In support of the Government's CIVIC PRIDE Initiative, The Green Organisation launched the National Green Apple Civic Pride Awards in 2003, including specific awards for the built environment.

The Built Environment awards are for 'buildings that enhance the environment and are a source of civic pride'.

The Green Organisation wrote to Derby City Council Leader Maurice Burgess in both 2004 and 2005, inviting up to three nominations from within the city.

The entries for the awards are set out in full on this web page.  Find out more about the award organisers here 

2004 winners:

In January 2004, it was announced that not one but two of the City's entries had met with success. Winners received a plaque that identifies their building as a winner of a National Civic Pride Award.

Derby's successes were:

• The Silk Mill, Full Street, winner of a National Gold Award
• The Magistrates' Court Centre, St. Mary's Gate, winner of a National Silver Award.

A third entry, Hudson House (Software AG), Hudson Way, celebrated the regeneration of Pride Park. Although not an award winner in this round, it underlines the City's achievements with new developments in addition to successes with the refurbishment of historic buildings.

The entries for the awards are set out in full on this web page.

You can find out more about the award organisers The Green Organisation at www.thegreenorganisation.info

The Silk Mill - Derby's Museum of Industry
and History, Full Street

The Silk Mill lies beside the River Derwent on the north-eastern edge of the city centre, close to the city's Cathedral.

The original Silk Mill was built by John Lombe in 1721. Although largely destroyed by fire and rebuilt during 1910, the massive stone arches that formed the base of the original five-storey 'Italian Works' can still be seen from the riverside walk.

A distinctive grade II listed building within the City Centre Conservation Area, it adds much to views within the city centre and especially to views along the riverside.

It is this distinctive appearance coupled with the building's place in industrial history which is the source of local pride. It is because of its place in history that the Mill forms part of, and marks the southern gateway to, the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. One of only 21 such sites in the United Kingdom, the World Heritage Site extends 24km from The Silk Mill to Masson Mill at Matlock Bath.

The Derwent Valley has been described as 'the cradle of the factory system'. It was in John Lombe's Silk Mill that the principle of mechanical factory production was introduced into England. The Mill contained many elements of the modern factory.

Appropriately, the building now houses the Museum of Industry and History. The displays tell the story of the industrial heritage and achievement of Derby and its people, including the development of Rolls-Royce aero engines and the railway industry.

Magistrates' Court Centre - National Silver
Award Winner

The recently completed Magistrates' Court Centre is one of the most important developments Derby city centre has seen in a long time.

Forming part of what is sometimes called the 'legal quarter', it lies within the City Centre Conservation Area. It is a mixture of the old and the new - refurbished listed buildings plus significant new office floorspace for Magistrates' Court purposes.

Our photograph shows the jewel at the centre of the building group - the former County Hall, subsequently the Crown Court. Built in 1660, the fine Classical style stone facade is set back from the street at the rear of a grand cour d'honneur. The building is listed grade I. The forecourt wall, gate piers, gates and railings are separately listed grade II.

Either side are grade ll listed red brick buildings, partly visible in the photograph. To the right is the former Judges Lodging of 1811. To the left is the former Police Station. Built in the early eighteen century as an hotel, it has also served as a County Library.

The lack of use for these buildings had become a cause of concern, but there is great pride in the history and quality of the buildings and their comprehensive refurbishment for the twenty first century. Their refurbishment is an inspiration and a cornerstone for implementing the new vision for the city centre - Derby Cityscape, the name for the Urban Design Strategy and for the city centre's new Urban Regeneration Company.

Hudson House is a new development which lies next to Derby Railway Station at the city centre end of Pride Park.

Pride Park is an extensive area of former derelict and contaminated land in an inner city location. The reclamation of Pride Park, following a successful City Challenge bid for major government funding, has provided 66 hectares of sustainably located development land plus major refurbishment opportunities.

In seizing this its most significant mixed use redevelopment and regeneration opportunity, Derby has brought abandoned and underused land back into beneficial uses, creating over 6,000 jobs to date to the benefit of community and economy.

The success of Pride Park is, as the name itself suggests, a source of civic pride. Software AG's Hudson House, completed in 2000, provides a representation of that success. Software AG is known for its technology leadership and professional services expertise. The Company, with UK offices in Bracknell and Derby, is a major supplier of enterprise software for electronic business, web services, content management, business integration and enterprise transaction processing. Occupying land used for railway engineering in the twentieth century, Hudson House represents the presence in Derby of enterprise and imagination in the twenty first century.

It is one good reason why Derby is confident that it has a future to be built on creativity, science and technology, a combination of features which is reflected uniquely in the city's past.

