Your Chance to shape Victoria Square's future

24th February 2009

Blackburn has just one week left to decide on the winning design for Victoria Square’s dramatic new image.

Plans from five world-class designers have been shortlisted, and the public is being asked which one of the designs’ teams illustrative proposals they believe should be put forward as the final winning entry.

Victoria Square, situated behind the Town Hall and to the north of Blackburn’s retail core, has been identified as a principal gateway into the town centre.

The five innovative ideas for the area are on display at Blackburn’s Visitor Centre on Church Street until this Friday (February 28), with comment forms available for those who would like to make their opinion known.

All comments will be taken into account ahead of the judgement on Thursday March 19, after which the public will, again be invited to make their thoughts known regarding the winning scheme and how the concept design should be developed further.

Plans for Victoria Square’s redevelopment are part of the Pennine Lancashire Squared initiative, an international landscape architecture competition initiated by Elevate focussing on six strategic sites in Lancashire.

The judging panel includes representatives from the Landscape Institute, Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Arts Council England.

The submissions for Victoria Square range from a design featuring a ‘cloud shaped’ sculpture to a more traditional ‘cherry orchard’ theme. Others include an innovation centre, and art screen and translucent ‘bobbins’. 

All submissions have needed to take into consideration the square’s conservation status and the mixed architectural surroundings, with some of Blackburn’s finest Victorian and Georgian buildings sitting adjacent to modern commercial and leisure facilities.