James Traynor, managing director at ECD Architects, is rooting for Preston to realise its potential to become the perfect 15-minute compact city.
Preston’s iconic brutalist bus station has been restored, showing that regeneration does not necessarily equal demolition.
Like many northern towns, Preston has an image problem, but scratch beneath the surface and a world of potential reveals itself. With offices in London and Glasgow I was looking for a base in the north of England to establish an office. Leeds, Liverpool and above all Manchester would be the obvious choices. However, it was Preston that captured my imagination and led my family and I to move here from London in 2022.
The city’s coat of arms has the letters PP, which actually means ‘Prince of Peace’ from the Latin ‘princeps pacis’ and is derived from the original name of Preston ‘Priestown’, but colloquially means Proud Preston although for many in the city and region they are far from proud. Before moving I attended an online event for local business leaders, and I still remember the stunned silence when I declared that Preston is a beautiful city and has a lot to be proud of.
Of course, there are improvements to be made and investment is needed but there are many things to celebrate and restore. The transformation of Winckley Square into one of the finest Georgian squares in the north of England and the beauty of Avenham and Miller Parks would be the envy of any British city. Similarly, the Victorian market and the iconic bus station, a landmark brutalist building, have been restored showing that regeneration does not necessarily equal demolition, a vital lesson in this age of carbon accounting. Home of the famous Preston Guild, a festival dating back to the Middle Ages that occurs once every 20 years, Preston’s rich industrial heritage from the cotton industry often reveals itself within the city’s surroundings.
Preston has the potential to be the perfect compact 15-minute city in easy reach of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales and just two hours to London and Glasgow on the west coast mainline. Despite this, the urban regeneration that began in New York and London in the 1980s and first appeared in Manchester in the late 1990s has barely started in Preston. Aspiring Lancastrians do not yet desire to live in the city centre, preferring instead to live in dreary new housing estates on the city fringes with no public transport and more akin to the Truman Show than loft living…and yet even here the tide is changing. Like many cities Preston is adjusting to the decline of retail and the city centre population is expected to increase dramatically, with several new apartment blocks planned.
2025 will be a big year in Preston as many of the recent and much needed investments in the cultural capital of the city open, or, in the case of the Harris Art Gallery, reopen to the public. However, the future of the Guildhall Theatre (former home of UK snooker) remains uncertain; crippled by RAAC concrete, it has recently been purchased by the city council. Additionally, investment in public transport which has underpinned the growth of Manchester is still not evident in Preston, with locals still relying on their cars to get around, keeping housing density low and congestion high.
The trend is nevertheless upward, and a slew of developments are planned across the city. The Preston Model, a financial mechanism which the city council developed to support local business has been held up as an example of good practice. For a city like Preston, keen to encourage investment, the challenge will be to maintain design quality and avoid previous mistakes. Some recent planning approvals give cause for concern and development must be sensitive to context to enhance rather than detract from the urban realm.
There is clearly a long way to go but Preston is blessed with many natural advantages and has the potential to overcome its current image problem and convince even the most sceptical of locals. I for one hope it manages to realise its potential and surprise its detractors.
Source: Architecture Today