Regeneration in the city centre

[Neutral body 10]

I have also used a wide variety of data collection, including focus groups, academic journals and textual discourse analysis. I was simply using the forums as a way of gathering a few more opinions that I may otherwise have overlooked.

 

But have you ever actually visited the city?

[Neutral body 10]

If your wife likes shopping (need I ask?) then Grey Street and Grainger Street are a rival to Princess Street in Edinburgh for splendour (Grainger market building makes you realise just how poor Sheffield's market buildings are) although you won't find as much retail choice in Newcastle as, say Manchester.

 

The hugely impressive part for me was the redevelopment of the river front of the Tyne with sympathetic development on the more historic Newcastle side of the river and more modern buildings on the Gateshead side which was virtually a blank canvas after the de-industrialisation of the 1980s thereby allowing the more modern developments, like the Sage, to sit comfortably in their surroundings. The two sides are linked beautifully by the iconic 'blinking eye' Millenium bridge and further up the river the Tyne bridge.

 

The river itself was immaculately clean when I last visited and I've always thought that Sheffield misses out on not having a river of this magnitude flowing through it or even a large canal like Manchester's Ship Canal. On top of that it's just a short 15 minute metro journey to the coast although Scarborough or Whitby, North and South Shields certainly isn't. However being this close to the sea in a major city makes me wish that Sheffield wasn't as land locked as it is. Roll on global warming taking effect. I'll look forward to the North Sea gently lapping at the shores of Mosborough ( only joking).

 

Crossing the river over to Gateshead and a visit to both the Sage music centre and the Baltic centre for contemporary art is a must even if it's just for the views you get up and down the Tyne and of Newcastle city centre itself.

 

Take a look on Google Earth to get some idea of the city and it's surroundings.

 

I had the great missfortune of living in Newcastle for a great many years and would dispute just about every word of the above. The criteria for re-development of the city was to remove all buildings with any architechtural merit and retain the worst. To compensate and allow a balance they were replaced with some of the worst eyesores anywhere. The sage is a disgrace and is completely out of place.

P.S. if you can get to the coast in 15 minutes on the metro they must have speeded it up massively. The best I have evr managed was about 25.

 

I moved away from Newcastle and chose to live in Sheffield. Nuff said?

[Unisol 12]

Yes and that's why so many people have chosen to move there last few years and it is now the 3rd Highest Populated City in the country?

 

Think Yorkshire Rivalry is clouding your views a bit!

 

Moved there in the last few years?!? Where did you get this information.

 

I don't have any Yorkshire rivalry. I never even consider the Yorkshire thing. I just think Leeds is highly over-rated. Bland, boring and depressing (apart from a few shops we don't have)

 

Do you live in Leeds incidentally?

[pininsho 10]

I had the great missfortune of living in Newcastle for a great many years and would dispute just about every word of the above. The criteria for re-development of the city was to remove all buildings with any architechtural merit and retain the worst. To compensate and allow a balance they were replaced with some of the worst eyesores anywhere. The sage is a disgrace and is completely out of place.

P.S. if you can get to the coast in 15 minutes on the metro they must have speeded it up massively. The best I have evr managed was about 25.

 

I moved away from Newcastle and chose to live in Sheffield. Nuff said?

 

So you wouldn't agree with me about the Georgian splendour of Grey Street and Grainger street then or the lovely market building?

 

I'm not saying that Newcastle doesn't have its fair share of 1960's monstrosities, like all cities do, but you still get a strong sense of its Victorian and Georgian architectural splendour that's so very rare in Sheffield.

 

The Sage isn't in Newcastle BTW, it's in Gateshead.

 

What year did you move from Newcastle to Sheffield?

[Lucy20 10]

But have you ever actually visited the city?

 

Yes, I was born in Sheffield and lived there for 18 years

[Neutral body 10]

So you wouldn't agree with me about the Georgian splendour of Grey Street and Grainger street then or the lovely market building?

 

I'm not saying that Newcastle doesn't have its fair share of 1960's monstrosities, like all cities do, but you still get a strong sense of its Victorian and Georgian architectural splendour that's so very rare in Sheffield.

