Partner Article

Planners reach for the skies

AN ARCHITECTURAL firm is aiming to spread its presence across the Midlands as town planners look to the skies to map out future developments.

Despite the downturn and its hammer-blow impact on construction projects, land in the UK remains sparse and town planners are increasingly being forced to build up rather than out.

Looking to place itself at the rapidly emerging market for tall building strategies is Newcastle-based architectural and design Space Group, which has just landed a deal with Northampton Borough Council.

The company has a three-month contract to evaluate where high or mid rise buildings may be suitable in Northampton and how the town centre could change in the next 20 years.

The group is now targeting ongoing growth inside and outside the North East in the sector as councils become more aware of the need to plan ahead when developing towns and cities.

Unlike the 1960s when garish concrete blocks sprouted out of inner city land at a rate of knots with seemingly little consideration of their future impact, recent years have seen the emergence of the a much more conscious approach.

Space Group’s associate director Tony Wyatt told bdaily: “[Tall building strategies] are a market that has emerged over the last 10 years.

“We are providing something that’s different to our architectural services and is certainly a business growth area.

“We are competing for opportunities in the South and the Midlands where we would eventually like to establish an office.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .