Iconic Development
An Iconic Development is assumed to be a development that is unique and part of the existing or new image of Durham by virtue of its use, its form and its scale. So the Guggenheim Museum is an icon of Bilbao and the Baltic Mills is an icon of Newcastle- Gateshead. These are great rarities and incapable of manufacture without real purpose. To become iconic they need to have longevity.
The Vision for the future of Durham City centre is not dependent on major, new iconic development to effect significant change in the perception and the reality of the City centre as a great place for residents, workers, students and visitors. Many such proposals have been considered in the recent past – Regional Assembly, National Portrait Gallery North, Regional Conference Centre, for example – but each has evaporated.
That is not to say that the City should not prepare itself to accommodate such a development, and be able to do so rapidly, if such a proposition were to come forward in the future. Rather than holding vacant land or buildings in reserve for such a development – effectively sterilising a part of the City centre, preventing it from performing a positive role in the life of the City for an indefinite period - the Vision proposes two approaches.
POSSIBLE SITES FOR ICONIC DEVELOPMENT
The first approach, for the short to medium term, is to highlight a number of sites with existing potential. At present, and in descending order of current availability, these include:
- The former Ice Rink
- County Hospital
- Millburngate House
- Redhills
- Hild and Bede College
However it is accepted that, as time moves on, these sites will drop away as they are redeveloped for more conventional projects when new uses are found.
The second approach, sustainable over the longer term, is to seek the availability of St Hild and St Bede College for such a development through some form of development agreement, while it continues to operate as a college of the University in the interim.
THE DURHAM SKY BOWL
The County is currently excited about the prospect of a public art project which would fall into the category of iconic development.
Set on a hillside in parkland at Aykley Heads, the giant ‘Sky Bowl’ would be a large steel bowl that reflected the patterns in the sky. People could enter the bowl and be enveloped by the sky with no other structures or buildings in sight.
The Sky Bowl has been designed to complement Durham’s architectural heritage rather than to detract from it. Its location is such that it will not appear in the same sight lines as the Castle and the Cathedral. It is hoped that such public art will inspire confidence in the area and illustrate that Durham is a progressive County. It is also hoped that the Sky Bowl will be an attraction that would further enhance the tourism offer.
