City Park FAQ

What is the park?
Why the Park?
How will the Park be cared for?
Consultation
Funding

What is the Park?

Where is the Park?
The Park is right in the very heart of Bradford city centre, surrounding the grade 1 listed City Hall, stretching from Jacob’s Well and incorporating Centenary Square.

How big is the Park?
The Park will cover the area of more than three full sized football pitches (10 acres), acting as a stunning centre piece to the civic heart of Bradford. The Park will be large enough to provide a tranquil environment for those who want to rest and relax, while accommodating visitors participating in exercise and play.

What will be in the Park?
A unique mirror pool, which for the first time will provide an expansive city centre water feature working in harmony with the surrounding environment and reflecting the splendour of the City Hall.

The Park will also provide a superb landscape comprising fountains, trees and attractive green spaces making an ideal environment for walking, relaxing and quiet contemplation. It will be a vibrant public space for everyone to enjoy, with a children’s play area, art displays, lighting features and cafes. An office and mixed-use complex, known as the Business Forest, will be added later.

What is the Business Forest?
The Business Forest completes the Park, creating a high quality mixed-use scheme within an attractive landscaped environment and an additional public space. It will come at a later stage and will consist primarily of office accommodation with some leisure and residential space.

What kind of events will it be able to stage?
The Park, and the mirror pool in particular, will be an adaptable environment which is capable of holding events such as concerts, international and Christmas markets, sports events, theatre productions, screenings and community festivals. It is anticipated that the mirror pool area will be a hub for a number of new major events each year in addition to smaller gatherings around established events such as the Mela and the Bradford Festival.

What is the mirror pool?
The mirror pool is a unique feature that will reflect and showcase the Grade 1-listed City Hall. A well-maintained public space, the Mirror Pool can be easily drained to hold large concerts, carnivals, markets, sports events and theatre productions. Made up of individual pools it will also include striking water features such as fountains, jets and causeways. It will be a shallow pool of water, around 35cm in depth at its deepest point, grading gradually to the edge of the pool. It is made of granite and similar high quality materials, which is durable for use in events when dry and a non-slip surface when wet. The total size of the pool is likely to be around 74 metres by 55 metres.

What happened to the lake?
Residents raised concerns about the size and maintenance of the proposed lake in the original Masterplan. They told us that they welcomed this grand ambition but wanted to see a more active and usable space at the centre of the city which could bring the people of the District together. In response the plans have been evolved to create a flexible mirror pool which has a reduction in the expanse of water by one third and can be easily drained to hold events.

Why the Park?

What will the Park bring to Bradford?
The Park will create a unique environment right in the city centre that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. With concert spaces, fountains, children’s play areas and green spaces the Park at the Heart will be quite different to any other in the UK. It will bring together people of all ages, from all communities and from across the District.

A stunning central ‘mirror pool’ will reflect and showcase the grade 1 listed City Hall and can be easily drained to hold large concerts, carnivals, markets, sports events and theatre productions.

What are the economic benefits of the Park?
The Park has been designed to bring jobs and prosperity to Bradford. It will attract visitors and investors, raise land values and help create a hub of modern business accommodation. The City Park is an exciting opportunity to change the face of Bradford. The park will have a transformational effect on Bradford city centre and far wider economic, social and environmental benefits for the District.

The park will be a catalyst for the creation of a high value business and financial services sector, which is sorely lacking in Bradford relative to the rest of the UK. It will attract visitors and investors, raise land values and help to create a critical mass of modern business accommodation. Investment in striking new public realm has been seen to work excellently elsewhere. For example, by investing £12M in Millennium Square, Leeds City Council and partners claim to have attracted £150M investment into the surrounding Civic Quarter.

Who is behind the bid?
The bid is being submitted by Bradford Metropolitan District Council with the support of Yorkshire Forward, Bradford Centre Regeneration and Bradford Vision. The Bradford Telegraph and Argus are supporting a ‘Back the Bid’ campaign. The bid aims to win funding from the Big Lottery Fund Living Landmarks scheme.

What is the Big Lottery Fund?
The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out half the money for good causes raised by the National Lottery. The Living Landmarks scheme is designed to get communities working together to improve their quality of life and their environment through funding major capital projects. It aims to bring communities together to transform, revitalise and regenerate the places where they live. The level of public support is a key factor in deciding which schemes win the funding, so it’s vital the people of Bradford get behind the bid.

How will the Park be cared for?

How will the park be maintained/ looked after?
It is recognised that effective maintenance is crucial to the success of the City Park. A plan is being put together to ensure this is carried out and, as one of the key judging criteria, will form an essential part of the Lottery bid submission. The Park and mirror pool will be maintained to a very high standard on an ongoing basis by Bradford Metropolitan District Council (BMDC). The mirror pool will be regularly drained and cleaned and has been designed to be easily maintained. A detailed management and maintenance programme for the mirror pool has been created which also covers any safety issues. A park office has been included for staff who will look after the Park.

