A R C H I T ECTURAL COMPETITION S C OT S WOOD EXPO

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1 WE ARE LOOKING FOR FRESH IDE AS. O UR AIM IS TO SEL ECT S IX DESIGN TE AMS TO DE V E LOP INNOVATIVE HOUS ING DESIGNS WHICH R ESPOND TO THE CHALLE NGES OF E NVIRONME NTAL S U S TAINABILITY, ADAPTABILITY, NE W WAYS OF LIVING AND DESIGNING BE AUTIFUL BUILDINGS. T H E NE W HOMES WILL FORM THE CE NTRE PIEC E FOR ONE OF THE COUNTRY S LARGEST AND MOS T AMBITIOUS REG E N E RATION PROJECTS AND THE FIRS T NEIGHBOURHOOD EXPO IN THE UK. LOCATE D IN THE WEST END OF NEWCAS TLE, THE COMPE TITION S ITE COMPRISES 60 PLOTS ARRANGE D IN FOUR TE RRACES AROUND A NE W LINE AR PARK. T H E WINNING TE AMS WILL DE V E LOP THE IR CONCE PT D ESIGNS FOR A S INGLE HOUSE AND APPLY THE M THROUGHOUT THE FOUR TE RRACES IN A NUMBE R OF DIFFE R E NT WAYS. I N PARALLE L WE WILL BE LAUNCHING AN OPE N S TUDE NT COMPE TITION TO RUN ALONGS IDE THE DESIGN S TAGE OF THE PROFESSIONAL COMPE TITION. T HIS WILL BE AN INTE RACTIVE COMPE TITION BASED ON THE S UBMISSION OF 3D DIGITAL MODE L S FOR CAS H PRIZES. SO IF YOU RE A S TUDE NT AND YOU WANT TO B E INVOLVE D, KEEP AN E Y E OUT FOR THE LAUNCH IN AUTUMN SCOTS WOOD EXPO A RCHITECTURAL C OMPE TITION IS PROMOTE D BY NEWCAS TLE CITY C OUNCIL AND RUN BY THE R OYAL I N S TITUTE OF B RITIS H A RCHITECTS RIBA C OMPE TITIONS O FFICE. S C OT S WOOD EXPO A R C H I T ECTURAL COMPETITION

2 W HY SCOTS WOOD? Clinging to the steep south-facing slopes of the Tyne Gorge within striking distance of the centres of Newcastle and Gateshead, Scotswood is a place that embodies extreme urban change. The breakneck industrialisation and expansion of the 19th and early 20th centuries has been followed by a long period of economic decline. Wholesale clearance has resulted in around 44 hectares of urban land in public sector ownership. Scotswood has now stabilised. The seeds of renewal have been sown with community-based initiatives, successful refurbishment programmes and committed ongoing investment. Scotswood is entering a new phase in its development. We want you to help design the homes that will form the centrepiece of the first international Neighbourhood Expo in the UK. We believe that the Expo will not only raise the profile of Newcastle, but will help to change the perceptions of Scotswood and the West End. The Expo will be the first phase of a large new community of almost two thousand households, served by new schools, a new local high street and community hub as well as extensive space for start-up and growing businesses. WHAT IS T H E BIGGE R PICTURE? The urban renaissance envisaged by the Urban Task Force in 1999 has resulted in a big increase in city centre living, but many of these projects have delivered large numbers of small flats in schemes that lack a sense of place, are poorly designed and attract investors rather than people with a long term commitment to community and neighbourhood. The flight of families to the suburbs and beyond continues. Much recent family housing has been bland, uniform, unimaginative and unsustainable. The Expo seeks to challenge the built environment professions and reinterpret how we think about housing in the light of current needs, understanding, technology and markets. The Expo will be successful if it has created a thriving, inclusive, family-friendly, lifetime neighbourhood with a rich mix of different designs and house types. E X P E R I E N C E E X P ECT

3 W HY ARE WE DOING THIS? The Scotswood Expo will form the centrepiece of a series of cultural programmes and festivals culminating in a major event in But the Expo or Exposition will be more than an exhibition, nothing less than a statement of Newcastle s intent to demonstrate to the world a new benchmark for making and regenerating communities. It seeks to challenge the hearts and minds of those involved in the creation of new homes and redefine the established processes and practices of neighbourhood-making. The Expo will be the first phase of a new neighbourhood at Scotswood. We believe that the Scotswood Expo should focus as much on the unbuilt environment as the built one. At the centre of the Expo will be a set of terraced gardens (the Expo Link) that will form the centrepiece of the festival. Enclosing and defining this space will be four terraces of special homes that will be designed by the winners of this competition. W HAT ARE OUR IDE AS? We have called our approach the New Norm. This is an approach which seeks to meet the challenges of design quality and diversity, lifestyle changes, technological innovation, environmental sustainability and new forms of funding, delivery and management. The New Norm and the Expo Architectural Competition are based on the concept of the plot as the basic unit of urban development, defining a volume by the party walls. Within this volume, a huge variety of internal and external layouts, garden design, house types, materials and façade treatments can be explored whilst ensuring the place works in urban design terms. The Competition seeks to develop designs for plots to create a family of demonstration houses or prototypes that will be built for the Expo event and sold on thereafter. The place will have to be able to adapt to changing circumstances and needs. The people who move in may be local retired people looking for a new start in an area they have seen change beyond recognition; they may be young families looking for affordable living space with the option to expand; they may be early adopters who see an opportunity to forge a new life and do business. Therefore the homes must be designed to encompass the concept of long-life loose-fit. E X P R ESS E X P E R I M E N T

