Circus Street - Case Study - Vol 2

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YOU WILL KNOW US

BY THE PLACES WE CREATE

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U+I’s ground-breaking partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council and the University of Brighton has injected new life into an overlooked part of the city, introduced beauty where there was blight, brought jobs and investment where there was deprivation, and expanded the limits of what was previously thought possible.

Many developers didn’t know how to approach it – but U+I has squared the circle at Circus Street.

They said it couldn’t be done.

This is how we did it.

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ANTONY GORMLEY BOLLARDS LOOKING ON TO CIRCUS STREET.

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REGENERATION

RETHOUGHT

WORTHWHILE ACTIVITY IN THE FORMER MUNICIPAL MARKET BUILDING AT CIRCUS STREET.

Our purpose is to build sustainable communities and unlock value for all, through thoughtful, authentic, soulful regeneration.

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THE U+I APPROACH 1.

Respect History

2.

Value Worthwhile Use

3.

Harness Mixed Use

To understand a place’s past is to unlock its future.

Invite the community in, right away – our work begins as soon as we get the keys.

Complexity doesn’t worry us. Being ordinary and uniform does.

4.

Create Difference

5.

Insist on Sustainability

6.

Enhance Employment

Every development should be truly unique, giving people a reason to come from both near and far.

Making healthier, happier places that work in tune with our planet is our priority.

From the retail floor to expansive offices, a development is a delicate employment ecosystem.

7.

Grow Communities

8.

Partner for the Long-term

9.

Create Social Change

It takes time and love to integrate existing communities with new ones.

Establish a trusted network of partners for the long-term, built up over decades.

The happiness of our communities and the success of our places go hand in hand.

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EVERY PLACE AND A STOR

CIRCUS STREET, BRIGHTON, LATE 1930S.

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E HAS A SOUL RY TO TELL

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1.

RESPECT HISTORY At U+I, every place has a soul and a story.

It’s the foundation to unlocking where we go next.

In close collaboration with leading permaculture expert Jo Gibbons, founder of landscape architecture studio J&L Gibbons and innovative architecture studio shedkm, we drew inspiration from a beautiful terrier map of the city from 1792. It revealed a palimpsest of eras from Regency to Post War, and made it a blueprint for the development’s future, bringing back elements of the city’s historic street patterns, and using stacked and layered buildings to reflect the original topographies of the streetscape.

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A LAINE PLAN OF THE PARISH OF BRIGHTHEMSTONE, 1792.

THE FORMER YACHT AND ANCHOR PUB. CORNER OF CIRCUS STREET AND MORLEY STREET, 1934.

THE ROYAL CIRCUS, AMPHITHEATRE & RIDING SCHOOL, OPENED IN 1808.

CIRCUS COURT, RUNNING EAST HALFWAY ALONG CIRCUS STREET IN 1920.

CREDIT: ROYAL PAVILION & MUSEUMS, BRIGHTON & HOVE.

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2.

VALUE WORTHWHILE USE As soon as we got the keys to the market on Circus Street, we sought out potential opportunities to engage with a broad spectrum of local groups. From bike workshops to dance performances, as well as an eye-popping Anish Kapoor installation, we delivered social and economic value by turning empty spaces and places into opportunities for communities, creatives and small businesses that will pay off long into the future; meaning it is not just worthwhile, it is also long-lasting.

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PRODIGAL URBAN PLAYGROUND DANCE GROUP PERFORMANCE AS PART OF CIRCUS STREET WORTHWHILE ACTIVITY.

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To revolutionise revolutionise h with the co

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a place, we first how we engage ommunity

VARIOUS WORTHWHILE EVENTS BY U+I AND PARTNERS IN THE OLD MUNICIPAL MARKET.

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3.

HARNESS MIXED USE 450 STUDENT BEDROOMS

142 NEW HOMES

CREATIVE, DIGITAL AND TECH HUB

30,000 SQ FT OFFICE SPACE WITH A GLASSROOF PENTHOUSE

ECLECTIC RANGE OF INDEPENDENT SHOPS, CAFÈS AND RESTAURANTS

TWO PUBLIC SQUARES

WOVEN TOGETHER AROUND REGENCYERA STREET PATTERNS

14,000 SQ FT DANCE SPACE

28 SHARED OWNERSHIP HOMES

Circus Street is a textbook U+I mixed-use regeneration project: a sustainable, productive, healthy model of city life designed to address a multitude of needs including jobs, homes, green space, tourism, retail and culture.

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“In an industry that shies away from complexity, Circus Street was complicated to design, complicated to fund, complicated to obtain planning for, complicated to deliver and complicated to sell. But our mixed-use scheme was what the neighbourhood required and it would not have worked otherwise – for Brighton, for its residents and for our partners.”

MARTYN EVANS CREATIVE DIRECTOR, U+I

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PERFORMERS FROM SOUTH EAST DANCE AS PART OF CIRCUS STREET WORTHWHILE ACTIVITY.

