Hot off the press, and at the risk of being (hopefully uncharacteristically) immodest, we just wanted to share our good news with you...

Tuesday night at Property Week’s ‘Midlands Property Awards’ Blueprint picked up
the title for ‘Developer of the Year’, and ‘Design-Led Project of the Year’ for our No1 Nottingham Science Park project.

Any awards would mean a lot to us, but knowing that these were the result of a democratic vote by a panel of industry peers across both West and East Midlands, makes us especially proud.

A massive thanks to everyone who has supported us in the three years since we set up – our shareholders and investors, our stakeholders and public sector partners across the region, our consultants, our team, and all of you who take an interest in what we do.  

Thank you – you’ve made our year...

 

Designed as a catalyst for change in the Cathedral Quarter, work is scheduled to begin on the £16 million scheme in the summer with completion due late next year.

Blueprint has been working in partnership with Derby Cityscape, the urban regeneration company, on the project. It combines the specialist retailer offer of Sadlergate with around 40,000 sq ft of high quality office accommodation and 17,000 sq ft of retail space, which will provide a restaurant, and 5/6 units for shops or café/bars. The development also includes 25 individually designed homes.

The people of Derby named the project Sadler Square after a public competition. Sadler Square was by far the most popular name on the shortlist in the competition run by Blueprint and Derby Cityscape.

The site, in the shadow of Derby Cathedral, was bought in 2004 by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) on behalf of Derby Cityscape as the URC’s first strategic acquisition. The site is now being delivered by Blueprint.

Blueprint has appointed, through a design competition with Derby Cityscape, London-based architects Ash Sakula to redevelop the site in line with Derby Cityscape’s development Masterplan for the area.

The project complements the unique character of the neighbouring Iron Gate area and reinforces the Cathedral Quarter as a vibrant place for work people to live, work and dwell in.

 

Schoolchildren and local artists are involved in a project to paint hoardings around the site of Leicester’s new £21.5 million Digital Media Centre, where work is well underway.

The centre is being built by Blueprint with a partnership including Leicester City Council, East Midlands Development Agency, Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, the European Regional Development Fund and De Montfort University.

Clad in eye-catching lime green, it will attract visitors to the city’s new Cultural Quarter with its three cinemas and bar/restaurant. Due to open next year, it will have 63 high quality homes and house 37 creative businesses.

 
Ahead of submitting for planning, our proposed eco-housing development at Green Street in The Meadows has been well received by Nottingham’s Urban Design Forum, an influential panel set up by Nottingham City Council to improve design, who recognised the scheme’s quality of design and environmental standards.

The centre is being built by Blueprint with a partnership including Leicester City Council, East Midlands Development Agency, Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, the European Regional Development Fund and De Montfort University.

The DMC will replace the city’s Phoenix Arts Centre, providing three cinema screens, a digital exhibition space and digital production facilities. It will have space for 68 new businesses, a café and 63 high quality city-living apartments.

The Digital Media Centre is designed to be environmentally sustainable and to improve quality of life and work in the area with its arresting design and residential and commercial space.

Peter Connolly, Blueprint project director, said: “We are pleased to be working with our partners on this tremendous project. The building design will be unique in Leicester and will assist the regeneration of the city in general and of the Cultural Quarter in particular”.

Blueprint provided the land for the project at Morledge Street in the St George’s district of the city centre, which is the site of the city’s new Cultural Quarter with its high profile new Performing Arts Centre. The Cultural Quarter links the major regeneration area of the New Business Quarter to the heart of the City Centre.

Blueprint is also working on projects at Leicester’s Waterside and Wolsey Island, both key regeneration areas earmarked for residential and mixed-use development.

The Digital Media Centre is due to open next year.

If approved, work will start on site in the summer and complete in autumn 2009.

The development is designed to act as a catalyst for the wider regeneration of the area. It combines the extension of Sadlergate’s unique retail pitch (ideal for niche retailers, boutique shops cafes and restaurants) with around 45,000 sq ft of high quality office accommodation and 25 exclusive upper floor apartments.

Agents are in discussions with six potential tenants for the landmark No. 1 Nottingham Science Park building, due to complete in June.

Two other companies are interested in bespoke buildings on design and build land already available.

Nottingham Science Park is open to any technology-based business with some element of research and development work.

The 42,000-square-foot No.1 Nottingham Science Park is designed for small to medium sized high tech companies wanting anything from 1,000 sq ft to 10,000 sq ft. It’s aimed at companies who have gone through start up and are ready to grow.

www.nottinghamsciencepark.co.uk

 

Marsh Grochowski architects are working on the scheme for Blueprint after winning a national design competition for the work. Further expertise has been drafted in from local consultancies, as well as the University of Nottingham, for this specialist development of low-energy housing adjacent to the Memorial Gardens at the Victoria Embankment.

Nottingham City Council, itself keen to promote environmentally sound development, is working closely with Blueprint to create an “exemplar” development of around 35, two to four-bedroom homes. The design has been developed in consultation with the local community.

        Blueprint, working with Leicester Regeneration Company, Leicester City Council, and English Partnerships, are planning the development on a ten-acre site in the Waterside area.

        Blueprint’s vision is to “raise the bar” with this project to enhance aspirations and create value. It aims to deliver a distinctive and high quality response to the regenerative aspirations of the city, and to set new standards in environmental sustainability and design, stimulating further private sector investment elsewhere on the Waterside and in the wider city.

        The development will deliver social and economic regeneration through the creation of a new environmentally sustainable, leading-edge designed neighbourhood, which will also include employment, retail and leisure space.   

        It’s expected that the completed master plan will be the subject of a planning application in the Spring 2008, and it is hoped development will begin in 2010.

        The development forms part of the wider Waterside area, one of the largest urban regeneration schemes in the UK. It is one of the five key areas in Leicester Regeneration Company’s Master Plan, that aims to reunite the city centre with its 11 miles of waterfront and will eventually include 3,000 new homes, as well as bars, restaurants and workplaces.

Blueprint is working with West Northamptonshire Development Corporation, EP and the district and county councils to identify key projects, close to the retail core, complementing a planned increase in the town’s population from 200,000 to 300,000 by 2021. blueprint is also working with North Northants Development Company, EP and Corby Borough Council to assemble a major regeneration site close to the new railway station.

Meanwhile, blueprint is currently in talks with Lincoln City Council. blueprint is very interested in working with the Council, and the organisations are working together to identify suitable projects.