2005 winners:

In 2005 the Built Environment awards were opened up to international nominations.  The Council submitted three nominations and all three were presented with awards, including a commendation certificate and two plaques.  The successes in Derby this year were:

• Rykneld Mills "Brookbridge" redevelopment, Brook Street, winner of a Built Environment Silver award;
• the Multi-Faith Centre, University of Derby Kedleston Road Campus, winner of a Built Environment Bronze award;
• "Connecting Derby" public realm works, winner of a Built Environment Commendation

The three nominations represent three different areas of development in Derby which showcase the various types of improvements which can be seen throughout the city, including public realm works, repair and reuse of existing buildings and quality new buildings.

Rykneld Mill - Built Environment Silver Award Winner

This grade II* listed silk mill complex and its ancillary buildings is one of a very few almost complete set of mill buildings left in the United Kingdom, built of red brick with slate roofs and cast iron casement and timber sliding sash windows.  The set of buildings includes a weaving mill, throwing mill, ribbon mill, engine house, chimney and boiler house, school room and a terraced range of buildings formerly used as the manager's house, counting house and public house.  The ribbon mill has a fireproof construction with iron framed door and may be the earliest example of a fireproofed mill in England.  As an early silk mill in Derby it is a valuable part of the history of Derby and also the Derwent Valley, which has been designated as a World Heritage Site.  The development scheme, which eventually provided 104 apartments on site, with some new build, converted the buildings sensitively into housing rather than demolishing any of the range.

In 2003, the terrace buildings, Abell's Mill, Middle Mill, Long Mill, Warping Mill, The Schoolroom, the Chimney and associated boiler house and engine house were converted into residential units, both as private and as social housing.  The redevelopment scheme aimed to uphold the historic value of the various buildings of the mill complex and reuse them essentially in their original form, with new building construction taking place on the perimeter of the site, replacing 1960's workshops.  The work carried out to the listed buildings retained and repaired historic fabric wherever possible and most of the work is reversible, so that the built history of the mill at its various stages is still evident and has been left intact where it has needed to be covered up to provide apartment units.  The new build, carried out to achieve the number of residential units required, is subservient to the listed buildings.  The design is simple and uses the same proportion as those on the mill buildings.  It is clearly a new building and does not attempt to replicate the old, but rather complements them.

The work to convert these mill buildings was successful in different ways: it provided city centre housing in line with the City of Derby Local Plan, brought back into use historic mill buildings which were in various stages of disrepair and included on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register, and did both of these things with minimal intervention to the historic fabric of the building.

Multi-Faith Centre, The University of Derby - Built Environment Bronze Award Winner

This new building is the first purpose-built Multi-Faith Centre, developed and designed together by seven different faith communities.  It was built to be used as a neutral, yet sacred, place to meet, study and meditate.  It was originally a University project, but eventually a separate charity was registered in its own right as the project grew.  As the use of the building is an entirely new concept, the design brief was to create something that felt new and exciting, and offered different spaces for different uses, including a rooftop garden.  The colour scheme is of white and muted colours combined with timber, so that no religious icons are incorporated in the scheme and it remains completely neutral.  The architect saw the building as representing boulders rising out of the landscape, creating a sense of security and relating the building to its environment: a deep-rooted, earthfast structure.  Inside it is designed as a "village of spaces".

The Centre is a place where people from different faith traditions, or with no faith traditions, can meet to develop mutual respect and understanding through dialogue.  There is a resource room available, along with several meeting spaces, offices for staff and the Unviersity Chaplaincy, and a meditation room.  Various events have been organised at the larger congregational room at the Centre, celebrating the multi-cultural communities within Derby.  Other programmes include high profile lectures and debates, Youth Forum workshops, cultural briefings for business organisations, exploration of the visual performing arts, and national and international conferences.

"Connecting Derby" Public Realm Works - Commendation

These public realm works, including street furniture, paving and lighting aim to set a precedent for the standard of quality and design in the public realm in Derby.  The design concept recognises a "special zone", where high quality material and feature lighting complement the core of the city centre, and also the "historic zone", leaning towards a more traditional use of materials.  Simple, contemporary street furniture has been used which respects elements of the past.  The works were carried out within the City Centre Conservation Area, and in close proximity to a high number of listed buildings.  One of the main design aims was to create a clutter free environment in this busy shopping and business district of the city, which will not detract from the setting of the historic building environment.  This was achieved by balancing modern and traditional design and materials, creating a simple and elegant floorscape to the street scene.

All elements of the public realm improvements provide a comfortable and stylish background to the busy city centre, providing seating, lighting and paving that is pleasing to the eye and of natural materials.  The new street furniture includes bus furniture, seating, bins, collards and, in particular, new cellar lights on the Strand, which has a particularly distinct architectural rhythm.  Artwork has been incorporated into the new paving.

The various works were carried out to improve the public realm in Derby City Centre as part of Phase One of "Connecting Derby".
 

For further information please contact the Built Environment Team

Telephone 01332 255060  Minicom 01332 256666  Fax 01332 255989  e-mail built.heritage@derby.gov.uk