Derby's Urban Sustainable Transition (DUST)

The Markeaton Brook is a body of water which naturally flows under the centre of Derby, from Ford Lane to Derby River Gardens. The Brook was culverted over starting in the 1830's until the 1940's due to it collecting large amounts of sewage and depositing it in the city when it flooded. After the historic flood of 1932, Derby City Council redirected the majority of the flow of the brook away from the city centre finally alleviating the biggest threat of flooding to the city centre.

The DUST team, alongside other groups in Derby, propose uncovering the brook to reveal one of the city’s hidden gems. This initiative would create a beautiful, natural river walk through the heart of Derby, offering more space for pedestrians and enhancing the charm and character of the city centre. By restoring Derby’s natural heritage we aim to re-establish the city centre’s focal point; bringing communities together, celebrating local culture, and supporting the growth of local businesses.

Take a virtual tour of the Markeaton Brook

The Electric Daisy was put together and developed by Derby's own "Down To Earth Regen", which aims at creating a public garden in the city for the community to rest, learn and play. The Electric Daisy sits on a vacant plot of land on Bold lane previously the home of "Prince's Supermarket" which was demolished between 2007 and 2009. The space offers an outdoor space where people can socialise, catch a bite to eat or do some work, it is also an entertainment/event space for late night parties and chilled out gatherings.

Since launching in 2023, Electric Daisy has been evolving ever since and does not plan to stop anytime soon. DTE Regens aspirations for Electric Daisy is to take over the whole of their site and open a large indoor space filled with tropical plants, a future farming greenhouse, work shop areas, water fall, live stage as well as capacity for 200 people

Take a virtual tour of the Electric Daisy

27 Queen Street was built in 1670 by Stephen Flamsteed, the father of the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed and is also the last fully intact Burgage plot in Derby. John Flamsteed lived at 27 Queen Street for some time, documenting the stars and planets from his "Derby Meridian Line" in the garden, before moving his work to London and founding the "Greenwich Meridian Line" or GMT. 

The houses history only gets richer from John Flamsteed's departure, being home to John Withurst a revolutionary thinker and co-founder of the "Lunar Society" and the modern Environment where the house played host to the likes of Benjamin Franklin. The house was also bought by the famous Derby artist Joseph Wright, who painted some of his greatest works in the house and drew inspiration from the garden.

During the 19th Century the house was sold to Smiths Clock makers who used the sight as a factory for the worlds most historic grand public clocks until the year 2000. Some of their most recognisable clocks include the clock of St Paul's Cathedral.

Take a virtual tour of 27 Queen Street

According to our estimations, most of Derby’s neighbourhoods receive more thru traffic than expected. On top of that, some pericentral areas (particularly in the western part of the city) are at great risk of flooding. However, only limited green infrastructure to efficiently treat storm water is currently available to those zones. We have also identified socioeconomically deprived areas at the southern part of the city; most of these areas lack vibrant public places, which would promote safety, social interaction, and a sense of belonging. 

There is, therefore, an urgent need to explore various possibilities with a view to turning Derby’s residential areas into more liveable places. Transforming the typical residential street into a more liveable street typology is one of the scenarios considered. With living streets, we are directly targeting at the aforementioned problems by combining health-promoting and sustainable qualities into one multifunctional place. These qualities include green infrastructure to manage storm water and cleanse air, public street furniture to increase interaction and safety levels, as well as infrastructure to encourage physical activity.

To contextualise our vision for living streets, we have applied the living street typology on an example neighbourhood in Mackworth. According to our plan, existing residential streets will be converted to living streets whereas the outer roads should continue to function as traffic collectors - since thru traffic will be discouraged for living streets. We envision living streets to receive one-way car traffic with a speed limit of up to 10mph.

The living street paradigm looks to calm down thru traffic by creating physical obstacles – in this case, raingardens and street furniture. In this way, non-residents are discouraged to drive through or park on street. Also, those street elements have more meaningful uses than plain traffic-calmers. For instance, we intend to use a pergola and a timber frame structure as social life attractors as well as environmental additions, in the sense that climbing plants can boost local biodiversity; while bioswales can treat storm water.

In the same spirit, we are introducing playscapes and cycle infrastructure of different uses and scales in a bid to promote a healthier way of living for kids and adults.

