Lancashire design contest attracts 550 architects
More than 550 architectural firms from the UK and overseas have registered their interest in a design competition to create new landscapes for six town centres in Lancashire.
The brief for Pennine Lancashire Squared will be launched on Friday 15 August in Nelson, but the competition has already attracted interest from more than 40 countries, including China, Australia, India, Venezuela, Vietnam, Iran, Serbia and Peru.
The contest aims to select designers of new public spaces in Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn, Bacup, Clitheroe and Nelson.
The competition was the brainchild of Yvette Livesey and her late partner, Factory Records founder and regeneration champion Tony Wilson. Their report, Dreaming of Pennine Lancashire, commissioned by housing pathfinder organisation Elevate, coined the term Pennine Lancashire for the former mill towns of East Lancashire.
The Landscape Institute, the chartered body for landscape architects, is running the competition, with the endorsement of RIBA, and funding from the North West Development Agency and local councils.