Places Matter! Design Review Case Study:
Rochdale and the Lake District

Rochdale Bus Interchange

A major strength of regional design reviews is that panel members are able – and willing – to visit sites. It helps them to gain a broad understanding of the development challenges for local authorities. Northwest design review recently did just this in two very different locations: the regeneration of Rochdale Town Centre and the idyllic setting of Lake Windermere. It allowed panel members to examine projects at a very early stage, sometimes prior to the appointment of an architect.

In Rochdale the panel first scrutinised a draft masterplan for the town centre before examining proposals for a bus interchange, new municipal offices and the refurbishment and extension of the police station. Rochdale’s development manager Mark Robinson claimed that seeing the masterplan first gave the panel knowledge that informed their subsequent comments on the other projects. ‘All the schemes have been, and are being, amended in the light of the comments that were made. The Panel helped us to knit these schemes together through well planned public spaces. We have raised the bar in terms of design in the authority,’ he added.

Rochdale Bus Interchange

At Windermere the panel saw three projects, all at an early stage of development and located on the shores of the lake. ‘We tied all the three schemes together and said they needed an overarching approach to transport,’ said Charlotte Myhrum, Places Matter! Design Review Manager. ‘That was a really good joined-up early intervention for us.’

One project was a boat museum, which is to be redeveloped. The panel suggested that the project should consider visitors’ sense of arrival. ‘I found the feedback really interesting,’ said Frances Snowden, development manager of the Lakeland Arts Trust. ‘It challenged our thinking about the site.’

The other two projects were for the Lake District National Park, which is proposing a new visitor centre on the Brockhole peninsula and also considering redevelopment at Glebe .

Brockhole Visitors Centre

‘The interesting thing about the design review day was how the panel approached the idea of what should go where, and how it should be developed,’ explained David McGowan, head of development management. ‘It was really useful that they came and had a look round.’