Birmingham’s proposed new “place for learning” has been identified by the Urban Design Group as one of four shortlisted projects in their national awards, to be decided by public vote.
The creative and innovative design from Birmingham based design practice, Node, working in partnership with Birmingham City University’s CoLab, has been shortlisted for the 2017 National Urban Design Awards. The masterplan proposes the creation of a unified “Knowledge Hub” in a vibrant area of the city incorporating parts of Eastside and Digbeth. This area is home to many knowledge-based institutions including Birmingham City University, Aston University, Innovation Birmingham and Birmingham Science Park.
The Knowledge Hub provides exciting new public spaces and streets, along with leisure and cultural facilities that promote a better life for those working, living and visiting the area. Through collaboration with students and academics from BCU’s School of Architecture and Node’s consultants, the team was able to develop a coherent identity for this key part of Birmingham. The project not only has the potential to have a huge impact on the area itself, but also the wider city. Parts of the masterplan are already progressing at pace, including the delivery of Eastside Locks and proposals currently in development at Typhoo Wharf.
The Urban Design Group is the UK’s national body for urban design and celebrates best practice through its annual awards.
With hopes of making Birmingham proud and bringing home the prize for their city, the Node team is looking for support through an online vote, accessible here.
Voting closes at Midnight on Friday 24th February 2017. The winning scheme will be announced at the National Urban Design Awards, held on Thursday March 2nd, 2017.
“The whole team is thrilled at being shortlisted for the award,” said Nigel Wakefield, managing director of Node. “The Knowledge Hub was a hugely significant project for us and we are incredibly proud of the results, creating an ambitious masterplan for a key part of Birmingham, which drew on all of our in house skills of urban design, landscape and heritage.”
For more information about the Knowledge Hub project, please visit our project page.
For full details of the awards, please click here.
