From where I’m sitting … public eye

One of the challenges in regeneration is satisfying yourself (not to mention your funders) that it is right and proper to use public funds to intervene in an area. The first test is, of course, why are we intervening at all?

The only justification can be that the market will not deliver the scale and nature of change that is needed. For example, the complex task of assembling very fragmented, former industrial sites with the associated issues of contamination and poor environment would challenge even the bravest developer.

In Smethwick, RegenCo is leading the regeneration of an area where three arms of the canal converge to create what architect Piers Gough from CZWG recently referred to as a “particularly romantic landscape”. We must achieve the right value for such a unique asset but more importantly we must ensure the right benefits for all those who use it.

Nearby is an earlier development that created some good quality housing but failed to address the relationship with the canal, provided little public space and no facilities for the people who live there. We now better understand the elements that create a sustainable community and we have no excuse for not getting it right this time.

Until recently, public sector intervention has been hindered by conflict between a drive for outputs and the difficulty in demonstrating the value of high-quality public realm. Luckily, work going on in Yorkshire should help with this. There is evidence that investment in outstanding public realm, such as the Winter and Peace Gardens in Sheffield, has boosted economic growth, including office rents.

Investing in high-quality public realm boosts growth

Even when you succeed in getting the right scheme, the battle still isn’t won. Regeneration is all about transforming an area for the benefit of local people both in terms of jobs and broader economic regeneration.

I went a while ago to visit The Deep in Hull, a truly stunning building which beat its expected visitor numbers in its first year of opening. However, although thousands of visitors go there each year, many go by coach and leave without visiting the city of Hull making it difficult to capture the full potential economic benefits.

We have our own iconic building, The Public, opening in West Bromwich next year. We are working to identify how the broader regeneration benefits of this project are going to be achieved. We start with one advantage – the building is right in the town centre and has no dedicated parking so people will have to discover West Bromwich before they can discover The Public.

Ros Kerslake is chief executive of RegenCo, the urban regeneration company for West Bromwich