Nottingham is a rapidly changing and growing city.
Anyone who has visited the area around the train station in recent months will know this transformation is already well under way.
But what will the next decade hold for our vibrant, exciting and developing city?
There is a huge number of extensive and complex development projects set to fundamentally change the city over the coming years.
Some are already being built, others in the works - and some are a few years off yet.
Whichever way you look at it - the landscape of the city and the lives of those living in it will be very different a decade from now.
There are £2 billion worth of developments planned over half a square mile, and whole new neighbourhoods in the pipeline.
In our special report, we have analysed a host of those major projects, and spoken to the major players, in a bid to take a closer look at how Nottingham could look in 10 years' time.
The Broadmarsh area
The simultaneous rebuilding of the shopping centre, bus station, car park and new central library will be both the centrepiece and catalyst of the whole south side regeneration project, city planners hope.
Bus Station, car park and new Central Library
The much-maligned concrete edifice which was the Broadmarsh bus station is now no more, and work is well under way to build its replacement.
As of August 2019, contractors Galliford Try are pile driving the foundations into the ground stone, ready for the steel frame to be placed on top.
A large part of the building had to be redesigned to accommodate the new Central Library, after a decision was made to move it from Angel Row.
City council bosses hope it will become the ‘best children’s library in the country’.
The car park itself will have 1,397 parking spaces – almost 250 more than in the previous car park, and there will be electric charging points on each floor.
Together with the shopping centre redevelopment across the road, the city council hopes 3,000 new jobs will be created.
D2N2 - the regional governmental body which promotes the area - has invested £25.3 million in the project, and says it will be a “significant driver in attracting inward investment and supporting strong growth within the city and surrounding region.”
Opposite the new bus station, several shops have had significant make-overs, after Heritage Lottery funding was secured.
Cost: £55 million. Complete: Early 2021
Intu Broadmarsh shopping centre
Like its concrete former neighbour, no-one had much love for the old Broadmarsh shopping centre, with its bizarre ‘sails’ and an entrance to the city centre which more resembled a glorified patio door.
Rather than replace like with like, the new Intu Broadmarsh will be as much a destination as it is a shopping centre, with permission for a new multi-screen cinema, bowling alley and late-night licences for bars and restaurants.
The roads around it are changing too. Collin Street, which bisects the bus station and the shopping centre, will become pedestrianised.
Most of Canal Street will be for buses only, with cars only able to drive to and from the new Broadmarsh car park.
Cost: circa £86m. Complete: Summer 2021
Nottingham Castle
Key to bringing new tourists to the city and capitalising on the world-famous Robin Hood is the castle redevelopment.
Even its staunchest defenders will concede the castle had looked down on its luck for years.
But rather than having it torn down for a third time (the first was in 1649 and the second in 1831), vast amounts of scaffolding currently adorn the third incarnation on the 1000-year-old site.
The new chief executive Sara Blair-Manning has said she hopes to make it one of the top tourist attractions in the country, bringing in thousands of visitors every day.
Interactive and high-tech exhibits will tell the story of Robin Hood as well as explaining the part played by the people of Nottingham in the 17th-century English Civil War.
More than £7 million in funding for the project has come from local enterprise partnership D2N2.
Cost: £30 million. Complete: Late 2020
Nottingham College City Hub
As the centrepiece for the newly-merged Central College and New College Nottingham, the City Hub is expected to be one of the first of the major new buildings to be finished.
The main steel frame of the building is in place, and it will soon house a new performing arts centre, student retail space, café and training restaurant and bar.
This summer, brickwork students are being given work experience and apprenticeships on site, while other students will be able to get experience in heating, electrics, plastering, painting and decorating, as the building progresses.
At £30 million, this is D2N2’s largest investment in the East Midlands, although the overall cost is much higher.
Cost: £58 million. Complete: September 2020
Broadmarsh West
Once the City Hub is complete, the city council will come into possession of the current Maid Marian Way campus.
Still in the early phases of development, it is anticipated this will be a mixed-use development, with some homes, some cafes and bars, and a considerable amount of new public space.
Cost: Unknown. Complete: Unknown
Vita
A large new block for 320 high-end student flats, on a narrow plot of land between the canal and Station Street, with the entrance where the old job centre was, next to the Hopkinson building.
This is well under way, with several storeys of the new building complete, and a section of Station Street currently closed to pedestrians to allow the construction traffic to access the site.
Cost: £24 million. Complete: Unknown
11 Station Street
This top-end, Grade A office block will see 50,000sq feet of work space, including roof terraces, open-plan offices and car parking.
Cost: £15 million. Complete: Construction expected to start imminently
City buildings, Carrington Street
Currently covered in scaffolding, work is under way to convert the upper storeys to become 55,000 square feet of Grade A office space, above the retail units below.
