In 2020, with retail outlets across the country closed except for essential shops and outings restricted to an hour of exercise a day, we started to turn increasingly to online shopping or ‘ecommerce’, with concerns that the future of the high street, which had looked vulnerable even before the pandemic, might be further compromised.
The incremental lifting of restrictions has seen a tentative return to the high street and in-person shopping; although the jury is still out on whether there has been any long-term impact on our city centres and our shopping habits.
The pandemic perhaps heightened our awareness of the benefits to both mental and physical health of engaging with the outdoors and nature. For those of us lucky to live in towns and cities blessed with access to large open spaces and parks, the choices we have for engaging with nature and playful landscapes are numerous. But for many more, access to quality landscapes within easy reach of their homes is limited, and the town or city centre high street is the nearest they have to accessible and useable outdoor space. And in this context, perhaps there lies a solution to the future of the high street and unloved urban centres. Do our retail environments have the potential to become greener, more playful and ambitious spaces, where people can enjoy access to nature, play and socialise?
As Landscape Architects, Macgregor Smith have worked closely with a wide number of clients over recent years to develop placemaking strategies for existing shopping environments, to make them greener, more playable, exciting and sustainable places to be. In developing and delivering these schemes we have seen first-hand the transformative benefits of landscape enhancements to traditionally hard spaces within an urban setting; creating new green spaces where children can engage with nature, where young people can meet to socialise, families can stop to eat lunch, and flora and fauna can flourish.
As well as the health and wellbeing benefits of enhanced urban and retail environments, there are also opportunities to create spaces with a distinctive sense of place, which help to provide new cultural connections with interactive artwork and interpretation, and which also help to build a sense of community through the shared use of new vibrant and active spaces. By using local craftspeople and artists, enhancements to the urban environment can also benefit the local economy and promote local skills. The greening of our cities also has a significant role to play in mitigating against climate change, and in encouraging wildlife and pollinators back into our urban environments.
The Macgregor Smtih case studies below describe some of our most recent retail environment enhancement projects, illustrating the transformative impact that well designed landscapes can have on the way that people engage with their environments.
SouthGate, Bath
Situated in the World Heritage City of Bath, this extensive public realm regeneration and enlivenment project focused on a transformation of the main shopping square at SouthGate and Brunel Square outside the City’s main train station and bus terminal. Forming the southern gateway to the City and with an annual footfall of 24 million people through the scheme, the SouthGate project has been a real catalyst for the improvement of public realm further along this busy route into the centre of Bath. The public realm enhancements were completed in 2019, before the pandemic hit.
A series of lawned mounds within the central square provide informal seating and lounging opportunities, while seeking to reflect the ‘combes’ characteristic of the local area – ‘hollows’ in which to dwell, play and chat to friends. Espalier apple trees have been trained around bronze frames to create a ‘circle’ of apples, representing the ‘Circus’ and Crescent’ architecture of Bath, and referencing the traditional apple orchards of Somerset. The seasonal planting palettes change throughout the year with the summer scheme used to echo themes of an ‘English Country Garden’, with an eclectic mix of perennials and edibles celebrating the vibrant festival scene of Bath.
The intention was for a piece of public art within the scheme to be a catalyst for local engagement, with the artwork representing community views of the local area. Working alongside Bath’s famous Holburne Museum and 60 local primary school children, we developed the theme of ‘An A-Z of what Bath means to me’, culminating in the hand crafted bronze script which wraps around to form a feature lantern at the heart of the scheme.
Formerly a hard paved space used more as a thoroughfare, the main square at SouthGate now buzzes with shoppers, students, families and children, mingling and playing amongst the lawn ‘combes’ and relaxing amongst the planting. The scheme champions urban greening and promotes edibles and wildlife habitat within the public realm, all helping to make our cities happier and healthier places in which to live and work.
SouthGate also hosts a series of successful events throughout the year, connecting in with the City’s busy festival programme. The new placemaking designs continue to foster these events by being flexible enough to be moved around during ‘event’ mode whilst also enhancing the space during ‘every day’ mode when there are no events on. The modular, movable design of the bespoke bronze planters allows the space to rapidly transform to host large crowds and outdoor performances. As more pressure is put on our open spaces to accommodate as many different ‘modes’ as possible, the idea that designs can flex to suit is something that Macgregor Smith are finding is required increasingly as part of design briefs.
