Humber Street has been announced as the winner of The Great Street Award in the Academy of Urbanism Awards.
Humber Street was shortlisted in April this year and a team from the academy visited Hull’s Fruit Market in September.
Hull City Council representatives and partner Wykeland Beal attended the awards ceremony last night and were delighted to pick up the award.
Portfolio Holder for Economic Investment, Regeneration and Planning, Councillor Martin Mancey, said: “Humber Street is a vibrant and thoughtful refurbishment, with many commercial and social benefits and it’s fantastic to see that this has been recognised.
“The strong public-private sector partnership with Wykeland Beal has seen this area transform into a unique, vibrant, cultural quarter where people live, work and play. Humber Street has formed a core part of the City of Culture 2017’s success and it is yet another example of the Council and our partners delivering on our City Plan objectives.”
Academy of Urbanism Awards Chair, David Rudlin, said: “The recession brought misery to many places but some used it to their advantage by scaling back plans to a more local level.
“Humber Street Fruit Market did just that by cultivating local creative industries to kick-start the rejuvenation of this whole area, emanating from Humber Street. The city council, local businesses and developers have all worked together to produce a very impressive, vibrant street.”
The Academy of Urbanism recognised:
- Humber Street forms the spine of the long-term regeneration of Hull’s Fruit Market new urban village. The project so far has worked with the grain and character of the area with an exemplary form of public/private partnership
- The industrial buildings have been adapted successfully to the present a mix of vibrant uses, whilst retaining their original robust character
- The Humber Street Partnership has created an environment for people of all social backgrounds and ages
- 20 per cent of the finished floor space will be offered at affordable rents, which encourages start-ups and galleries
- The Amphitheatre venue, with views over the Humber Estuary, supports events such as Humber Street Sesh and the Freedom Festival
- C4DI has been a great incubator for business and the rest of Humber Street seems set to follow this success
- A Coastal Communities grant was used in 2014 to install new flood defences to protect the whole area and unlock development spaces.
Dominic Gibbons, Managing Director of regeneration company Wykeland Group, speaking on behalf of the Wykeland Beal joint venture, said: “This award is a tremendous recognition of the exciting progress that has been made in making Humber Street the heart of the new Fruit Market urban village, at the forefront of Hull’s remarkable renaissance.
“It’s also a tribute to the power of the public and private sectors working in true partnership. The strategic and sympathetic approach we have taken to the rejuvenation of the Fruit Market can become a template for successful urban renewal.”
The Academy of Urbanism brings together thinkers and practitioners involved in the social, cultural, economic, political and physical development of villages, towns and cities across Great Britain, Ireland and Europe. The Urbanism Awards are the Academy’s primary platform for recognising the best, most enduring or most improved urban environments.
