the way they were being treated - revolted against the managers, many of whom fled into the jungle until the Brazilian army arrived. By 1945, synthetic rubber was developed, ending any demand for natural rubber. As a result, Fordlandia was a total disaster. 

Pripjat, Ukraine

This town was built in 1970 to house the Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers. It was evacuated in the space of two days in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Before the accident, its population had been around 50,000. Now it is a 28 Days Later-style ghost town, slowly being recolonised by vegetation. The map below gives some idea of the huge scale of the town.

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Please comment below if you have any examples to add to the list.

Olympic sight

I recently went for a tour of the Olympic Site in east London and was struck by the infrastructure that is in place just to keep the site ticking over.

Some 4,000 people are currently working on the site itself building the venues, the village and everything in between, figures like this make it realistic to describe the project as a small town in itself, but certain things I encountered made the site seem more like a country. For instance border control.

Due to terrorism, security is tight. As I wasn't in possession of my driving licence the day I visited I needed to supply my birth certificate and another form of ID and be signed in by one of the top brass.

By the time I reached my entry point, round the other side of the site I had entered two separate London boroughs (Hackney and Newham) this gives an idea of scale. But how do these 4,000 workers get around the car-free site? Well, like any well-run small town, the site has public transport, of course.

Three separate bus routes to be exact. The contractors arrive by train, tube or bike (for which there are hundreds of racks at either end of the site) then jump on a bendy bus and find their way to their venue.

Its an essential tool to avoid getting lost, according to the people who showed me round. The site is so active and ever-changing that a road that you quite happily used yesterday to navigate the site might not exist tomorrow, they told me.

In addition to all this, there is the well-publicised canal dredging, and a very active operation aimed at reusing as much material found on site as possible.

If the set up for the games-proper is as well thought out as the infrastructure that presently serves the nascent site, we've got nothing to worry about.

Council must beat the 'bananas' and win riverside row

I moved to Twickenham in south-west London just before Christmas last year. Since then, I've become increasingly aware - largely due to the presence of a street stall on the high street most weekends - of a row between the council and a vociferous group of local residents over a planned riverside development.

The Save Our Riverside (SOR) group is critical of the London Borough of Richmond's plans for a largely derelict site between Twickenham's main shopping street and the River Thames, which include green space, a new community building and new private homes. The SOR group, according to its website, wants the land to be used as public recreational space. It warns that the council's plans will cause traffic and parking problems. Local opposition parties, meanwhile, object to the fact that part of the publicly owned land will be given over to private housing.

This week, the local Liberal Democrats - who run the council - hit back by delivering "myth-busting" leaflets to local residents. Large posters promoting the scheme have started to appear in the windows of council buildings. 

For my part, I hope that the council succeeds in winning the argument. I appreciate the importance of preserving the character of the riverside and the sensitivities around selling off public land, but the section of the riverside where the scheme would go desperately needs a facelift. Perhaps the most the persuasive argument in the council's favour is that the site of the proposed development has been largely derelict for 28 years (see map below).

View Twickenham Riverside in a larger map

As far as I can see, turning the site into recreational space would not provide a boost to Twickenham's town centre, which has been hit recently by the closure of two large stores (Woolworths and Rosebys). The planned river centre - which would include a boathouse, aquarium and education centre - could provide this boost. And in any case, under the council's plans 60 per cent of the site would be open green space.

It's a shame that a group of "bananas" - those that would build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything - have turned lots of residents against the scheme.

Boris body blunders

Another week, another blunder, from Boris Johnson.
 
Last week, Johnson fell into a river while collecting litter at the launch of a volunteering campaign.
 
That was quite funny. Rather less amusing is the news this week that Boris has a massive over commitment in spending at his economic development body, the London Development Agency.
 
A major oversight by London’s tousle-haired top man, it seems the LDA has rather less cash than it thought it had. To be more precise, the LDA coffers are “tens of millions” of pounds short.
 