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4.

CREATE DIFFERENCE The jewel in the crown at Circus Street is The Dance Space, the first new publicly-funded arts building in Sussex in over a decade. Part creative research space, part community dance space, delivered at zero cost to the public purse

by U+I as part of its visionary scheme. The building will draw 70,000 people a year to the site while enriching Brighton’s cultural fabric.

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5.

INSIST ON SUSTAINABILITY Circus Street has been designed to promote healthy vibrant sustainable places, weaving responsible living and wellness into the lives of residents and other users.

The scheme includes highly energy efficient buildings powered by photovoltaics, with green energy to all new homes, green roofs to support local flora and fauna, safe pedestrian and cycle routes and over 600 secure cycle spaces.

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6.

ENHANCE EMPLOYMENT Brighton’s city centre had a significant lack of high quality workspace to support and attract growing businesses looking to call Brighton home.

The Office at Circus Street is set to become a world-class hub for creative, digital and tech, allowing companies to attract and retain employees directly from Brighton’s rich talent pool while creating an employment ecosystem that will have a halo effect on the east side of Grand Parade and Valley Gardens.

The Office features stunning specifications including a wraparound terrace and glazed penthouse office, a city-leading sustainability rating (BREEAM “Excellent”), WiredScore Platinum-rated digital connectivity, and benefits from a ground floor that will play host to a variety of independent businesses – from restaurants and cafés to studios and workshops.

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A world-class hub for creative, digital and tech firms, drawing from Brighton’s rich talent pool

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GRADE A WORKSPACE Tall windows, high ceilings, no-compromise workspaces.

RACK ‘EM UP Internal cycle storage spacesmean bikes are safe and sound.

GO UNDERGROUND Leave your car in one of 17 secure parking spaces, with Electric Vehicle charging provision for approximately 50%.

SCALE UP There’s approximately 5,000 sq ft of space on each of the six main office floors. Stretch out, grow your business.

EPC RATING Energy performance certificate rated B.

SUPERB SUSTAINABILITY BREEAM “Excellent” rated, making it among the leading buildings for low-impact materials, land use, energy consumption and waste recycling.

GET FRESH Early start? Late finish? Use the showers and changing rooms to revive the body beautiful.

PLUGGED IN COMMUNICATION Prime position in Brighton’s brightest new neighbourhood, alongside South East Dance, start-ups, pop-ups and university students.

UNRIVALLED DATA & COMMS Brighton City Centre’s first WiredScore Platinum development.

The highest standard attainable globally for digital connectivity.

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7.

GROW COMMUNITIES No development is an island.

New communities need to seamlessly integrate with existing ones, both benefitting from the amenities, facilities and services we know they desperately need to collaborate and thrive.

At Circus Street, a complex mix of uses means cleverly combining student accommodation, homes, shops, businesses and services, often within the same building, making for close-knit communities that benefit from shared public realm.

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STUDENT APARTMENTS The Universities of Brighton and Sussex have a combined student population of 37,000 and rising. Circus Street provides high quality student accommodation for 450 students in the heart of the city. Located adjacent to the University of Brighton Faculty of Arts Campus, Circus Street will provide young, aspiring and creative academics with exceptional places to live.

HOMES Circus Street offers sustainable city-centre living. 142 apartments make up the residential element of Circus Street (including 28 affordable) all designed around two green urban squares. The apartments are inspired by the scale and grain of Brighton’s most loved residential streets – its grand Regency townhouses and mansion blocks, and the smaller terraced streets that line the hillsides.

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UNLEASHING THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS

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8.

PARTNER FOR THE LONG-TERM While public sector budgets groan under unprecedented strain, the demand for housing, public services and the infrastructure to service a 21st century economy keep rising.

U+I is uniquely placed to square this circle. At Circus Street, through an innovative three-way partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council and the University of Brighton, we unlocked underutilised land to deliver jobs, economic growth, homes and huge social impact that will have a halo effect that radiates across the city long into the future.

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9.

CREATE SOCIAL CHANGE 430

£200M

£130M

142

28

450

NEW JOBS ACROSS CONSTRUCTION AND FUTURE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

GROSS VALUE ADDED TO THE LOCAL ECONOMY IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS

GROSS DEVELOPMENT VALUE

NEW HOMES

SHARED OWNERSHIP HOMES

STUDENT BEDROOMS

14,000

2

10

DANCE SPACE (SQ FT)

LARGE GREEN PUBLIC URBAN SQUARES

RETAIL, LEISURE AND WORKSHOP UNITS

15%

2.4

31,352

MINIMUM OF WORKFORCE FROM BRIGHTON

ACRE MIXED-USE NEIGHBOURHOOD

NEW OFFICE SPACE (SQ FT)

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YOU WILL KNOW US

BY THE PLACES WE CREATE Get in touch if you have a regeneration opportunity or if you need risk capital of £500K to £10m for a project that fits our purpose and values.

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