A new city skate spot has opened on the former Broadmarsh site, becoming one of the first of its kind in Europe. The Sussex Street development opened on December 17 after receiving funding from the skateboarding community.
Skate Nottingham, a non-profit place-making, sports development and alternative education organisation, raised almost £17,000 from more than 230 donors through a Crowdfunder campaign. The skatepark was a collaboration between Nottingham City Council, Skate Nottingham and Skateboard GB, which donated £5,000.
The all-weather skatepark named Tram Line Spot is the first UK purpose-built 'street spot'. It is based under the tram viaduct to keep the spot dry and street lights keep the area well lit in the dark. The plans came together after Nottingham City Council approached Skate Nottingham in 2019.
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Co-Founder and Director of Skate Nottingham, Chris Lawton, said: "We have created this unique, super hopeful and super ambitious project at a really difficult time for Nottingham. We have got this space opening just before Christmas after a succession of bad news stories and now a really good news story."
Skate Nottingham did not receive any national or local government funding. Chris explained: "By being able to fund the project, it meant we could be in the driving seat. It is a unique space, there is nowhere else like it in Europe so it has enabled us to be more innovative than we might have been.
"It has also enabled the skateboarders to create a really optimistic and hopeful story for Nottingham." More than 200 people were involved in the consultation and design of the new space, including students from Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham College.
Nottingham has recently become one of the most important cities in British skateboarding in terms of elite skateboarders like Miriam Nelson - who is this year's national champion - and in terms of great facilities such as indoor and outdoor skateparks.
Regarding the future of the site, Chris has big plans. He said: "Skate Nottingham's wider objective for the spot is that it becomes a hub for people to visit Nottingham from all over the world. We hope that because there is nowhere else like this in the country people will be visiting from all over the country and internationally quite soon."
The fundraising money was used to create and install three steel items of bespoke ‘skateable street furniture’. They were made by skatepark specialists Betongpark and designed with skateboarders across Nottingham.
Betongpark and Skate Nottingham also had to do significant additional work on the skateable perimeter ledges that surround the site, including a densifier treatment and sealant to make them long-lasting and good to skate. A hard-wearing resin infill between each concrete unit has been installed to ensure skateboard trucks and BMX pegs can grind across the surface without catching on the gaps.
The skate spot is part of the wider 'Green Heart' area for the city. The Green Heart is the centrepiece of Nottingham City Council’s vision for Broad Marsh and the first phase will see an area the size of Nottingham Forest's pitch covered in trees and planting, creating a natural, tranquil green space with pathways between Nottingham Station and Old Market Square.
Cllr David Mellen, the Leader of Nottingham City Council said: “The ongoing transformation of Broad Marsh and the wider south side of the city over the last year has been a real positive for the city. The new green public spaces around the new Nottingham College building, along with recently opened bus station and new car park, which is proving so popular, have made a huge difference to the area.
“The opening of the new Central Library next year and the first phase of work to create the Green Heart will be further major milestones in the regeneration of what is such an important gateway to the city centre.
“The Green Heart is one of the key elements of the long term vision we unveiled last year and something there was huge support for among the thousands of responses we received as part of the council’s Big Conversation about Broad Marsh. There is more work to be done to move forward with the wider vision but it’s great to see major progress being made on the ground.”
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