The Cambridge to Oxford Connection: Ideas Competition

Description

Overview

The corridor that spans Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Oxford defines one of the most productive and fastest-growing knowledge networks in the United Kingdom.

It is home to 3.3 million people and hosts some of the country’s most successful cities, as well as world-leading universities, knowledge-intensive high-tech firms and highly-skilled workers.

Yet within this area significant housing and transport pressures exist: the scarcity of suitable and affordable homes, and difficulties in travelling within, and between, cities. These constraints are becoming obstacles to attracting and retaining talent and inevitably putting a break on economic growth.

Across the corridor, new infrastructure is coming in the form of rail and roads that will hugely improve connectivity, but really captivating, attractive places, which allow people to flourish – whether new or reinvented – are rarely accidental.

This is why the National Infrastructure Commission, an independent body with cross-party support that provides advice to government on infrastructure policy and strategy, is launching this free-to-enter, two-stage ideas contest aimed at broad multidisciplinary teams of urban designers; architects; planning, policy, and community specialists; landscape designers; development economists; and others with local knowledge and general insight Submissions from international teams and are welcome.

Through the competition, the Commission will be seeking visionary ideas for development typologies across the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford corridor, and including Northampton. Typologies that contribute to providing the homes the area needs, integrate the delivery of infrastructure – the highly anticipated East West Railway and planned Oxford to Cambridge Expressway – with high-quality places, and maintain the environmental and cultural character of the corridor.

A strategy that integrates placemaking with infrastructure is essential for the area to achieve sustainable progress that speaks to all communities and creates a sound basis for economic success. The knowledge economy is particularly vulnerable to talent relocating – the job may be great, but this is just one factor among many. How does the environment measure up? What is the community like? Is this a place to settle and make a future, to live happily and healthily?

The need for fresh and visionary thinking is urgent: future generations, locally and nationally, depend on realising the potential of an area that is one of the engines of the UK economy – but in a sustainable, creative and intelligent way. The Commission will be publishing a Final Report in late 2017 that will include visions and design principles for infrastructure, and associated development sites, ensuring these are effectively integrated into the local environment and meet the needs of residents and communities. This competition is focused on finding the very best ideas to guide the Commission forward.

Background

Recognising the importance of the corridor to the UK economy, the National Infrastructure Commission was asked to provide the government with proposals and options to maximise the potential of the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford corridor as a single, knowledge-intensive cluster that is globally competitive while protecting the area’s high-quality environment, and securing much-needed homes and jobs.

Brief

The aim of the competition is to gather, showcase and promote imaginative responses to integrating placemaking with the proposed infrastructure projects across the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford Corridor, and including Northampton.

This is a two-stage competition. At the first stage, competitors are asked to submit details of their proposed team and an emerging concept which addresses the following overarching question:

The emerging concepts, which will be judged anonymously, should address development typologies across one of three high-level groupings:

• Urban Intensification: those developments that look to intensify existing urban settlements, either in the centre, suburbs or on the edge;
• Linked Places: those developments that are linked to, and make use of the existing infrastructure of an existing urban settlement. These include, for example, satellite developments, urban extensions and small settlements, such as garden villages; or
• Autonomous Places: new settlements of a sufficient scale to be self-contained in terms of requiring, maintaining and operating their own urban infrastructure.

At the second stage of the competition, shortlisted teams will receive an honorarium of £10,000 to progress their emerging visions into creative concepts, developed on a specific location within the corridor. Teams will receive an additional briefing document and be invited to attend a briefing workshop, and a separate charrette where they will receive feedback from the Commission and their advisers on their developing designs.