Grainger Town Public Realm Strategy

All cities are unique, their identity arising from a combination of a wide range of historical, cultural, physical, social and economic attributes. This resulting 'sense of place' distinguishes one city from another and encourages a pride in residents.

Grainger Town was established by architect and developer Richard Grainger and is the historic heart of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Gillespies' initial appointment was to prepare a strategy to address the streets and public spaces - a public realm strategy - as a key component in delivering the regeneration to this once prosperous area.

The strategy addresses the design of key streets such as Grey Street and Grainger Street as well as Bath Lane and Monument. A number of other crucial matters are considered including; how to maximise the contribution of the city's heritage, historic buildings and unique environment to the economic regeneration to the city centre; and how to prioritise pedestrian spaces and manage the use of traffic in these spaces.

Following the successful adoption of the strategy, Gillespies was retained as design advisor for the design and implementation phase of the project.