What does this mean? Well, the LDA says it will have cut funding for some projects, while postponing or rescheduling others.
 
In an attempt to placate Londoners, the LDA tells us that “no additional borrowing” will be needed to cover the shortfall. Presumably that’s because the LDA will be too busy cancelling projects instead.
 
It will be interesting to see what Boris is going to do to ensure the LDA doesn’t make the same mistake again.
 
I hope your organisation is not anticipating an injection of cash from the LDA. You could be in for a long wait…

Posted by Ben Cook

Fishy market

The regeneration sector saw some interesting business news this afternoon when developers' share prices made large gains.

By three o'clock St Modwen's price had risen by more than 10 per cent; Quintain's by eight per cent and Hammerson's by seven.

The Footsie as a whole had had another good day but, by way of comparison, it closed just shy of two per cent up.

There was no immediately apparent cause. So what was the cause of the fishy fillip? Sources suggest that, as is often the case with the markets, its something of a case of sticking with the shoal.

Word from the traders this afternoon is that one major brokerage house was out "shopping for shares this morning".

This, in turn, led other traders to think they may have missed a trick. As a result they started fishing for under priced stocks – and the lucky developers happened to be the catch of the day, the trader suggested.

But, our source warns: "This doesn't mean it'll happen tomorrow."

UPDATE: May 7, 10.25 am - All three developers mentioned above are up in early trading.

Hammerson up 2.8 per cent
St Modwen 2.75 per cent
Quintain by 1.13 per cent

And Developer Land Securities is up 4.42 per cent so far this morning.

Loss of Olympic legacy chief a blow for east London

The news today that Tom Russell has parted ways with the London Development Agency’s London 2012 Olympic legacy team is cause for consternation. Russell has been a real champion for regeneration and achieved great success with the Commonwealth Games-led regeneration of East Manchester. Since starting out with the London Development Agency in January 2008 he has brought forward the legacy masterplan, fostered partnership working between the five host boroughs, and established a new urban regeneration company to take on the legacy plan. Many expected that he would remain involved, perhaps as chief executive of the URC, the same position he held in East Manchester.

But this morning the LDA has said his work is done. In an odd press release, they announced that Tom had decided to “pass the baton” to the URC, which takes over the legacy tomorrow. But it did not clearly state that he had resigned. Indeed when questioned an LDA spokeswoman would not say whether he had resigned or whether he had been dismissed, reiterating only that he was “passing the baton”, the phraseology of track and field, not employment law.

Russell has in the past questioned whether the main Olympic stadium should retain an athletics track after the games. That commitment on Lord Coe’s part – some say driven by his own desire to one day head up the International Olympic Committee – meant that legacy plans for the stadium have been hamstrung from day one because no “big ticket” user, as Russell put it, such as a football club, wants a stadium that has an athletics track separating the crowd from the action. Russell was right to raise this as an issue and the Mayor would have done well to heed his warning: more than likely without a major tenant the stadium will not be able to pay its own way. Certainly, track and field is unlikely to keep it going: athletics is not a major spectator sport in England and probably never will be.

Russell had great ambitions for Olympic Park. Since taking on the job, he has been clear that the International Broadcast Centre and the Main Press Centre – the IBC/MPC – which will house the press during the games, was the key Olympic legacy project. Earmarked as a media business hub after the games and potentially creating up to 10,000 jobs, Russell maintained that it was the media centre that would catalyse the regeneration of the area and make it the successful place he was hoping to create. Hence the vigorous behind the scenes negotiations between the LDA and the Olympic Delivery Authority, as budgetary constraints forced the ODA to scale down and cut back the quality of the IBC/MPC. It is unlikely that design watchdog Cabe's verdict on the media centre this week – that it showed a “paucity of imagination” and exhibited an “extraordinary banality” – pleased Russell.

