Designing Ouseburn's Future

PROJECT SUMMARY: This project aimed to bring together members of the Ouseburn community to form a group that are recognisable as a consultee group by the planning authorities and by developers, and who are given the tools to assess and feedback constructively on planning proposals for the Ouseburn.

About this project

Northern Architecture offered 3 workshop sessions from January - March 2012 for people who live, work or play in the Ouseburn, to equip them to assess and comment on building developments seeking planning permission to build in the Ouseburn.

The sessions brought together a group of people who following these sessions can now choose to form a neighbourhood forum, a legally recognised independent group, who could respond to significant planning applications in the Ouseburn area and look to develop a neighbourhood plan (a new level of planning policy emerging from the localism bill)  for the Ouseburn area.

The sessions looked at identifying what development is welcome in the area and what design standards the community expect of new buildings. Under the guidance of the group, Northern Architecture will produce an assessment toolkit for the group to use when in discussions with developers at pre-planning application stages and for assessing future planning applications within the statutory consultation period.

This project provided an opportunity for people who cherish the unique character of the Ouseburn, and want a sensitive but proactive approach to development in this area, to get involved in a genuinely meaningful way.

Click on the session titles below for more details on what happened at each session and to download more resources and information.

What's happening next?

There are a few more activities that we will be organising with the group over the next couple of weeks including

  •  a visit to the Virtual Newcastle Gateshead 3D model where they can see how they might be able to use the model in the future to view and assess potential schemes within a wider context and do sunlight and views analysis;
     
  • a final workshop session to discuss the future of the group, its management and its role within the planning process for new developments with the Ouseburn Valley.  We will be inviting Newcastle City Council planning officers and a representative from Fish Quay Neighbourhood Forum in North Shields to contribute to this discussion.

We are also finalising the assessment criteria toolkit resource and a project evaluation report, including feedback from participants and stakeholders, which will be available to download from this page in the next few weeks.

Who's Who. Click here to add yourself to the Who's Who in the Designing Ouseburn's Future list of people attending the sessions or interested in being part of this project.

This is a continuation of the project Designing Ouseburn’s Future. Following feedback from the first sessions held in Nov /Dec, we have reshaped the project making sure that the group's efforts were connected to genuine decision-making, reducing the time commitment people need to give to become part of the group and establishing an assessment toolkit so that people thinking about joining the group can see a clear way in which development is assessed and that the group have a method of working as opposed to subjective discussion.

This project is funded by Design Council CABE


    14 March 2012     5-7.30pm

    Designing Ouseburn's Future Part 2: Session 3 of 3.

    Find out what happened at session 3. Session 3 gave the group the opportunity to assess a real emerging scheme design using the design and development criteria established in previous sessions.

    15 February 2012     5-7.30pm

    Designing Ouseburn's Future Part 2: Session 2 of 3.

    Click on this page to download the presentations from this session. This second session covered the judging of good design and guided the group on how to approach assessing a planning proposal.

    18 January 2012     5-7.30pm

    Designing Ouseburn's Future Part 2: Session 1 of 3.

    Click on this page to download the presentations from this session. This first session looked at the aims and potential outcomes of the project, an overview of how the development process works with a presentation from developers Igloo who are planning a six phase development in the valley starting with a residential development and explored the possibility for the group to become a Neighbourhood Forum. Find out more and view the presentations and background documents.

    About this project

    Northern Architecture offered 3 workshop sessions from January - March 2012 for people who live, work or play in the Ouseburn, to equip them to assess and comment on building developments seeking planning permission to build in the Ouseburn.

    The sessions brought together a group of people who following these sessions can now choose to form a neighbourhood forum, a legally recognised independent group, who could respond to significant planning applications in the Ouseburn area and look to develop a neighbourhood plan (a new level of planning policy emerging from the localism bill)  for the Ouseburn area.

    The sessions looked at identifying what development is welcome in the area and what design standards the community expect of new buildings. Under the guidance of the group, Northern Architecture will produce an assessment toolkit for the group to use when in discussions with developers at pre-planning application stages and for assessing future planning applications within the statutory consultation period.

    This project provided an opportunity for people who cherish the unique character of the Ouseburn, and want a sensitive but proactive approach to development in this area, to get involved in a genuinely meaningful way.

    Click on the session titles below for more details on what happened at each session and to download more resources and information.

    What's happening next?

    There are a few more activities that we will be organising with the group over the next couple of weeks including

    •  a visit to the Virtual Newcastle Gateshead 3D model where they can see how they might be able to use the model in the future to view and assess potential schemes within a wider context and do sunlight and views analysis;
       
    • a final workshop session to discuss the future of the group, its management and its role within the planning process for new developments with the Ouseburn Valley.  We will be inviting Newcastle City Council planning officers and a representative from Fish Quay Neighbourhood Forum in North Shields to contribute to this discussion.

    We are also finalising the assessment criteria toolkit resource and a project evaluation report, including feedback from participants and stakeholders, which will be available to download from this page in the next few weeks.

    Who's Who. Click here to add yourself to the Who's Who in the Designing Ouseburn's Future list of people attending the sessions or interested in being part of this project.

    This is a continuation of the project Designing Ouseburn’s Future. Following feedback from the first sessions held in Nov /Dec, we have reshaped the project making sure that the group's efforts were connected to genuine decision-making, reducing the time commitment people need to give to become part of the group and establishing an assessment toolkit so that people thinking about joining the group can see a clear way in which development is assessed and that the group have a method of working as opposed to subjective discussion.

    This project is funded by Design Council CABE