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LEICESTER | Public Realm projects/issues | U/C

145K views 1K replies 74 participants last post by  Luke-Knight 
#1 · (Edited)
I know this is not a 'building' thread as normal, however, it is an important part of Leicester's regeneration.

Gallowtree Gate has already been pedestrianised, with Market Street and Charles Street following suite and others thereafter; East Gates, Clock tower, Market Approach, High Street, Hotel Street, around Leicester Lanes, Halford Street, Belvoir Street, King Street and Granby Street. There are plans for a square outside the new Performing Arts Centre aswell.

For full details see:
Leicester City Council Streets + Spaces website.

East Gates render (with proposed 'wooden arch' to denote the location of one of Leicester's old town wall gates):


High Street is the current road to be pedestrianised, to coincide with the Autumn 2008 opening of the Highcross Leicester development and to create an attractive approach to the scheme:


Market Place Approach (also started):


Belvoir Street:


Granby Street:


King Street:

All images from Leicester City Council Streets + Spaces website
 
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#63 ·
lee circle could look really good, no honest it could, i even starting to like that cardinal building and its opposite another block of homes called metropoliton aprtments i think (someones nicked half the sign) which dont look too bad.

and theres scaffolding up on an old warehouse thats derelict but looks like its being done up

i reckon this could be a desirable place to live very soon, just hide that fucking car park behind plants and greenery and stuff and it could be ok

theres a ncp car park near leicester square that looks good wiv these planter and shit and they charge 13 pound an hour to park, lee circle could be our up market car park wiv a bit of an overhaul

**** the police are here for me
 
#66 ·
Around the clock tower you are able to see holes within the concrete where new lighting/seats will go. I hope the design will be special and not just similar to what was there before.

btw I can't wait tillHigh Street is fully pedestrianised, as the whole place will be totally transformed.
 
#68 ·
I am sorry to sound so downbeat but please can someone tell me what is the point of spending all these £millions on the streets and spaces thing if we then can't then do the basics like keep them clean?

The grey slabs on Market Street are so badly stained already they look really awful. Gallowtree Gate has so many pieces of chewing gum you literally can't walk without treading on one. Has anyone ever seen a litter warden, I am haven't and I go into Leicester all the time. Sometimes my fellow citizens really really depress:eek:hno:
 
#72 ·
Apparently, due to good old 'Britishness' the reason for the easy staining is down to the fact the council haven't recieved delivery of the slab sealant. Once they seal the slabs properly it'll be a doddle to clean and shouldn't become as mucky :)
 
#70 ·
^^ this is what worries me about the idea for the Market of creating a world class square, then letting the market continue with moveable stalls. I mean has anyone seen the mess the market at Lcfc made to the bricks.

I just don't understand how people find it acceptable to drop rubbish, chewy etc, especially when their are so many bins about.

Plus i bet these people will be moaning about the terrible litter in Leicester!
 
#73 ·
Chewing Gum should be banned IMO. I hate the stuff it goes black after a while and looks like hard pigeon shit.
I think we should have sand pits like they do abroad on top of bins to put cigarette ends in don't you? The amount of *** ends you see on top of a bin now is awful.
Do Leicester City Council issue fines for dropping a *** on the floor?
 
#74 ·
I'm not actually sure, I know Nottingham has a £50 fine in place for ***-ends as my girlfriend has warned me many times! But I was discussing this issue with some friends who came down from Nottingham at the weekend, we're all pretty sick of seeing ***-ends on the streets. But we all agreed that the new bins in Leicester are great. They have 'Leicester' cut-out in the sides, and the 'quarter name' that you're in.. ie Retail Quarter. They are pretty stylish too, grey replacing the old black, and depending on which quarter it is, have a specific coloured design which brightens them up no end.

They have stainless steel ash-trays fitted in the tops which really do help, people seem to use them more than ever which is great. However, with the smoking ban, people are sometimes forced to stub the **** out on the ground if there are no bins in the area.. so it's a catch-22 really. No excuse for chewing gum though.. much worse than cig butts..
 