No doubt the story of his exit will soon emerge. But for now its fair to say that with Russell’s departure the promise of a real regeneration legacy for East London has suffered another blow. Working within tough constraints, Tom Russell was one of the good guys.

Left to rot

I spent a happy afternoon yesterday inspecting the Monastery in Gorton Manchester. It's a wonderful building and has been lovingly restored to its former glory by a development trust headed by Elaine Griffiths. However, the fact that it required such extensive at all is depressing.

The monastery was abandoned by Franciscan monks back in 1989, after which the Catholic church sold the building to a property developer. The developer drew up plans to convert main church in seven storeys of flats, which would have caused huge damage to the building's fabric had the company not promptly gone bust. Ownership passed to the developer's creditors, which took minimal action to protect the monastery from vandals. Inevitably, the place was ripped apart. When Elaine visited with her husband – a former chorister – the monastery was little more than a shell.

But perhaps what is most shocking is that it is nearly impossible to imagine such a historic building from falling into a state of such decrepitude if it was located in Mayfair or in Edinburgh's New Town. The fact is that the monastery is located slap bang in the middle of a deprived east Manchester housing estate; off the beaten track, yes, but hardly inaccessible. It seems that it had been rather a long time since English Heritage had paid a visit. 

Regeneration Steet View snapshots #7: Elephant & Castle

The refurbishment of this south London traffic interchange has been beset by delays and other wrangling.

When completed, the Elephant & Castle scheme will include 5,300 new homes and 120,000 sq metres of retail and commercial space.

Click and zoom and move around the project by clicking on the arrows.


View Larger Map

Forget Tokyo: It's time to rid Oxford Circus of traffic

Oxford Street is set for a taste of Tokyo. Oxford Circus, the intersection between London's most famous shopping street and the elegant Regent Street, is to be reworked. Under the plans, traffic approaching the crossroads from all four directions will be halted simultaneously at red lights, allowing pedestrians to cross diagonally as well as straight ahead en masse. The scheme, modelled on the Shibuya crossing in the Japanese capital, will also see much of the ugly street clutter and barriers that blight Oxford Circus removed.

That may help, but it won't help enough. Inexplicably – certainly to Londoners, many of whom try their best to avoid it – Oxford Circus is among the world's top destinations, getting 200 million visitors a year. For visitors from smaller countries, the concentration of so many big retail brands in a long, wide thoroughfare may command awe, briefly, but it doesn't take much more than a second glance to see that London's shopping heartland is something approaching a national disgrace. Londoners may know there are plenty of better areas to spend a Saturday shopping in the capital, many visitors don't.

Blessed with a grand boulevard and fine buildings, Oxford Street has managed to fashion a sow's ear from a silk purse. The pavements are way too narrow to accommodate the throng of confused tourists and exasperated locals that blend awkwardly in the area. Shabby transitory retailers pollute the Tottenham Court Road end of the street. There is clutter everywhere – poor signage, ugly street furniture and unlicensed advertisements for such delights as the never-ending golf sale. But the area's fundamental problem is its traffic.

In spite of being closed to general traffic, Oxford Street is plagued by motor vehicles. These are chiefly buses moving at a snail's pace in a noisy, smelly, grumbling thin red lines; plus a few cabs with frustrated drivers and the odd lost boy-racer in a sports car. The air quality and environment is unpleasant – even crossing the road can be an ordeal.

A few pilot traffic-free days run by the New West End Company have been hits with shoppers, so the question is, instead of messing about with Tokyo-style pedestrian crossings, why not abolish traffic in Oxford Street completely and open up the street to pedestrians? Some people will moan that they can no longer catch their bus from outside, say, John Lewis, but this is a price worth paying. A clever programme of re-routing would do the trick, and people would get used to it.

Many of the world's best shopping areas are pedestrianised – including many in London itself, such as Covent Garden. It seems ludicrous that its biggest draw is relegated to monumental embarrassment by the smoke and choke of jammed-up traffic.