Leading architects will be invited to design a major new council housing development to transform a 'derelict and blighted part of Mansfield'. The White Hart Street area, near the town's railway station, has stood derelict for more than 10 years.
Officials on Mansfield District Council, which bought the land to facilitate its regeneration, say it has become a target for anti-social behaviour. The council is now looking to launch a competition and invite architects from across the world to design the social housing project.
Councillor Marion Bradshaw, the district council's portfolio holder for safer communities, housing and wellbeing, is now being recommended by council officers to approve a decision on October 21 to appoint The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to manage the competition.
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Councillor Bradshaw said: "We want to improve this derelict and blighted part of Mansfield and see something really special on this piece of land. It must be a development which respects its historical significance and the conservation area in which it sits but also looks to the future. It also needs to be a development which is environmentally sustainable and mitigates climate change.
"It will promote a safe place to live and, crucially, it must reflect the council's available budget for this scheme. The redevelopment would represent a vital element of the masterplan which we are in the process of putting together for the town centre to map out a future path for growth and regeneration."
In 2008 the site had planning permission passed for a mixed retail and residential scheme but market conditions meant this scheme was never taken forward. Last year Councillor Bradshaw approved a decision for the authority to buy parcels of land in the area so that the site, as a whole, could be redeveloped for council housing.
The council would have to pay up to £79,000 to the RIBA to manage the competition. Cllr Bradshaw added: "Running a RIBA-approved competition would promote the district of Mansfield nationally and internationally and demonstrate that, as a town, it is progressive in its aspirations and open for business. It would bring with it a real atmosphere of excitement."
Subject to approval by the Full Council, the firm which wins the competition would draw up the plan which would have to be formally be submitted in the form of a planning application. It is expected that the design competition would run between November 2022 to March 2023, and a decision on the winner would be made in April 2023.
Following that a detailed design would be created, and a decision on a business case would be expected in September 2023. If that case is then approved, it would be followed by a planning application in October 2023, meaning demolition work could start in early 2024.
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