Where will the water come for the mirror pool?
A number of ways of supplying the water to the mirror pool have been investigated and the most efficient way to get the quality and supply of water that is needed is from a borehole. This will allow us to control the supply of water carefully and so does not pose a risk of flooding.

Will it be safe?
Yes. The Park has been designed with safety in mind and to be used by people of all ages, all day long and all year round. A full safety assessment including issues of pollution, child safety, water safety, vandalism prevention, fountain / geyser safety and slips / falls has been carried out. Constant staffed and remote surveillance will be provided. The whole park will be well lit with clear ‘sight lines’ and no dark or hidden corners.

Will there be ample disabled parking and access?
Yes. The Park’s design is geared towards being fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act. The exact proportion of disabled parking will be considered alongside the requirement of the city centre as a whole. Sufficient space will also be provided for one off events taking place in the Park. In addition, the Council’s highways department is examining the likely impact of the Park upon the road network. These findings will be closely adopted as an integral part of the design process. Specific consultations have been held with disability groups and feedback from this process will influence the final designs.

Consultation

How did you reach the final designs for the park ?
The final designs for a Park at the heart were unveiled on 25th April. The latest plans show an improved scheme with several new features including more greenery, additional seating areas and more dramatic fountains. The new designs will create a vibrant, green and flexible public space which will revitalise the city from its core. A number of features were included in the final designs following a public consultation. This follows extensive consultation on the Masterplan and the Bowl NDF since the launch in 2003.

How thorough was the consultation?
A public consultation was carried out over a period of six weeks asking members of the public for their thoughts on what they would like to see included in the park. The questionnaires were available for people to fill in on the internet, through the Bradford Telegraph and Argus and through forums, meetings and local exhibitions held across the city. In total 2,853 people filled in questionnaires.

What did residents say about the park?
The feedback received during the consultation on the Park at the Heart scheme showed overwhelming support by residents – with over 73% backing Bradford’s bid. Respondents said it was important for people to see greenery, a water feature and places to socialise within the park. Residents also wanted the park to be able to be used for events, concerts, community festivals and markets. The most important aspect of the park for residents was that the mirror pool and the environment in the park was well maintained with 80% of people highlighting it as a key aspect of their design concerns. After the consultation the final designs now include:

• A significant increase of grass areas and greenery

• Improvements to the surrounding highways and public transport network affected by the park.

• Mirror pool remodelled with different shaped inner pools and causeway feature- now the main pool is made up of three, not four smaller pools

• A maintenance endowment to ensure the finished park can be managed to the highest standards

• Fountains reorganised and increased in number to create a dramatic effect

Further details of the consultation results can be found here.

How has the feedback been incorporated into the final designs?
Throughout the consultation the ideas and comments from people in the city have been continuously been fed back to the designers Gillespies. They have evolved the designs using the feedback from people to update the plans to reach the final designs. How many people backed Bradford’s bid? Over 31,000 people backed the city’s Lottery bid through the public engagement campaign. People were able to register their support through text, phone, post, online, the bid-o-meter or by signing the petition.

Funding

How much is the park going to cost?
The total cost of the City park will be £30m. The city will be submitting a final bid for £24.5m, originally £17m,from the Big Lottery Fund. The additional £7 million pounds is to be used to incorporate the ideas of Bradford residents given during the consultation and to ensure we deliver the best possible scheme for the city.

Why have the costs for the Park at the Heart increased?
The final bid includes the additional money required to help us make the Park an even more impressive scheme and reflect the public’s ideas and suggestions. The additional features have been added following the public consultation. What will the extra costs cover? Following feedback the improved scheme will now include more events and concert equipment, inclusion of a visitor centre/café, more impressive water features, costs to cover the maintenance of the pool and bus passenger facilities and work to improve the road system around the proposed park area.

What happens if Bradford doesn’t win the lottery money?
Bradford is committed to delivering the city centre Masterplan, of which the City Park is a major part. If Bradford’s Lottery bid is unsuccessful we will still strive to build the park with a mix of public and private sector funding. However, it would be a scheme of smaller scale and ambition and would take several years longer to create. So it’s vital you show your support for the scheme so we can demonstrate the people of Bradford are behind the bid, to give us the best chance of winning the funding.

When will work begin on the Park?
If the bid for lottery funding is successful, work will begin in 2008.

How long will it take to build?
The Park will take approximately three years to create. This will be followed by an additional phase where office accommodation, cafes, bars and restaurants are added.