Pupils show off design skills for landmark city development scheme

Students from three Derby schools have been showing off their design skills for a competition involving the city’s forthcoming entertainment and conference venue.

Construction work on the £45.8 million Becketwell venue, which is set to host over 200 cultural and commercial events each year and expected to attract an additional 250,000 visitors to the city, is progressing to plan.

Built on the site of the former Pink Coconut nightclub and several other buildings, the new venue will offer a much larger and more adaptable space than anything previously available in the city centre.

Derby City Council is working in partnership with developer St James Securities, contractor Bowmer + Kirkland and venue operator ASM Global on the project.

The schools design competition was devised as part of the Derby Promise by Enterprise 4 Education, which is run by the city council, alongside Bowmer + Kirkland and project manager and agent Pierre Angulaire.

Year Nine pupils from selected city schools were asked to design an element of the new venue, which will have a capacity of 3,500.

They were given the freedom to interpret the brief in their own way. It could be either something on a large scale, like the building in ‘event mode’ showing how the lighting, stage design and visitor experience would be, or the design of a specific element of the venue such as a bench, a wall in the foyer or a wayfinding sign.

Pupils were required to apply their engineering and construction knowledge, alongside creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork, to complete their designs, embodying the ethos of the Derby Promise – to build young people’s skills and allow them to explore the future of work, leaving them confident and ambitious about their place in Derby’s future.

Teams from three schools, Da Vinci Academy, Leesbrook Academy and UTC Derby, were selected to present their ideas during a special event at the Council House on 16 July.

They stood up in front of a panel of expert judges, plus teachers, parents and other pupils, to outline their designs and face the judges’ questions.

After much deliberation, they chose Da Vinci Academy as the winners. Their design was a path leading up to the entrance of the performance venue, in the form of a colourful timeline highlighting key points in Derby’s rich history.

Councillor Nadine Peatfield, city council leader and portfolio holder for city centre, regeneration, strategy and policy, said: “We were so impressed by all the pupils that took part in the competition.

“It was inspirational seeing such outstanding presentations and every one of the young people should be very proud of themselves.”

Oliver Quarmby, managing director of St James Securities, said all three teams had interesting proposals.

He said: “I’d like to thank all the teams that took part in the design competition for their hard work and congratulate them for coming up with such innovative ideas for the new entertainment and conference venue.

“It was really difficult to choose a winning proposal given all three teams developed and presented their ideas in such interesting and considered ways.”

Helen Bedford, social value manager at Bowmer + Kirkland, said: “We’re pleased that the concept worked well, and we were amazed by the creativity and hard work from the pupils, they should all be extremely proud.

“The design challenge contributed towards the educational engagement within our social value plan in which we have already supported over 200 hours of engagement with Derby-based educational institutions.

“We thank everyone who was involved, and we look forward to future opportunities to support the community and the Derby Promise.”