Take a tour of Living Streets

This work focuses on the old Friar Gate goods yard and train station. Our aim is to revitalise the site as a commercial centre with bars and cafes. As such, the Old Bonded warehouse and Engine House can be used by the public and also the new neighbouring school. On the station side, we envision revitalising Friar Gate bridge with a restaurant/pub in which people will be able to come dine or drink in Old Mark 2 British railway carriages on Friar Gate bridge, or on the adjoining bridge in the open air.

This would leave a large open area to the rear of the station, which will be suitable for events, such as Christmas markets or pop-up music events, with space for more consistent shops in the station viaducts below. This will be combined with a public park, which will comprise of multi-use play areas. To get people to the area we also propose a new multi-storey car park where the RCP parking currently is as well as having the new extension to the great Northern Cycle route running through this entire area.

Take a virtual tour of the Friar Gate Bridge and Bonded Warehouse

We have developed plans to restore the Old Train route as a Cycle and pedestrian path, which would require digging out and restoring both station bridge and Mickleover Tunnel running alongside the Mackworth park. The route will start from where the current "Great Northern Cycle Path" ends at station road in Mickleover. In line with national highways plan for the Kingsway’s roundabout on the A38, our modification would be to include a cycle and pedestrian path over the A38 but under the above traffic, thus linking the Great Northern Cycle Path into the city of Derby.

In the contemporary processes of urban development, regeneration is becoming a relevant way to limit the occupation of new land and enhance the existing spatial, social, and ecological dimensions of a particular part of a city. The main scheme is to activate Derby’s vertical public realm and to create a new landmark for the city. The project aims to create a winter roof garden at the top of the car park with an outdoor viewing platform. The rooftop will bring new opportunities to the city’s development and will be free for the public to visit. The design includes bars, restaurants, a musical stage and an amphitheatre.

The roof garden will have direct access from the street level through a sequence of escalators. The building also has two public lifts that take the visitors directly to the roof garden level. The roof garden will act as a vertical extension of the city’s public realm. The roof garden will provide communal space for leisure activities and a relaxing outdoor green environment that promotes healthy and sustainable living quality.

Take a virtual tour of the Rooftop Garden

Working closely with Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust, we have incorporated some of their ideas into DUST. The Trust’s vision includes plans to house a wharf for Canal boats, a lock, a restoration of Derby's "Long bridge", floating river stages and extra city centre mooring points.

The most prominent feature of these plans is the construction of a new wharf, which will function as a permanent mooring and boarding point at Derwent Wharf. The wharf will provide a mooring for six to eight boats with water point and EV charge points. To allow narrow boaters to access Derby we propose a traditional canal lock to navigate the weir and tie nicely into the restorations of Derby's "Long Bridge". This will activate Derby's waterway and give people a reason to turn back onto the river Derwent allowing us to appreciate the natural asset that sparked the worldwide industrial revolution.

Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust's plans also include floating mooring points along Erasmus Darwin Gardens and outside the Museum of Making spreading out the appeal of an activated city centre water-way

Take a virtual tour of Derwent Wharf 

Erasmus Darwin Gardens are plans by the City Council to create a new public park next to the river Derwent, that would help with flooding, highlight Derby's proud local history and provide much needed riverside green space. The park will sit between Stuart Street and the river Derwent where currently 3 council owned office buildings are. Details of the Park are currently not complete and we have taken the liberty of filling in the finer elements with the help of Tim Clapcott.

Osborn Park is a city centre park that sits at the cross roads of St Peters street/Corn Market and the potentially deculverted Markeaton Brook. Osborn Park would perfectly open up never before seen views of Derby's Market Hall and would act as central meeting point for people to hangout, rest and enjoy the city centre.

For this project we tasked one of our most talented students Faith Agboola to design this space, equipped with playground for small children, cafe with plaza and various nooks and crannies for people to relax in the city centre greenery.

Boden Park is a restoration of "Boden Pleasaunce", a Childrens play park that was opened in 1910 after the land was gifted to the people of Derby after it was gifted by wealth widow Mrs Mary Boden. Boden Pleasaunce closed during world war II when the land was used to house fire engine, afterwards the land slowly became place for Derbians to park their cars until the land was sold off and used to build a multi-story carpark in 1974, where "Parksafe, Britain's safest carpark" currently stands.

With the car parks life cycle coming to an end and the potential of opening up the Markeaton Brook that sits in front of the car park, we propose the restoration of Derby's first playground.