 

The Sage isn't in Newcastle BTW, it's in Gateshead.

 

What year did you move from Newcastle to Sheffield?

 

Grey street has survived only because a preservation order was put on it, this spoilt the councils plans. Grainger street is a mere shadow of what it was. The market also has a preservation order and again this spoilt the councils plans for the area. The area also has one of the largest 1980-90's monstrosities - Eldon square. None of the re-development of Newcastle has been thought out or applied with any sympathy to buildings around it. It was done peicemeal and it shows.

I am well aware that the sage is in Gateshead, to add insult to injury there they built it within sight of a classic example of what can be done - The Baltic. If you think that the recent development of the Marborough Crescent area is good Architechture then I feel sorry for you.

I am not by default against new development, but when it is done round significant buildings then it should be done with sympathy and respect for the surroundings.

Unlike Sheffield and a lot of large citys Newcastle did not suffer from the worst of the Luftwaffe's attention so actually had a town centre containing many superb buildings in 1945. The council has reduced this to a tiny figure now. Sheffield that was bombed quite badly actually now has more pre 1945 buildings of merit than Newcastle.

When did I move to Sheffield? Too Late!!

[Neutral body 10]

 

Anything/where she should particularly look out for of note?

 

The road out is my favourite bit.

[CashBack13 10]

Moved there in the last few years?!? Where did you get this information.

 

I don't have any Yorkshire rivalry. I never even consider the Yorkshire thing. I just think Leeds is highly over-rated. Bland, boring and depressing (apart from a few shops we don't have)

 

Do you live in Leeds incidentally?

 

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No I don't so I have no favouristism in that respect I just can see how much it has improved and what it can offer the 770,000 + People who now reside there. That Figure was 715,000 in 2001 so clearly lots of people have moved there in the last few years! They must not have thought it was "Bland"

[Unisol 12]

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No I don't so I have no favouristism in that respect I just can see how much it has improved and what it can offer the 770,000 + People who now reside there. That Figure was 715,000 in 2001 so clearly lots of people have moved there in the last few years! They must not have thought it was "Bland"

 

Where is this data to be found?

[pininsho 10]

Grey street has survived only because a preservation order was put on it, this spoilt the councils plans. Grainger street is a mere shadow of what it was. The market also has a preservation order and again this spoilt the councils plans for the area. The area also has one of the largest 1980-90's monstrosities - Eldon square. None of the re-development of Newcastle has been thought out or applied with any sympathy to buildings around it. It was done peicemeal and it shows.

 

I do recall that some time ago developers were wanting to demolish the whole of the Grainger Town area and there was huge public backlash against this. Is this when the area received a preservation order? Can you provide me with more info on what was being planned for the area and how it was stopped for Sheffield is about to go through something similar with the Sevenstone development? I would be grateful for any links that you can provide.

 

I am well aware that the sage is in Gateshead, to add insult to injury there they built it within sight of a classic example of what can be done - The Baltic. If you think that the recent development of the Marborough Crescent area is good Architechture then I feel sorry for you.

 

I do like the Sage. I think it sits quite comfortably in it's environment and obviously takes it's architectural influence from the curve of the Tyne and Millenium bridges. However if you were to transfer it to the other side of the river then I agree totally that it would be a complete eyesore.

As for Marlborough Crescent (I'm sure you're talking about the Life visitor centre) then I have to agree that it's quite a poor development that's aged very quickly.

 

I am not by default against new development, but when it is done round significant buildings then it should be done with sympathy and respect for the surroundings.

 

No disagreement from me here. Maybe you'd like to give me an example of new Sheffield buildings that are done with sympathy and respect for their surroundings.

 

Unlike Sheffield and a lot of large citys Newcastle did not suffer from the worst of the Luftwaffe's attention so actually had a town centre containing many superb buildings in 1945. The council has reduced this to a tiny figure now. Sheffield that was bombed quite badly actually now has more pre 1945 buildings of merit than Newcastle.

When did I move to Sheffield? Too Late!!

