THE COMPETITION

Invitation

Redcar is a seaside town situated on the bracing and beautiful coast of north-east England.  The town is justifiably proud of its past, but now recognises the need for improvements to its public realm and amenities to ensure a dynamic future for residents and visitors alike. The seafront is a key spatial zone that will be at the heart of a resurgent town embracing change.

Designers are invited to engage and explore their creativity and generate:
a)  Design ideas for the public realm improvements associated with a proposed GBP £14m coastal defence scheme.  The £14m includes an allocation of £1m to provide a basic landscape treatment to mitigate the effects of the new sea wall, on top of which a further potential funding requirement of GBP £4m has been identified to fulfil the aspirations of the Competition Brief.  Designers should develop detailed designs for the ‘Key Activity Area’ (~500m) identified on the Competition Zone Plan, as well as a complimentary strategy for the public realm works along the remaining length of the sea wall (~1000m) indicated.  These should be capable of being developed within the overall GBP £5m public realm works budget (inclusive of preliminaries, professional design fees and inflation, but excluding VAT).  The proportional distribution of the GBP £5m budget is left to the discretion of competitors.

b)  A coherent set of design ideas for the public highway, footpath, building facades and sites in the immediate ‘backdrop’ zone (see Competition Zone Plan and Cross Section) to the sea front.  There should be a clear synergy between these proposals and the public realm works associated with the new sea wall.  They should aim to rejuvenate the appearance in a creative, coherent and cost effective way prior to any long term investment in the 'backdrop' zone.

It is the intention that the winner will be commissioned to undertake the detailed design of the public realm works included within their entry, subject to the Environment Agency and Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council securing all of the necessary approvals to progress the scheme to the detailed design phase.  The winner will be required to carry out this design in conjunction with the Environment Agency’s lead designers for the engineering works.  A planning application for the coast defence works is due to be submitted in the Summer and a business case for the project will be prepared in December 2008 with the proposed implementation date between 2010 and 2012. 

Development of the ‘backdrop’ zone proposals would be the subject of a separate and additional funding package being developed by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council.  The Council is planning to commission economic investment master planning work covering the main centres of the borough.  Redcar would be the focus of initial investment master planning activity.  It is anticipated that ideas arising from the competition for the ‘backdrop’ zone will be embraced as part of the investment master planning approach for Redcar.  

Competition format

The RIBA Competitions Office has been appointed to manage the selection process on behalf of the Environment Agency and Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council (the Promoters).  It will follow the format of a two-stage Open Design Competition.  The anonymous first stage seeks ideas and approaches for the public realm aspects of the sea wall scheme, as well as imaginative designs for the ‘backdrop’ zone.  Up to 5 schemes will be selected by a Jury Panel to go through to the second stage of the competition.  The short-listed schemes will be subject to public exhibition in Redcar.  Anonymity will be lifted and the authors of the short-listed schemes issued with feedback from the Stage 1 assessment.  Teams will be invited to present their design proposals to the Jury Panel at a final interview.  Each short-listed competitor will receive an honorarium payment of GBP £4,000 + VAT.  The winner will receive an additional payment of GBP £4,000 + VAT, which will represent an advance on the professional fee for the subsequent commission.

The winner will need to demonstrate an empathy, realism and overall understanding of the commissioning clients’ expectations and abilities.

 
Public Consultation

A Consultation Event is scheduled to be held in early/mid July when members of the public will be invited to provide their views on:
- Why they live / visit the seaside and the sort of experience a coastal town like Redcar should provide in the 21st Century           
- What they like about Redcar’s existing seafront
- How the seafront could be improved, particularly the amenities and attractions it offers to residents and visitors the year round.

Themes arising from the Public Consultation will be made available to competitors to help inform their design proposals.
   
The Vision

The competition offers a rare opportunity to shape the future form of approximately 1.5kms of sea frontage at a UK coastal resort.  By enhancing the quality, role and economic performance of the seafront visitor space, Redcar wishes to raise its profile as a visitor destination and commercial centre to stimulate investment activity.