My City - The Meanwhile Use Project

Come and join us at the Civic Voice Stand at Regen2015 tomorrow

The Green Billboard
Steve Connor, Creative Concern, Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Forestry Commission (FC)

Our urban environments, which are predominately those areas where we see the biggest collections of hoarding are set to suffer a ‘heat island effect’ due to climate change. The green billboard goes some way to respond to this challenge as well as addresses the problems of air and traffic pollution by utilising trees as a natural filter.

Finally green hoardings help bring a little bit of nature into the urban realm and offer an antidote to the modern architectural venacular of concrete and steel upon which any kind of advertising or art installation can be mounted.

For the Bidston Moss design, which celebrates the greening of the Northwest, we've created a billboard that literally allows the leaves of the trees to grow through it, fusing a dramatic and powerful message with the very same medium that is carrying it; green billboards have great potential for innovative design responses, particularly as part of regeneration schemes like this one.

Measuring 30m by 2.5m the only sustainable outdoor advertisement in this world was delivered on behalf of the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Forestry Commission (FC), and displays the partnership’s message ‘ One Tree Is Planted Every Ten Seconds In This Region’. The billboard has been established on a new community woodland area at Bidston Moss on the Wirral Peninsula, one of a number of derelict or under-used sites being reclaimed as part of the Northwest's £70 million Newlands programme.

Greenspot
Steve Connor, Creative Concern

All too easily our great British countryside is overlooked until it is glimpsed during a fleeting summertime when Brits take a brief sojourn to the seaside, or a quick frolic at a festival. But this year’s ben different. This summer some trees have been on tour!

16 Acer trees descend upon the serene space of the courtyard at Liverpool’s Bluecoat – part of Delivering a Green 08, the green side of Liverpool 08, European Capital of Culture.

This Greenspot ‘installation’ is interactive and lit by sustainable power. Quotes from ‘tree-loving’ writers and celebrities adorn the tree’s travelling boxes while benches provide for a much-needed time-out amongst the trees.

Established in 2007 as a transferable, non site-specific installation, Greenspot actually pre-empted Environment Minister Hilary Benn’s July rallying cry to the UK, when he said: “We must bring the countryside to the city”. Indeed if we look after our urban spaces - in sustainable ways – then the countryside will no longer boast an unshakeable monopoly on ‘quality of life’. And that is what Greenspot aims to highlight.
The objective of the temporary installation is to engage with the general public by the quirk of bringing a customised slice of the countryside into the city. The trees are species is ‘Acer’, known commonly as Maple. Acer is a genus of trees and shrubs, from the Latin word meaning ‘sharp’ - referring to the characteristic points on the leaves.

Greenspot has been made possible by a unique partnership involving the Forestry Commission, NWDA (Newlands), Mersey Forest, Regional Parks Xchange, Groundwork Merseyside, and the Environment Agency.
Keith Jones, of the Forestry Commission said on behalf of the partnership: “Greenspot gives people a chance to experience all the benefits of urban greening. Temporary installations like this highlight the benefits of permanent planting in the city vital to reducing the urban heat effect, reducing climate change, and creating spaces where urban dwellers reap the benefits of feeling closer to nature.”

Duncan Street, Leeds
East Street Arts
15-17 Duncan Street is a two- story shop in the heart of Leeds’ busy city centre that had been empty for some time when it was offered to East Street Arts. Over the 9 months we worked in it, the property supported approximately 175 artists who hosted nearly 2,500 audience members across 17 events.

Brixton Villiage Arcade
http://www.spacemakers.info/projects/brixton-village
Brixton Villiage arcade had been going downhill for years, with twenty units sitting empty, and was slated for redevelopment: the owners planned to demolish half of it, and stick a ten-storey apartment block on top. After a successful community campaign to prevent this, Spacemakers were approached by Lambeth Council, to come up with a Plan B.

We took the keys to the empty units, and designed a project to rebuild the social life of the market, by offering three months free rent to anyone with an idea for reusing one of the spaces. In response, we received 98 proposals in one week, with people using the units for band rehearsals, galleries and meeting rooms, along with shops, cafes and proto-bars.

Together, these uses brought new life to the market, complementing the existing traders, and leading to the permanent establishment of a thriving, locally-powered economy in Brixton. By the time we finished our work in 2010, the market was fully let for the first time since 1979

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