Transforming Bradford City Park

In 2009, despite the economic downturn, funding from the Council, Yorkshire Forward and the Regional Transport Board enabled the iconic City Park scheme to be delivered. Even in such a challenging economic climate, the project set out to deliver ambitious transformational goals. The investment in high quality materials ensured that it stood the test of time. This was imperative to its long-term impact, and the benefits that it continues to deliver to this day: increased land values, new jobs and prosperity.

Key to securing the £25m needed to make this project a reality was a robust business case that enabled the cocktail of funding and stakeholder support to come together. This required a clear demonstration of deliverability, as well as outlining the expected benefits and impact it would have, even in challenging economic times.

Project partners built their own confidence in the business case through robust ‘lessons learned’ activity. This included examining comparable projects and identifying their key ingredients for success. This also helped to provide evidence to feed into the business case, demonstrating that the benefits targeted were realistic and the economic value forecast could be created.

A focus on community engagement was important to securing the investment needed and maintain wider stakeholder support. Public support was increased from 50% to 70% through a focused campaign designed to articulate the wider benefits of the project.

Wider stakeholder engagement was also critical, and it was necessary to ensure that as the project developed, it remained aligned to the varied aspirations of the numerous key stakeholders and funders.

Lessons learned for public realm investment in a post-COVID world

Public realm has always played a key role in the creation of place and ultimately increases in value over time. This was true as the country recovered from a more ‘normal’ economic shock in 2009, and will be further reinforced as we see the increasing extent to which people value public spaces in today’s post-COVID world.

Ambition is good, and transformative projects can be investible and successful at any time in the economic cycle. Delivering projects such as this, with robust control of costs and clarity of the benefits they will deliver, will be more important than ever as funding is focused on the recovery and reinvention of high streets and town centres post-COVID.

When backed by a robust evidence base, there is no reason that fundable business cases should not be developed for public realm investment. With an increased focus on public realm and its value to society expected in the future, this should be easier than it has been historically, as long as both the economic and social value is properly quantified.

Aligning stakeholders at the start is important, but being aware of the need to keep them engaged and supportive throughout the project delivery - and having a plan to do so - is critical. This includes both the wider community and the key stakeholders and funders and should focus on an open and transparent approach, which includes positioning public realm interventions and improvements in the context of wider regeneration.