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LEICESTER | Former LCC New Walk Centre site (NEW WALK PLACE) | Completed

106K views 639 replies 48 participants last post by  Leicity82 
#1 · (Edited)
Has been changed to discuss the future redevelopment of Leicester City Council's former New Walk Centre Site.

There are now five options for new city council office according to this Leicester Mercury report (30/12/2010):

Leicester City Council looking to spend £30m on new city centre headquarters

By jenny ousbey, political correspondent

Leicester City Council is looking to spend £30 million on a new city centre headquarters, a leaked report reveals.

That is the minimum cost suggested by officers looking at options to replace the crumbling New Walk offices.

An unpublished report suggests either keeping one block at New Walk and demolishing the other, or buying or leasing an existing office. It is understood the most popular option is to move staff out of its New Walk HQ and into another city centre building – with the Leicester Mercury offices, in St George Street, a possibility.

The council was forced to consider moving after engineers found its offices needed strengthening to ensure their safety.
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Councillor Ross Grant, leader of the Conservative opposition, criticised the amount of money likely to be spent.

But council leader Veejay Patel said he was looking for the best deal for the city.

An unpublished report seen by the Mercury sets out five options.

All involve "neighbourhood working" – moving some workers into smaller council offices across the city, instead of 1,400 staff working from a central base.

Councillor Patel said: "We will be looking for the best deal for the city and there will be no compromise on that.

"We'll hopefully be in a better position to discuss this within the next four to six weeks.

"Given that we are already going through a budget process knowing we have the accommodation strategy and cost of that to deal with, it's been very tough financially."

All of the options presume a final workspace half the size of the existing council HQ, with 25 per cent fewer staff.

The five scenarios are:

*Spending about £50 million on strengthening and refurbishing A and B blocks at New Walk and keeping one other council-owned building for staff – likely to be Phoenix House, in King Street.

*Building new offices on the site of the Dover Street car park for just over £40 million.

*Spending about £30 million on buying a building in the city centre.

*Refurbishing and strengthening A block at New Walk and selling or demolishing B block, at a cost of £30 million.

*Demolishing or selling A and B block and building a replacement on the same site, at a cost of approximately £40 million.


A council source said it was doubtful A and B blocks would be sold and that demolition was the most likely way forward.

Coun Grant said: "I'm concerned about the costs of all the options and that we don't seem able to find a cheaper way of doing it.

"We should be looking to find an existing office space and move into it without the need for refurbishment."

Previously, a spokeswoman for DMGT Property, which owns the Mercury offices, said that while the building was not for sale "the company would consider reasonable offers".

The council has a total of £58 million available to sort out the issue of its headquarters.

The report will be discussed by cabinet members next month.
See: http://www.thisisleicestershire.co....0m-new-HQ/article-3049578-detail/article.html

Personally I'd prefer the council to move and leave the current site for a major new development.

As for the site chosen for a new build (Dover Street), it's is abit out-of-the-way, although it is closer to the train station.


Leicester City Council's New Walk Centre (background) and Phoenix House (foreground)
 
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#109 ·
I know I've said this before but as a regular user of the flyovers I would hate to see them go. It's bad enough in the other areas with roundabouts infested with traffic lights cycling 24 hours per day, making you sit there and wait at empty junctions with clear visibility in all directions for no fucking reason at all :mad:

As for NWC, what a fantastic demonstration of ambition for this exciting new project :mad: :bash:


BG
 
#110 ·
They should have a competition to decide the design of the new council HQ and put it to a public vote.

It's about time our elected officials started taking notice of what we want rather than just imposing their views on us.
 
#112 ·
Anyone know how to fit the following into the available space?

- Multi-purpose arena complex at ground floor

- Spectator stands for arena able to sink into the ground at request

- 5 storey underground car park

- Tower to house the city council workers (was thinking something like the Tower of Babel as inspiration)

- 5 star hotel within the tower

- Retail at ground level

Not sure if this is over ambitious for the site?

Failing the above a magnificent neo-Gothic extravaganza. A dome, towers, columns and a huge interior ballroom.
 
