Teams of students from three Derby schools showed off their design skills during a competition linked to a scheme to build a landmark city centre entertainment and conference venue.
Construction work on the £45.8m 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 Becketwell entertainment and conference 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.
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.
Councillor Nadine Peatfield, Leader of Derby City Council and Portfolio Holder for City Centre, Regeneration, Culture and Tourism; Oliver Quarmby, managing director of St James Securities; Stephen Green, contracts manager at Bowmer + Kirkland and Corey Beck, Derby City Council programme lead for the Derby Promise, sat on the judging panel.
Each school approached the challenge from a unique angle and the judges identified elements of each entry that really impressed them. 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 Peatfield 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.
What stood out about Da Vinci’s winning entry was the high standard of the students presentation skills, the deliverability of the proposal and the unique way the timeline drew people into the venue. The students recognised the sense of pride that the timeline would inspire and that showed a mature understanding of our city.
Becketwell is just one of many exciting regeneration projects which support our vision for Derby to become a place where people want to visit and spend time, and our city’s young people are going to be a big part of that.
This was a fantastic example of the Derby Promise in action – key industry professionals and the Council working together to give our young people more opportunities, broaden their skills and provide world-of-work experience.
Pupils from the winning team gave up their free time to work on their competition entry outside of lesson time. Lexy Marie Goodall, aged 14, said:
I was so shocked that we won, I started crying. I’ve really enjoyed taking part in the competition and it’s taught us lots of new skills. I’ve learned how to push myself, overcome challenges and work as a team.
David Grimmett, STEM and Careers Lead at Da Vinci Academy, said:
The pupils have done exceptionally well, putting in a huge amount of effort and collaborating outside of school time to create their design. They’re delighted to have won. It’s been a fantastic project for the school to get involved in.
These opportunities don’t always get extended to young people and it’s been really empowering for them.
Oliver Quarmby, managing director of St James Securities, said all three teams had interesting proposals:
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. They should all be very proud of themselves.
Helen Bedford, Social Value Manager for 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.
The Derby Promise aims to expand opportunities, raise aspirations and promote the wellbeing of the next generation by providing meaningful opportunities for children, young people and adults from primary school right through to further and adult education. The Becketwell design competition is the first in a series of industry-led projects with schools.