Earlier news
Events
The Portsmouth Society and many other people are very critical of the current application for the redevelopment of the Northern Quarter - currently on display as a large model in the foyer of the Civic Offices. We are depressed by its sheer dullness and lack of ambition. It crams as many shops as possible onto the site of the Tricorn - with very little if any gain to the public realm, and its design is as dull as the nearby 50s and 60s rebuilding of Commercial Road. Nothing about it speaks of the Twenty-first Century.
We are pleased that the scheme is mixed use, but despite housing a new city centre community of several hundred on the upper floors, there are no social spaces for them to meet, and the poorest site - for social renting tenants has no rooftop green space unlike the other two housing areas.
Community and Leisure
Such a major scheme should have a large element of leisure and community use. The application mentions 2000m2 of leisure facilities split between two sites - but these could just be amusement arcades. The community and leisure elements should be spread throughout the scheme and not concentrated in one space near the hotel. A multi-purpose hall for community, arts & leisure with an arts cinema would serve the residents and visitors alike and contribute to the otherwise non-existent night-time economy. Will the whole scheme close down when the shops and the restaurants close? We have quite enough of that already. Where is the 24-hour city?
Sustainability
As well as being dull, none of the buildings - with the possible exception of Marks and Spencers, though it does not have a green roof - come up to current standards of sustainability - grey water re-use, energy conservation / generation. We were disappointed that CABE approved the John Lewis store, which as well as not being designed to the latest standards of sustainability, presents a hostile inpementrable wall towering over the flats to the north of the scheme. The central lightwell is too small to make much use of daylight - so the whole interior will have to be artificially lit. This is probably true of Marks and Spencers too.
The John Lewis building is the subject of a separate, revised, application which will see the relocation of the plant machinery to the main roof space. Some design changes are proposed to the materials (copper coloured rather than blue/green as used on the Cardiff Opera House).
Pedestrian bridges
Only one of the four pedestrian bridges has any interest as a design. The others, connecting the car park to John Lewis and Marks and Spencer, are dully utilitarian. They should be redesigned. We are depressed by the lack of ambition of the developers, Centros Miller. They tried a bit harder in Exeter! When we visit Birmingham and Future Systems' Selfidges department store with its dramatic bridges, we assume that Portsmouth is not considered worthy of cutting edge architecture - but of course, everywhere is, particularly a city whose ambition is waking up quite dramatically - as exemplified by the recent Creative Thinker exercise.
Shopping streets
Earlier models of the dull straight shopping streets implied that there would be colonnades in front of the shops, but this proved to be an illusion. Why should anyone want to shop here, if it looks just like any other shopping street?
Design Statement and Public Art
We are not impressed by the Design Statement, which includes the rather grey landscaping. We are particularly critical of the proposals for public art, which are confined to about three sites and to be decided by a committee of the developers and one employee of the city council. A publicly funded public art collaboration by Seran Kubisa produced some beautiful designs arising from the local environment, but they are ignored in favour of a few lighting strips.
Again, Portsmouth deserves better. We have quite enough third rate 'public art' - a few sculptures planted about - in Gunwharf for example. All such proposals should be subject to a consultation process with expertise in public art - for example the Hampshire Sculpture Trust - which has members in Portsmouth. Public art should be integrated into the design process from the start.
The Square behind St Agatha's Church
A major design concern is the derisory 'square' by St. Agatha's. The mature Italianate planting around St. Agatha's is all to be destroyed and built on, hemming in the church with Marks and Spencers on one side and a bookshop on the other. What is left is two very small linked spaces - the only place where people who live, shop or work here can enjoy being outside. Ideas about a 'square' where the main shopping streets cross seem to have been dropped altogether. We are particularly concerned that St. Agatha's is wholly or partly hidden along the axes of both new main streets.
St Agatha's Church
Another major lost opportunity is for the developers to pay for the reconstruction of the Lady Chapel of St. Agatha's, brutally amputated when the area was first redeveloped. This should have been the subject of a Section 106 agreement at the outline permission stage. Building no. 8 dwarfs St Agatha's and blocks views to it from several angles - it does not enhance the setting of the church. The size of this building should be halved to allow a significant increase in the size of the public space.
The Society has already objected to the Listed Building consent application which proposes blocking the view of the major pedestrian route which passes to the south of St. Agatha's with a 'screen wall' and a bridging block to the church. This route, from the Isle of Wight and Gosport Ferries along Queen Street is probably the most important pedestrian access to the Northern Quarter, and yet it is to be obscured and diminished in the interests of 'reconnecting' the church to the townscape. What is proposed in this application is not the way to do it.
Children's play area?
The developers have not responded to those who said in the consultation that the scheme lacked a children's play area. There should be a crèche funded by the developer, and there should also be imaginative activities for children designed into the landscaping.
Archeology
Archaeology - we are not happy with the Watching Brief, particularly the John Lewis site where the ancient strip fields converged until relatively recent times. The developers should fund a proper investigation in this area.
Conclusion
Apart from some much needed social housing, what are we, the citizens of Portsmouth, going to gain from this scheme? Why can't we have a new quarter of the city which is more contemporary and sustainable?.