Rushden Lakes, Northamptonshire
Set within the beautiful Nene Valley, Rushden Lakes is a unique retail and leisure destination in Northamptonshire, which forms part of The Crown Estate’s retail portfolio. The unique offer at Rushden Lakes sees big name fashion and boutique premium brands combined with lakeside dining and a range of leisure activities which include canoeing, cycling, walking and bird watching, all set within stunning countryside surroundings.
The leisure offer is anchored by the Nene Wetlands Visitor Centre from The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, the first such centre in the region, and the Boathouse is managed by local canoe and boating experts.
At the heart of the scheme sits ‘Garden Square’, which has recently been designed by Macgregor Smith to provide a verdant oasis at the heart of the scheme, giving visitors the opportunity to relax in a calm space surrounded by lush greenery.
The design reinforces the distinctive natural setting of the Nene Valley, through the generous provision of planting and flowing ground forms, with natural play spaces offering exciting opportunities for children’s exploration. Throughout the scheme insect ‘hotels’ and bird boxes have been positioned amongst the trees and planting to enhance habitats for locally important species.
The fallen giant oak logs and rounded boulders used within the Garden Square reflect the wetland edges so characteristic of the surrounding Nene Valley, while handmade brass leaves set into the floorscape mimic the fallen foliage from the surrounding trees.
The success of the Garden Square scheme supports the vision that our shopping environments should not be one-dimensional, hard spaces to ‘pop in and pop out’ – instead, by embracing local context, family activities, habitat creation and individuality, we can create spaces which people actively want to visit, want to stay longer in and are proud to be a part of.
Fosse Park, Leicester
Fosse Park is one of the country’s most successful shopping destinations, with more than 11 million visitors every year. The shopping centre which is jointly owned by The Crown Estate and Gingko Tree Investment, was purchased in 2014 and has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment at a cost of £168m, to provide more food and beverage opportunities, communal areas, event spaces, improved landscaping, widened walkways and enhanced accessibility.
Macgregor Smith have designed the public realm across the Park to echo the former heritage of the site as a brewery and to connect with the surrounding locally important landscapes of the Soar Valley and Aylestone Meadows. Wildflower meadows provide the backdrop to the site, with generous planting areas and green walls lining the key pedestrian routes, helping to create calm and attractive streets and habitat for wildlife. These enhanced spaces provide opportunities to meet friends and family, interact with children’s’ play areas, explore the art trail, and take part in seasonal activities and events.
Macgregor Smith and The Crown Estate worked closely with local groups in the area to shape some of the public spaces and ensure Fosse Park is as a distinctive sense of place. Art installations around the scheme bring to life local people’s reflections of the culture, heritage and landscape of the local area. Artwork and street furniture take reference from the old brewing processes, with beer barrel insect habitats and musical brass ‘play pipes’ along The Lanes. Macgregor Smith also curated the idea and the artists’ brief for a ‘Fleet of Leicestershire Foxes’, working in conjunction with sculptor Alan Dunn, Pickle Illustration, local artists and community groups to deliver 25 individually painted foxes as part of a sculpture trail around the area, which have proved a real talking point for visitors.
Conclusion
Through the course of the pandemic, we started to change the way we interacted with outdoor spaces, whether it be the wide green spaces of the countryside, or the more intense landscapes of our towns and cities. We saw new ‘parklets’ appear, routes through town centres closed to vehicles to make space for pedestrians and café tables spilling out onto closed roadways. If we can maintain this mindset and momentum, in combination with positive and playful landscape interventions, then we have the potential to change our urban environments in a positive way – for good.
We should seek to see our urban environments as opportunities to enjoy nature, to play, to relax and socialise, and not just as spaces to pass through. And to maximise the potential that greening of our urban environments can play in mitigating against climate change and in promoting joined-up green and blue infrastructure. Perhaps, this could be the future for our beleaguered High Streets and city centres – interconnected city gardens and parks for everyone to enjoy?