 

Though I love Sheffield despite it's large amounts of 'non architectural' buildings I'm afraid I have to totally disagree with you that Sheffield has more pre war buildings of architectural merit than Newcastle. As soon as you arrive by train in Newcastle you get an idea of the former Victorian and Georgian splendour of the place that you simply don't get in Sheffield. We've already mentioned the preserved part of Georgian Grainger Town that covers a lot of the city centre, other than Paradise Square (which is just a car park at the moment) and it's few Georgian houses I challenge you to show me a part of Georgian Sheffield city centre that can anywhere near match the splendour of Grainger Town.

 

Here are some images of Newcastle city centre from somebody on our old 'friends' website, skyscraper city. Inevitably there's the odd concrete monstrosity spoiling the view.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/3140577571_70af48cceb_o.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php%3Ft%3D775238&usg=__hbX73LjBLiKIEVEccupWa1fck6I=&h=750&w=1000&sz=683&hl=en&start=25&tbnid=eSsxPArcQNIDGM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=149&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgrainger%2Btown%2Bnewcastle%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dstrict%26client%3Ddell-usuk%26channel%3Duk%26sa%3DN%26ad%3Dw5%26start%3D18

 

Here's an excellent website showing photos of most of Newcastle and surrounding area including interesting ones of numerous 1960's concrete eyesores being demolished (click on Westgate House:clap:). Scroll down the left side of the page to view some of the areas mentioned on this thread in all their glory. One of the most interesting is the redevelopment of Eldon Square shopping centre. From monstrous car park to a fairly appropriately designed shopping centre.

http://newcastlephotos.blogspot.com/

Edited October 2, 2009 by pininsho

[maisie's_ill 10]

What's getting demolished for Sevenstone that would be worth keeping? There's the odd nice Victorian building toward the Peace Gardens end but a lot of those are retained facades from the 70's anyway - most of the rest stretches along the back of division street and is ugly stuff (the old fire station for one) and car parks.

 

On the whole it's disappointing that there's so much negativity about the city on here - people moan about how it was, how it is and how it will be without so much as a constructive comment between the lot, so how will it ever improve?

 

Sheffield is a great city, if only because it provides what facilities you need from a city but retains a little humility. The greatest mistake we could make here is to try to replicate the brash charms of Leeds and Manchester - I'm not knocking them, but they just aren't places I'd want to live. Likewise, despite the obvious delight of the riverside, Newcastle on my most recent visit was a confusing and sprawling city centre and I got trapped in the Eldon centre and couldn't find any way out.

[pininsho 10]

What's getting demolished for Sevenstone that would be worth keeping? There's the odd nice Victorian building toward the Peace Gardens end but a lot of those are retained facades from the 70's anyway - most of the rest stretches along the back of division street and is ugly stuff (the old fire station for one) and car parks.

 

On the whole I agree, although there is no doubt that the 'pepperpot' building on Pinstone Street and some of the more historical buildings on Cambridge Street could be incorporated into the Sevenstone scheme if they were obliged to do so by the planners.

 

On the whole it's disappointing that there's so much negativity about the city on here - people moan about how it was' date=' how it is and how it will be without so much as a constructive comment between the lot, so how will it ever improve?[/quote']

 

Yes some people will moan for moanings sake. However there are plenty of people who moan because they've experienced a lot better elsewhere and they want to see Sheffield genuinely improve to a higher level rather than accepting sometimes pointless 'change for changes sake' hyped up to be something that it's not.

 

Sheffield is a great city' date=' if only because it provides what facilities you need from a city but retains a little humility. The greatest mistake we could make here is to try to replicate the brash charms of Leeds and Manchester - I'm not knocking them, but they just aren't places I'd want to live. Likewise, despite the obvious delight of the riverside, Newcastle on my most recent visit was a confusing and sprawling city centre and I got trapped in the Eldon centre and couldn't find any way out. [/quote']

 

Other than the grander buildings and more impressive river in Newcastle I've often heard people say how similar the two cities are so your point about finding Newcastle confusing to get around is precisely what a lot of first timers say about Sheffield.

Did you visit the Eldon centre before or after refurbishment?