Nottingham Buildings
Nottingham
Contemporary
(Previously
-
Centre
for
Contemporary
Art,
Nottingham
(CCAN)
Weekday
Cross
-
Originally The Centre for Modern Art, it then become known as CCAN - 'Centre for Contemporary Art , Nottingham', but now the preferred title is just 'Nottingham Contemporary', and it's aim is to become a regional centre of international standing for the display of visual and live contemporary art. The architects for this development are the London firm of Caruso St. John Architects and building works are being undertaken by SOL Construction Limited of Colwick, Nottingham. The £13M project is scheduled to open to the public in spring 2009.
The building stands on the site of one of the ancient southern approaches to the original town of Nottingham, completely obliterating Garners Hill and the old Garners Hill rest garden. It scars the view of The Lace Market from Broad Marsh, destroys the view of High Pavement from Middle Pavement imposing itself in front of The Unitarian Church and also the view in the opposite direction. It also blocks off the old GCR / LNER rail tunnel entrance, preventing any possible future use. Quite simply, it is totally and utterly out of context with the period area in which it stands and is another of the City Council 'pet projects' that ignore all normal planning considerations together with the needs and wishes of the local population. It is an eyesore and if the architects believe that by imprinting a lace design onto the face of some dirty green concrete, they have by some miracle made it blend and merge with its 19th Century surroundings, then they are both naive and deluded. I'm sure that if told that there was £13 Million spare to be spent on culture and leisure, the Nottingham people would have preferred it spent on the restoration of Newstead Abbey and its gardens, Highfields Park and its water features, Victoria Baths, Victoria Embankment and Memorial Gardens to name but a few neglected areas needing substantial cash injections.
Finally,
and
I'll
say
no
more
on
this
subject,
IF
there
was
a
desperate
need
for
such
a
centre
in
the
city,
wouldn't
it
have
been
nice
to
see
the
City
Council
follow
the
lead
set
by
The
Tate
Modern
in
London
?
There
is
a
building
crying
out
for
some
huge
investment
and
a
new
use.
I
refer
to
T.
C.
Hine's
listed
Great
Northern
Railway
Warehouse
on
the
edge
of
the
East
Side
Development
area.
This
building
could
have
been
restored
on
the
exterior
and
the
inside
transformed
into
a
modern
exhibition
space
far
more
flexible
than
the
confined
areas
of
this
new
development.
Another
opportunity
lost.
You might guess that I don't like this building but I do have admiration for the feat of civil engineering that went into the ground works. As the early photographs below show, the preparation of this site was a huge task and probably cost as much as the actual building itself.
Speaking
of
cost,
last
week
(W/c
29-09-08),
it
was
announced
that
the
City
Council
now
has
to
find
another
£1M
to
cover
an
overspend
on
the
construction
costs
that
was
attributed
to
the
very
complicated
ground
works
that
I
referred
to
above.
The
report
also
noted
that
a
further
£2M
might
be
needed
to
enable
the
centre
to
open
for
business.
What
a
waste
-
just
this
overspend
alone
could
have
restored
the
crumbling
West
Front
of
Newstead
Abbey,
the
home
of
the
poet
Lord
Byron.
Click here to visit the official Nottingham Contemporary web site
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