#114 ·
Yes. Comparing a global bank with Leicester City Council.

One organisation generates huge income while the latter hemorrhages money and run in disarray.

I don't think Lcc deserve a great building at all. In fact let's just rehouse the workers in porta cabins.
 
#115 ·
Leicester City Council has its root in the Portmanmoot and the Gild and the first meetings were held on open ground next to the current St Nicholas Church.

In 1251 the Blue Boar Inn (where Richard III spent his last night) was set up as the first Town Hall.

By 1589 the Town Hall was moved to the current Guildhall (built in 1380) and remained there until the new Town Hall was opened in 1876.

The site was outgrown and the New Walk Centre was taken over by the City Council in 1975.

So the New Walk Centre lasted as a city council base and building for 36 years, before the decision was made to bin it. The Blue Boar Inn lasted until 1835 when it was sadly demolished. The Guildhall is now 631 years old and the Town Hall is in its 135th year.

Says something about modern life that.

BLUE BOAR INN


GUILDHALL



TOWN HALL


NWC


We owe it to our forefathers to create a council building, worthy of our great city!
 
#124 · (Edited)
Proposal for NWC and Marlborough House sites by MRP Developments. Not too bad but not exactly exciting either:


















All images from the MRP development website:
www.mrpdevelopments.com/projects/new-walk-leicester/

Fly through video: http://vimeo.com/99039206

What the development would include (includes a gym! Wow just what's needed. :|):
MRP submitted proposals for a new mixed-use development for Leicester City Council's New Walk site. Designed by CPMG Architects, the scheme proposed a total of 11,300 sq m of Grade A private and public office space, 1140 sq m of ground floor retail and restaurant space, a gym of 1,150 sq m and an underground car park housing 245 parking spaces. The proposed buildings are oriented around a new urban square terminating the pedestrianised tree-lined artery of New Walk.
See: www.mrpdevelopments.com/projects/new-walk-leicester/
 
#129 ·




The piazza is being demolished (was always a total waste of space being windy and in shade for most of the day) Poor design !

As for the new proposal - it's obvious that they are going for an interacting open mid-rise design that brings the building and surrounding streets together.

NWC is a very closed insular building that turned it's back on the streets.

I approve of the buildings concept and some of the design. But the use of the building is just speculative crap - It should be a landmark building with a big city function. ie Arena
 
#131 ·
That proposal isn't the winning bid. Not yet anyway. Did notice there is a Willmott in the list of Directors...

The proposed scheme is ok. It offers workplaces and retail/leisure and I'm sure SPS will be delighted with the new square at the New Walk end.

However it is just ok. A bit of a mini Brindleyplace. Yet the site is hugely important for Leicester and it would be better to have something iconic, rather than ok.
 
#132 ·
From the Mercury:
Leicester City Council's former New Walk Centre HQ to come down in "controlled collapse"

They have helped define Leicester's skyline for decades but the two towers of the New Walk Centre will disappear in a matter of moments, it has been revealed.

Leicester City Council have confirmed the 1970s-built structures will be "collapsed" as part of the clearance of the city centre site.

The council vacated the buildings, which had become structurally unsound, earlier this year and in recent months has been considering how best to flatten them.

It had looked at tearing them down using high reach machinery - similar to that used to demolish the Belgrave Fly-over - or dismantling them methodically floor by floor.

Today however city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby today said demolition experts have advised a “controlled initiated collapse” would be the best way to bring the towers down.

The structures will be stripped to their basic shell and then supporting parts of it will be weakened to the extent that explosive charges will then be used to trigger their fall.

Sir Peter said: “The buildings are in a very poor condition and bringing them down slowly would be risky for the contractors and would lead to disruption and the closure of streets for a long period of time.

“With this approach it means the buildings can be demolished and the surrounding roads and business can reopen the same day.”

Sir Peter said he had been assured the towers would “fall within their own footprint” with minimal risk of damage to nearby buildings.

Immediately after the demolition teams of cleaners will quickly set to work removing inevitable dust from the collapse from nearby roads and properties.

The rubble will in part fall into what was the underground car park and will then be moved over a period of time and recycled.

