Creating a gateway symbolic of city’s direction of travel

Placemaking and regeneration experts LCR has said it is working closely with Derby City Council to create a gateway to Derby ‘that is symbolic of the direction the city is heading’.

Last year, it completed a £2.8 million deal for Midland House, a building that will be key to the city’s plans to regenerate the area around the railway station and create a more attractive gateway.

The acquisition was made possible with the support of £500,000 funding from the city council, which is now working with LCR to bring forward plans to breathe new life into the area.

In recent years, a number of major regeneration schemes in Derby have either been completed or are underway, with more in the pipeline.

With this in mind, LCR, believes the timing for a new scheme around the railway station is right.

In a statement, LCR said: “Derby’s 200-year legacy as the centre of the rail industry in Britain has shaped the city but in the last few decades its growth slowed.

“There is a need to inject vibrancy back into the centre, and Derby City Council has a vision and plans to transform its underwhelming gateway and showcase Derby’s thriving community.

“The task of regenerating an area and changing perceptions isn’t easy, but LCR has been collaborating with Derby City Council to deliver a holistic masterplan for the station area, a forgotten corner of the city centre, to deliver a major transformation for this key gateway for the city.”

LCR, which is the company behind the RTC Business Park in Derby, said that Midland House is “one of the first major components” of the project.

Forming part of the wider masterplan, it links multiple plots of underutilised land ready for regeneration.

LCR said: “The planned regeneration of Derby and the preservation of its rich rail heritage will make it an attractive place for residents and an exciting space for people to live and work again.

“These plans are moving at pace and it’s crucial that the area around Derby station, which has long been under-loved, provides a gateway that is symbolic of the direction the city is heading.”