Cost: Unknown. Complete: Spring 2020
Gresham Hotel
Just across the road, this former hotel is being turned into 16 luxury apartments and two retail units.
Cost: £2.6 million. Complete: Unknown
Southern Gateway and The Meadows
As well as the regeneration around the Broadmarsh, a broad swathe of land connecting The Meadows with the city centre is also set for significant change.
Most of the land is primarily being used to build accommodation, which the council hopes will help close the current housing shortfall in the city.
Student accommodation is also being built, with the council aiming to move students towards the city centre, lessening the pressure on areas like Lenton and Radford which currently have huge student populations.
Unity Square
This will be HMRC’s new regional base in the city, moving 2,000 staff from its current office down the road, and eventually employing 4,000 government workers.
The steel frame for six of the 10 storeys is largely in place, and construction is in full swing.
A smaller second block, behind what is currently being built, has also been given provisional planning permission, and is expected to house more Government workers.
Cost: £60 million. Complete: Summer 2021
Crocus Place
All of this Grade A office block is expected to be occupied by just one client, but they have not yet been named.
The 100,000 square foot glass-fronted development is being built on land right next to the tram bridge, which was once used as a construction base for the tram extension.
Cost: £32 million. Completion: Summer 2021
Vantage
This huge 12-storey block will see 462 student apartments built on land which is currently derelict.
Initially there were plans for a rooftop terrace which would have overlooked the whole city, on a level with the Jury’s Inn hotel in terms of height.
But this was dropped, and the height of the tallest part of the building was reduced by one storey after conversations with city planners.
Cost: £25 million. Completion: Construction expected to start shortly
Saffron Court
This mix of 350 one-and-two-bedroomed private rental flats is expected to be one of the first residential schemes completed in the area.
Cost: £46 million. Completion: End of August 2019
Chainey Place
Just across the road from the Saffron Court development, these 122 apartments facing London Road are being built by the same developer.
The design was highly praised by councillors on the planning committee, partly because it involves retaining the front of a former Victoria warehouse, which will be incorporated into the new brick-built apartment block.
Cost: £17.4 million. Complete: November 2020
Arkwright Walk
A residential development by Keepmoat Homes will mean new houses, as well as a block of flats, will be built along Arkwright Walk, joining the city centre to Trent Bridge.
Construction work is ongoing, but several of the houses are now finished and occupied.
Cost: Unknown. Completion: Coming months
Sentinel
Developers are currently discussing designs with planners, and are at an early stage, but it is hoped 198 houses will be built.
Cost: Unknown. Completion: Unknown
Hindle House
Planning permission has been approved for 64 apartments on Traffic Street.
Cost: £4 million. Completion: Unknown, construction expected to start shortly
Traffic Street
Another one in the early stages, but 140 apartments could be built here on land that is currently vacant. No planning application has so far been approved.
Cost: Unknown. Completion: Start date unknown
Triangle Site
Strangely enough, this site is triangular. It is currently up for sale, with a mixed-use development expected on site, though no planning permission has yet been granted
Cost: Unknown. Completion: Start date unknown
Creswell Site
Planning permission was originally granted for a mixture of accommodation targeted at young professionals, as well as new student flats.
However developers The Cassidy Group is expected to ask that this be modified, so that only apartments for young professionals will be built.
The apartments in this development will be fewer in number, but more upmarket in their design.
Cost: £55 million. Completion: Late 2022/Early 2023
Boots Island
The long-awaited redevelopment of the Boots Island site was given planning permission earlier this year.
Details on when the 40-acre scheme will start - and the total cost involved - have not yet been confirmed.
However the outline planning permission - which essentially approves the principle of building there - stipulated that work had to be finished by 2034.
A development on the plot in 2004 which had permission but failed to come to fruition, was given a price tag of £900 million. It is highly likely the new scheme would attract a higher bill than this.
Included in the designs were provisions for 907 apartments, 666 student flats, a five-star hotel, 1,796 car parking spaces, 58,885 square metres of office space, and 17,274 square metres of shops, bars, restaurants and employment.
Cost: £900 million (Unknown). Complete: Before 2034
Waterside
More than just a development, this is a whole new suburb of Nottingham, opposite Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, which itself is set for a multi-million pound upgrade.
The 66-acre development, complete with a new primary school and a leafy walkway along the river, is expected to be built on a long strip of brownfield land which starts opposite Trent Bridge and stretches down to Colwick.
Some houses in a development known as Trent Basin have already been built, but the city council has prepared a masterplan for large amounts of the site around it.
This will influence what kind of buildings are allowed to be built there.
Ultimately, it could see hundreds of new homes connecting Sneinton and the Meadows.
Cost: Unknown. Complete: Unknown
