The Promenade Heritage Project
Report, Design & Publicity Material


In 1973 The Promenade, Robin Hood Terrace and Campbell Grove were officially designated as a General Improvement Area, which saved these streets from the wrecking the ball and endowed the City of Nottingham with an impressive heritage. This heritage spans over 160 years and gives insight to some of the city’s most debated issues; such as the 1845 Enclosure Act, the rise of lace industry, the wholesale clearances of the 1970s and the rise of the conservation movement.

 

This project has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Nottingham City Homes, marking the refurbishment of 16 listed houses by Nottingham City Homes.

 

  • Client: Nottingham City Homes
  • Available online & print

Lace Walk
Guide Booklet & Video


Manufactured lace had a momentous impact on Nottingham: helping to change a turbulent county town into a modern industrialised municipality. In the space of just a few miles, this guided walk will show the sheer scale and speed of this change.

 

Created on the occasion of Lace Unravelled, a Nottingham City Museums & Galleries project, funded by Arts Council England. Written and designed by Chris Matthews.

 

Bricks Conservation Report
Publication Design


Relatively strong, yet small and easy to handle, fired clay brick is arguably one of the most versatile and durable of all building materials. This guide explores the wide range of its shapes, sizes, colours, textures and physical properties. If you are referring to this document to assist in the extension of a historic building, or a new development within the historic environment, then the final chapter is the most useful to help you find the right bricks for your project - but the preceding chapters are essential points of reference to help you in this complicated process. The technical aspects of brick repair and refurbishment are not addressed in this guide, and they must be treated as separate conservation practice.
Brick is beautiful.

 

  • Client: Toby Ebbs & Melton District Council
  • 46pp, A4, Digital
  • Available online

Cities of the North

Book Design & Photography

 

Cities of the North takes an irreverent and often amusing look at the changing townscape, special character, architecture and planning of the great Northern English cities. Lavishly illustrated, it is a companion to Towns in Britain published by Five Leaves in 2014 and it builds on the popular Jones the Planner blog. It explores the process and politics of development and ‘regeneration’ which is reshaping Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Hull and Newcastle amongst others, always focusing on the intrinsic character of place.

 

Cities of the North reviews both the successes and lost opportunities of recent years and considers the implications of the emerging Northern Powerhouse plans for the conurbations. The book is inspired by and follows in the footsteps of Ian Nairn who opened so many people’s eyes to an appreciation of cities, their often unexpected delights, qualities, possibilities and potential. Like Nairn, Cities of the North shows a passion and affection for these places and an appreciation of their all too often undervalued qualities.

 

  • "Their informed and opinionated commentary, gimlet-eyed and witty, is offered without fear or favour ... This is an angry, politically acute account. It is, no doubt about it, a book for the state we are in."
    Gillian Darley, Literary Review, August, 2016
  • Five Leaves Publications
  • Available to buy, £.13.99

A History of Nottingham's Council Housing

Design & Author

 

Design, research and writing commissioned by Nottingham City Homes, with editorial support and research by Dan Lucas.

 

In Nottingham, council housing is popular; it is widely recognised as something that has improved the lives of countless people. This is a story that connects people through shared experience and sheer geographic scale. As we search for solutions to our current housing crisis, council housing offers hope for the future.

 

  • "Of local histories, this is undoubtedly the pick of the crop"
    The Guardian, 25/4/18
  • Format: 112pp, 120 illustrations, 120mm x 120mm, perfect bound, choice of covers, print by Russell Press, Nottingham
  • More information: www.homesandplaces.co.uk
  • Available to buy, £9.99