Durham City Centre

2009

This was an engaging if at times fraught project to work on, but fortunately alongside Chris Jones and landscape architects Macgregor Smith. Mike Smith had studied at Durham so this was a personal project for him; as ever it was a delight to work on this project with him, supportive of working with artists as he always was. Our brief was to re-invigorate the whole of the city centre, from the main Market Place to the network of The Vennels (narrow passages) that provide hidden links across the city, echoes of a medieval street plan. The whole city centre is designated a World Heritage Site, so change needed to be both effective and sensitive.
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Working closely with Tim Rose of Macgregor Smith I designed a suite of benches that animated the tired Market Place. I also created a series of proposals for articulating the entrances to the Vennels, and in the end we developed a scheme that was comprehensive and holistic.
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One of the significant obstacles we encountered was opposition to our suggestion to reposition the equestrian statue of the Third Marquess of Londonderry, a nineteenth century coal mine owner. Despite his reputation for harsh treatment of his workforce, the statue has remained a popular local meeting point. Repositioning the statue allowed for the creation of a better events space, plus it allowed us to turn the horse around so that it better addressed the space and no longer presented its ample rear end to the main entrance to the square.
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So contentious was this suggestion however that I was asked to create a full-size mock-up of the statue in plywood, to be mounted upon a platform lift in the proposed relocation for a day, to judge the effect. It proved worthwhile, though remains one of the stranger things I have been asked to make.
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More creatively I developed a series of sketches and models for the entrances to the Vennels that would have added detail and intrigue to the streetscape, bringing history and topography to life.
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The contractor got my benches made in China instead of the UK and litigation between the contractor and the client ate into the budget. Our proposals for the Vennels fell by the wayside as a result. In the end, the only thing I actually got to make was a plywood horse!