No exact dates have been set for the demolition but it is likely to happen in early in the New Year and probably during a weekend.

Demolition firm DSM has the job of bringing the towers down and has insisted “There will be no event” when they do but Sir Peter says it is likely people will want to see the buildings tumble.

He said: “When they do come down I don’t think any tears will be shed.

“They have served their purpose for 40 years as the council’s headquarters but they have never been loved even by those people who have worked in them.”

The chosen demolition method will cost £3.5 million and is cheaper than the other two options.

However Sir peter said: “The cost was not the deciding factor. I am relieved they have chosen this approach which is the safest way of doing it and the quickest and least disruptive.

“The other options could have meant some months of disruption with road closures in a busy part of the city centre.”

DSM’s contract manager Billy Young said: “Safety is paramount in this.

“We have brought down bigger multi-storey buildings like this in tighter confined spaces.

“They (the towers) will be done within seconds of each other.”

My Young declined comment on the size of the exclusion zone around the site when the demolition takes place.

He said: “There is still a lot of work still to do on that but the whole idea will be to minimise disruption.”

Sir Peter said he hoped that when the towers are removed he will be in a position to say what will ultimately replace them.

He said the council was currently working with three shortlisted developers who were all proposing mixed used schemes - largely made up of office space.

He said he could not rule out the possibility the council would make a financial contribution to the replacement scheme but said he though that would be very unlikely.


The council’s staff have been relocated in other council buildings around the city centre but for the most part moved to the £12 million City Hall in 1930s built municipal offices in Charles Street.
See: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/EMBARGO-5PM/story-22864116-detail/story.html
 
#135 ·
And here's what might have replaced Leicester City Council's New Walk HQ.

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/s-replaced-Leicester-City-Council-s-New-Walk-HQ/story-23134943-detail/story.html

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby says the future of Leicester’s prime New Walk Centre site could be decided in the next few weeks.

Leicester City Council’s 1970s former headquarters is currently being prepared for demolition and will be flattened in the new year.

However Sir Peter and senior officials say they are close to choosing which developer will be invited to rebuild on the site when the existing concrete towers come down.

There were 11 initial expressions of interest in the 1.8 acre site which have now been narrowed down to three.

Most of the schemes have been kept under wraps but details of one of the contenders, which did not make the city council’s short list, has emerged.

Nottingham-based architect and developer MRP submitted plans for new mixed-use development.

It would have included 11,300 square metres of private and public office space, shops and restaurants, a gym and an underground car park with 245 spaces.

The proposed buildings would have surrounded an urban square at the end of the city’s New Walk tree-lined avenue.

MRP director Richard Anderson said: “We were really interested in New Walk but we didn’t get beyond an expression of interest.

“We are a small company and the procurement process didn’t really help us out.

“To qualify you would need to be a company with a turnover of £100 million.

“We could have sought a financial partner but in the end we didn’t proceed because they way it works tends to favour the really big boys.

“I understand that because the council needs to know the financial backing is there but it isn’t great for smaller companies. It’s a shame because I think we came up with a really nice scheme.

“We thought it ticked all the boxes.

“It’s not the council’s fault. They have to play along by the rules in place but it can mean you end up with the development the big companies are proposing rather that the one that is the best.”

“All we can do is keep putting our heads up above the parapet.”

Sir Peter said: “We have three schemes and all of them are first class and very exciting.

“Over the next few weeks we hope to narrow that down to two ore even make a decision.

“Whatever the final scheme we are committed to getting something that will provide jobs in what is a very important area of the city.

“I am very confident we will get an excellent development that will enhance the area.”


Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/s...tory-23134943-detail/story.html#ixzz3G1kgiExz
Follow us: @Leicester_Merc on Twitter | leicestermercury on Facebook
Read more at http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/s...3134943-detail/story.html#R5vwLpLcMM2ldwcQ.99
 
#140 ·
It's already been established the max height on any development won't be in excess of 6 floors so what ever the development its going to pretty condensed.

Quite frankly I'd like to see a Harvey Nichols. Failing that a hotel with a mix of residential and office space along with bars and restaurants.
 
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