#75 ·
In Leeds the bins have built in ash trays which are brilliant. In Nottingham though they seem to have screwed these rugged metal bits on that basically shred your cigarette so you can throw it in the bin but people just leave them on top sometimes.
I got a £50 fine whilst I was stood outside work. I was going to give a fake name but I had my name badge on :lol:
Since the smoking ban though there is a definate increase in the amount of *** ends on the pavement. It's all good and well pubs putting ashtrays that look more like small post box's on the wall but people stuff litter down them.
 
#77 ·
I'm sure any stains there now can be buffed out - although it might take some work. I remember how badly marked they were in areas just after they were laid.. they seemed to have come out alright.

If not.. bugger it - council's fault!
 
#79 ·
I think there's about 50 of them. Paid to sit on their fat arses no doubt!

They would do their job but it might be a breach of their human rights cos they are bound to get loads of abuse from the kindly citizens of Leicester who object to being told to stop treating our city like their personal dustbin. So they probably do sit on their arses all day cos the council are frightened of being sued under health & safety legislation for the said abuse above. Anyway to stop rambling and actually get to the point we do have litter wardens because the council make a big song and dance about them. Apparently, they only come out on patrol between the hours and 9.00am to 11.30am Monday to Friday and generally harrass old ladies dropping murray mint wrappers!!!!!!:bash:
 
#80 ·
i got a bollocking from a bin man for throwing my half empty mcdonalds milk shake into the back of a dust bin lorry, **** me, wot a dick head, i followed him round the market annoying him until i got bored. all my days, hes a fucking bin man and all id done was throw rubbish into a suitable rubbish disposel thing, which happened to be a fucking dustbin lorry, the ultimate rubbish bin.

i kept saying to him 'hey man, where u bin man' and he'd say 'ive just been over there' and id say 'no, where u wheelie bin man' and it took him a few attempts to realise i was taking the piss, the fucking ape, dragging his dumb ass knuckles all the place. still, good fun
 
#82 ·
Outside Leicester Uni, there are adverts put up by the council on the railings saying 50 reasons why not to drop litter in Leicester. Its ironic as this is one of the worst areas for rubbish in the city, with the floor covered in flyers. The council would make a fortune there, if they could be bothered!
 
#86 ·
The stains on the paving is almost certainly grease dripping out of bin lorries. If they've not been sealed properly, whoever is in charge of the works needs stringing up.

I know a lot about the public realm works...

The council have used at least 3 different consultants to do the outline design of the paving and other works, but getting their own in house team to do detail design. How many other bits of high quality hardworks have these guys designed? Similarly, much of the construction has been done by the city highway guys - remember these guys are used to digging up the road and sticking down some tarmac, rather than laying £200 a square-metre setts.

The actual sequencing of works has been fucking imbecilic. Look at Market Street; they made a very good job of laying the basic paving (although more work should have been done on the sub-base to even it out), then a month later they come back and cut holes in it for benches and street lights (I do like the light-sabers as we call them in our office), so that they buggered up the finish in these areas. Outside the city rooms is even worse.

Anyone noticed how they don't seem to join anything up properly? I have a theory about this...
 
#88 ·
So it was all done on the cheap then?
Not really, but it is a bit misguided.

Typical local authority work. I generally like what they're trying to do, but it's lead by 'policy' people, rather than people who have experience of implementation.

My guess is that John Lewis have only agreed to put a store in the city if a certain % of streets are paved with premium materials (they're using nice granite). Hence there seems to be no effort to join bits up - the council are just racing to get as much paved as humanly possible.
 
#89 ·
Mmm. I suppose it's good in a way, just as long as they don't skimp too much on the quality of workmanship. Considering what you've said it's not that bad a job.

When you say 'join bits up', do you mean in the way they are doing parts of the city in a hap-hazard sort of way? I didn't quite see what the point was in completing Market Approach so late after Gallowtree Gate?
 
#90 ·
This is a very interesting topic because the issue of new, supposedly high-quality paving quickly developing stains is one which also affects Nottingham. The council purchased a vast number of Yorkstone slabs which have been laid along the pavements which straddle the tramway. These were imported from China and have developed orange stains yet were only laid within the last few years. British Yorkstone which has been laid for decades does not seem to suffer from the same problem. Why is this?
 
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