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Lively Cities project
Common Room site assessment report now available
Brighton & Hove City Council is working to transform the area around Ann Street and Providence Place Gardens (the small park opposite St Bartholomew’s Church) into a lively, safe and successful public space.
Between Monday 1 and Sunday 14 October 2012 the area was temporarily transformed into the “Common Room” - the winning proposal of a competition for an innovative pilot scheme that could that could be tested over a two week period. The Common Room provided a fairly radical transformation which – along with community engagement - included the following changes:
Physical and environmental changes
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Removal of street parking on Providence Place and bottom end of Ann Street.
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Removal of all park railings and construction of wooden terraced steps providing both informal seating and a direct physical link to the park down the length of Providence Place.
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Fixed and movable seating within the park.
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A stage area on the south eastern corner of Providence Place Gardens, within view of the park and the terraced steps, to allow for impromptu performances.
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Lighting of the park trees after dark.
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Closure of the bottom end of Ann Street to traffic and provision of artificial grass, picnic tables and fixed seating to create a ‘pocket’ public square
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A ban on heavy goods vehicles from entering Ann Street or Providence Place
Street Art commission
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Creation of an art wall on the east side of the park with work commissioned in partnership with local art organisations.
Digital infrastructure
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‘Big capacity’ free Wi-Fi service allowing multiple users of devices to operate digital devices in the project area.
We would like to thank everyone who visited the space, those that provided us with feedback on the transformation – and particular thanks to our team of volunteer fieldworkers who collected a wide range of data during the two weeks. This information has been invaluable in informing our assessment of the two week pilot and in gauging the varying levels of success of the various components that made up ‘The Common Room’. This information will help us to determining the details of a permanent transformation of the area.
More details
The report and other documents containing the findings of ‘The Common Room’ work is available to view via the following links.
- Time lapse recordings are available in the LICI Brighton & Hove Facebook page
The council will work with local communities and partners to permanently secure, refine and expand on the successful elements of the Common Room.
The work is part of the EU INTERREG IVB assisted ‘Lively Cities’ (LICI) project- a four year project aiming to strengthen communities by reclaiming public space for public use.
Updates on the project and more information, including time lapse recordings are available on our Lively Cities page on Facebook
Earlier information
The videos below were made in late 2011 and September 2012 respectively provide information about the area, priorities for its transformation and the pilot test.