4 W HO WILL MAKE THIS HAPPE N? We believe that no one individual or organisation has all the answers to the questions raised by a project of this scale and complexity. We also believe that the best neighbourhoods and cities are the produce of multiple voices working collaboratively. This competition is part of our drive to recruit a team of excellent designers to help make the Expo truly groundbreaking. We have set a framework by developing a Masterplan that formed the basis of an outline planning application granted permission in August We are currently in the process of selecting a preferred private sector partner for the Scotswood Urban Regeneration Vehicle (URV). We will be selecting our development partner on a number of attributes, but one item that has always been top of our agenda is a commitment to and demonstration of design quality. E X P E R T S We have whittled the list down to three teams and in the next few months we will be working to select our preferred partner. The eventual development partner has made a commitment to the competition, and representatives of the URV will be on the jury panel to help judge the Stage 2 designs. One of the first things the URV will do will be to commission the competition-winning designers to create the homes at the heart of the UK s first Neighbourhood Expo. This is only the first stage in an exploration of design ideas for a groundbreaking and unique project. We look forward to hearing from you.

5 T H E FORMAT The Competition will take the form of an Invited Design Contest. Stage 1: Pre-Qualification Questionnaire Entrants should register their expressions of interest with RIBA, who will provide a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ). The rules of the competition and the evaluation criteria are set out in the PQQ. Once we ve received all the PQQs, they ll be evaluated. We ll be looking for practices with a good track record, exciting ideas in housing, including examples of changing lifestyles, family life, urban living, sustainable construction and performance. Also important to us is a design philosophy that matches our aspirations for the Scotswood Masterplan and Expo. From this we ll shortlist up to twelve practices and invite them to prepare concept designs. Stage 2: Submission of Concept Designs Shortlisted practices will receive a detailed Stage 2 brief describing the site and design requirements. We are seeking concept designs for one house which will form part of the street on the Expo Link. Proposals will focus on initial ideas for the plot and to support this, we ll want to see elevations, floor plans and site sections to describe your thinking and approach. All teams invited to participate in this stage will receive an equal honorarium of VAT. Stage 3: Evaluation of Concept Designs Designs will be evaluated anonymously by a Jury Panel. All submitted designs will be displayed at Scotswood Regeneration Centre for local people to give their views. Evaluation of the designs will be undertaken with pre-determined evaluation criteria. If we require further clarification of your design at this stage, we will write to you. Stage 4: Announcement of Six Winning Designs The six best designs will be announced and successful teams will be commissioned by the Scotswood Urban Regeneration Vehicle (entering into a separate contract with each winner) to develop variations of their designs to RIBA stage D as a basis for the URV producing a single planning application for the Expo Link. N.B. It is important to note that preparation of Production Information post stage D will be undertaken by the URV s executive architect; however, the winning architects will remain involved for design consultation after RIBA stage D to ensure design integrity.

6 T H E JURY PANE L The jury panel, chaired by a leading architect, will comprise a number of key design professionals as well as public and private sector representatives. Details of the jury panel will be announced on websites below during the Stage 1 process. T IMESCALES Pre-Qualification Questionnaire available: 9 June 2008 Expo Competition Launch Event in Newcastle: 6pm 17 June 2008 Stage 1 PQQ Submission Deadline: 12noon 16 July 2008 Shortlist Announced: August 2008 Stage 2 Brief issued: September 2008 Submission of Stage 2 Concept Design: November 2008 Notification of Winners: December 2008 The launch event on the 17 June 2008 is to raise awareness of this Architectural Competition during the North East Festival of Architecture. It does not form part of the procurement process. Anyone wishing to attend please contact Laura Lamb to book a place (laura.lamb@newcastle.gov.uk). ENQ UIRIES All enquiries about the competition should be addressed to the RIBA: RIBA Competitions Office 6 Melbourne Street Leeds LS2 7PS T: +44 (0) F: +44 (0) E: riba.competitions@inst.riba.org For further details of the Scotswood Expo and to download the Scotswood Masterplan and other relevant documents go to the Newcastle City Council website: