Urban stitching to create a series of public squares and secret gardens threading through a new cluster of shops, cafés, apartments and offices in Derby’s Cathedral Quarter.

Our approach has been to study and learn from the nature, sequence and scales of Derby’s urbanism, and to continue its rhythms into our site in a way which respects the best of what of exists while allowing a fresh and contemporary architectural approach.

In particular our proposal aims to create a development with active frontages to both Bold Lane and onto a sheltered pedestrian square. This proposal is complete in itself, but it is also conceived as part of a wider masterplan for this area of Derby. As, and if future phases are completed, this first phase of development will then give onto a series of interlinked spaces running up the hill towards Iron Gate, part of a permeable network of new pedestrian routes running north south and east west. In this way, a critical mass of pedestrian movement will bring more people to the streets to the north.

The proposal replaces a moribund set of sheds with an intricate new urban quarter of shops, a café restaurant, apartments and offices, which takes its cues from its surroundings, and links through to other local destinations.