Nottingham is primed for a series of major construction projects that will change the face of the historic city this year. These range from area transforming schemes like the Island Quarter regeneration to large residential projects.
The edges of the city centre have already been revamped by student developers responding to massive demand for bed spaces. But some of the projects likely to get underway or continue in 2023 will make a real difference to all of the city's residents.
Nottingham's most important regeneration at Broadmarsh will continue to move forward as well as a new school hopefully opening this year. We've listed a few of the eye-catching projects that could be coming to an area near you.
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Bluecoat Trent School
Demolition work has been under way at Nottingham College’s former Clarendon campus off Mansfield Road since August 2022 in preparation for the construction of a 1,200 place new secondary school called Bluecoat Trent, which has now been given the go-ahead by Nottingham City Council's planning committee.
The plans were devised after Nottingham College moved to a new city hub and transferred ownership of the Clarendon building to LocalEd, the arms-length property company of the Department for Education. More than £5million in council grants will be used to build the new secondary school, despite some councillors comparing its design to a prison.
The school will now be built and consist of 240 places every year until all year groups are full, seeking to address rising pupil numbers in Nottingham. The Department for Education will manage the redevelopment and new school build ready for 2023.
Broadmarsh continues
The 20-acre Broadmarsh site is one of the most significant city centre development sites in the UK, and undoubtedly one of the most important projects Nottingham has ever faced. Following the collapse of intu, owners of the former shopping centre, the city council established the independent Greater Broadmarsh Advisory Group to oversee a bold new vision for the site, informed by an extensive public engagement and to be carried out by world renowned urban designer Thomas Heatherwick.
The neighbouring streets and buildings are already undergoing a transformation and strengthened connections to improved tram, train, bus and cycle networks - with a new walkway recently opened between Collin Street and Lister Gate. The long-awaited Central Library, which will be based at the new Broadmarsh car park and bus station, is expected to be completed by summer 2023.
This will pass through the new Lister Square green space, with the council have labelled the 'green heart' of the project. In a Greater Nottingham Planning Partnership planning documents, the area is also provisionally allocated for 1,000 new homes.
The council has reapplied for £20m from the Government's Levelling Up fund after its initial bid was rejected, which would have given the authority the required cash to further progress the Broadmarsh redevelopment. Nottingham City Council recently allocated close to £300,000 for work on the Broadmarsh Caves after an inspection indicated there was 'significant risks in the planning and management of works', which could open them up to prosecution under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
River Trent bridge
Nottingham City Council recently agreed costs with landowners so proposals could progress for the new pedestrian and cycle bridge across the River Trent, which would connect Lady Bay to the vast £100m Trent Basin waterside housing estate near Colwick. This comes after more than £9m in Government funding was secured, which is expected to cover the entirety of the project.
If all goes to plan, it is hoped the bridge will open in 2023. A full planning application is set to be submitted at the start of the year.
The structure will be the first new bridge over the River Trent since Clifton Bridge opened in 1958. The bridge is designed to make it easier for walkers and cyclists to places such as Colwick Country Park from the south side of the river, connecting Lady Bay and Trent Basin, off Trent Lane, where hundreds of homes are expected to be built.
Island Quarter
A new era has dawned at a once derelict Nottingham site as the first venture of a £1billion regeneration project opened its doors. Homes, offices, a hotel, bars, restaurants, entertainment and green spaces are part of a ten-year masterplan to transform the 36-acre Island Quarter.
The 'city within a city' at the former Boots Island, between London Road and Manvers Street, is being developed by the Conygar Investment Company, working closely with Nottingham City Council. In September last year, newly-built Binks Yard launched at the site which is being hailed a new destination with 'world-class' amenities.
The new bar and grill, headed up by MasterChef: The Professionals champion Laurence Henry, has canalside views and a plaza for outdoor entertainment unlike anything else in the county. Previous plans decades ago at the former Boots Island were abandoned in the early 1990s.
Bendigo demolition
The Bendigo building, on Bath Street, which has been labelled the city's ugliest building, could be torn down this year. In November last year, plans were approved to reduce the number of rooms in the student tower set to replace the and quicken construction by using different materials.
The former Royal Mail sorting office has previously been labelled Nottingham's ugliest building and was due to be demolished soon to make way for a 13-storey student building providing 692 bed spaces. Nottingham City Council passed the plans for the huge redevelopment in August 2021, but Bricks Group bought the plot and plans in April last year before altering the plans.
Workers have been removing asbestos former Royal Mail sorting office, which has stood vacant for 20 years. Nottingham City Council put up temporary traffic lights nearby from October 15 to October 21 last year so demolition works could be carried out.
500 Bulwell homes at Babbington
The former Babbington Colliery site in Bulwell was allocated in a new development plan this year as a site for 500 new homes. The vast spoil tip of the former colliery, known as Stanton Tip, in Hempshill Vale, has been provisionally identified as a site for new housing in the freshly published plan by the Greater Nottingham Planning Partnership, which aims to set out where thousands more homes could be built across the county by 2038.
The site spans 42.65 hectares, with five to 10 hectares of employment space outlined in the plan. News of the site's inclusion in the development plan comes after Nottingham City Council made a decision to sell 40 acres of the land, to the north of the A610 and west of Cinderhill, in 2017.
The land was sold to developers Omnivale, who already owned a large part of the site, ahead of the necessary work needed to build on the old colliery. The land, which has become overgrown and almost resembles a nature reserve, has become used as a local dog walking spot.
British Waterways
Plans for 95 apartments in a Grade-II listed goods warehouse at the side of the Nottingham and Beeston Canal were given the green light in September. The British Waterways building, one of the most prominent landmarks in the city, had originally been built around 1919 for the storage and loading of goods and materials onto canal barges.
Richard Thomas, the development director of H2O Urban, formed as a partnership between the building owner the Canal and River Trust and specialist partnership developer bloc group, said they were looking to make make full use of the space for the first time in decades. It had been known as the Trent Navigation Company warehouse, which was converted for leisure use as part of the 1996 Castle Wharf regeneration - but over the last few years businesses like a gym and Wetherspoon pub The Company Inn left the building.
Inside there will be 12 studio flats, 42 one-bedroom apartments and 41 two-bedroom apartments, including the construction of a rooftop extension providing eight apartments. The developer must provide a Section 106 contribution, money which goes towards investment in the surrounding area, including £55,783 to educational needs, a £19,502 contribution towards public open space as well as a £3,714 contribution towards employment and training opportunities.
King Edward Street offices
A complex of vacant office buildings near the Pryzm nightclub will be demolished and the main part of the project will see 568 student bedrooms and amenities created in a eight-storey building. A outline application has also been granted for 96 apartments with a mix of one, two and three bed units, as well as commercial office space and shopping areas, on the ground floor.
In a planning application, Corstorphine+Wright’s, on behalf of developer Fusion Students, said: "The building would promote active frontages to all adjacent streets, in addition to providing a new pedestrian link between Kent Street and King Edward Street, regenerating a prominent site that currently offers little to its surroundings. The Fusion Student brief for the site was to explore the potential for high-quality student accommodation that could revitalise a vacant, under-used site, and create a positive addition to the local community."
Elsewhere in Nottinghamshire there are other vast projects in progress. Just over the Rushcliffe Borough Council boundary the preparation for the extension to Nottingham Forest's City Ground will begin in the summer, while an expansion of 640 homes is planned at Top Wighay, near Hucknall.
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