Students in Lewes present their ideas for North Street Quarter redevelopment

Students at East Sussex College in Lewes have presented their own ideas for the redevelopment of the North Street Quarter.
Students came up with their own ideas for the siteStudents came up with their own ideas for the site
Students came up with their own ideas for the site

They were given the opportunity to come up with their own proposals during a virtual work experience project hosted by Human Nature, the new owner and developer of the area.

Human Nature is in the process of designing a new scheme for the site and will hold a public Design Festival to discuss ideas in September.

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The project was managed by Culture Shift, a Lewes-based arts and education charity, with support from Human Nature and engineer Eleanor Earl, from Arup.

Students came up with their own ideas for the siteStudents came up with their own ideas for the site
Students came up with their own ideas for the site

It was part of Your Town Engineers, a project funded through the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Fund, which is designed to encourage students to think about careers in engineering through developing design solutions to improving their local area.

A total of 11 groups of students present their ideas to a live audience last month, which included representatives from Human Nature, Councillor Adrian Ross, Chair of Lewes District Council and Guy McQueen, Economic Development and Regeneration Officer also of Lewes District Council.

Those involved included year 12 Animation and Illustration students and year 13 Art and Design students.

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Year 11 students worked on broad concept ideas for the development including a bridge over the Ouse, electric car charging points, bike hire and a restaurant on a boat.

Students came up with their own ideas for the siteStudents came up with their own ideas for the site
Students came up with their own ideas for the site

Meanwhile year 13 students took a more design-focused brief, coming up with designs for ‘parklets’ on the new site – small green spaces that include seating and places to park a bike.

Councillor Adrian Ross said: “It was great to attend the presentation and to see the students’ designs.

“I was really inspired by many of their ideas and really hope that Human Nature can bring some of the designs to fruition.”

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Lily Holbrook, communications lead at Human Nature, said: “From my perspective, the entire programme was brilliantly facilitated by both Culture Shift and East Sussex College Lewes.

“The work the students produced was outstanding.

“We were particularly impressed by the way they responded to our feedback throughout and presented their work at the end of the project.

“It was a pleasure to watch their progress over the course of the programme, and I was delighted to be involved.

“I look forward to working with the students over the summer to build some of their parklet ideas and to exhibiting their work at our Phoenix Project Design Festival in September.”

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Mark Watts, Assistant Principal at ESC Lewes, said: “We are so proud to be celebrating the success of our creative and digital students with the Your Town Project.

“This is a fantastic record for the college and an amazing experience for the students, who can move on from ESC with this on the CV and work in their portfolio.”