New possibilities for our public spaces
Creative Central NCL’s 2025 public realm workshop builds directly on the momentum of last year’s programme.
In 2024, student proposals from Newcastle and Northumbria universities were invited to explore a simple but ambitious question: what could a creative city centre look like?
Those ideas (see them at the Farrell Centre until 19 December 2025) examine how artists, cultural organisations, residents and visitors might shape the city’s places and public spaces together.
Think of them as “snapshots”, a starting point for imagining what a creative city would mean to you.
We’ve continued that spirit of exploration with the programme this year. The process has been informed and enhanced by collaborating with the organisations who use and care for the Creative Central NCL (CCN) area every day. Historic England, the Discovery Museum, Dance City and Arcadea all helped shape this year’s brief, sharpening the focus on what public spaces need to support a thriving creative district.
Since we first approached both universities in 2022, the programme has grown into a multi-year collaboration in which we’re all working towards creating a place in central Newcastle where artists, creative professionals and cultural organisations can thrive.
© Dawn McNamara
Where 2024 established a foundation of experimentation across architecture, landscape and urban design, 2025 deepened the work.
Once again, the workshop was led by Anna Czigler, whose work across the CCN footprint continues to shape how we understand and reimagine these public spaces.
Why does this matter?
CCN is working to establish the west of the city centre as a vibrant creative district, a place with space for the growth of artists, creatives, cultural practitioners and creative businesses. The area already has strong creative foundations, but also significant untapped potential: empty and listed buildings, heritage assets, and public spaces that act as a natural gateway into the city centre.
The public realm workshop is one way we continue to test how these spaces might evolve.
This year’s brief asked teams to explore temporary or permanent culture-led activation, ideas that could strengthen creative industries, spark collaboration, and encourage community engagement across the Creative Central NCL footprint.
The brief connects to the overall CCN aims of:
- supporting existing cultural operators
- attracting and retaining creative talent
- developing a more diverse, highly skilled creative workforce
- championing sustainable, low-carbon cultural production
- catalysing the growth of the cultural and wider city economy
- creating a distinctive cultural destination for residents and visitors
Public spaces are the connective tissue of the CCN footprint, the places where creativity becomes visible, where people move between venues, where families gather, and where new cultural experiences can be sparked.
Bringing together people, practice and place
This year’s workshop brought together practices including Napper Architects, Mawson Kerr, Harper Perry, Mosedale Gillatt, EDable Architecture and Colour Urban Design, working in partnership with students from Northumbria University and Newcastle University.
The format supports two of CCN’s core aims simultaneously:
- Strengthening the creative sector by generating new ideas for public realm activation.
- Developing the future creative workforce, giving students real experience of professional collaboration, site analysis, heritage considerations and competition-style working.
Stakeholder meetings with Historic England, the Discovery Museum, Dance City and Arcadea gave each team a grounded understanding of what is needed for these public spaces to become more welcoming, more purposeful and more connected.
The 2025 Proposals
FestiWALL
Name: FestiWALL
Location: Town Walls
Team: EDable Architecture with students from Newcastle and Northumbria Universities
CCN aim: Creates a distinctive new cultural destination for participants, residents and visitors.
A low-impact, reversible framework that positions the Town Walls as an active cultural backdrop.
- Reversible, non-invasive structures preserve the historic fabric
- Modular, temporary components reflect the city’s history of ongoing adaptation
- Reused and recycled materials embed sustainable practice
- A bi-annual community festival turns the walls into a recurring cultural moment
- Inclusive programming ensures broad public engagement
Creative Laneways
Name: Creative Laneways
Location: Nuns Lane, Falconers Court, Friars Street, West Walls
Team: Harper Perry with students from Newcastle and Northumbria Universities
CCN aim: Creates a distinctive new cultural destination for participants, residents and visitors.
A network of small-scale interventions designed to bring everyday creativity into overlooked areas.
- Nuns Lane animated with light and sound after dark
- Falconers Court imagined as a micro-event space for surrounding communities
- Friars Street and the Blackfriars lanes used for resident-led gardening and play
- West Walls transformed into a corridor of poetry and storytelling
© Harper Perry
© Colour Urban Design
A Playful and Interactive Cultural Hub
Name: A Playful and Interactive Cultural Hub
Location: Charlotte Square
Team: Colour Urban Design with students from Newcastle and Northumbria Universities
CCN aim: Creates a distinctive new cultural destination for participants, residents and visitors.
A strategy to help a quiet urban square realise its potential as a point of connection between residents, workers, families and cultural operators.
- A calm pause-point within a busy district
- A natural gathering place for workers and visitors
- Play features that serve nearby families
- Opportunities for collaboration with surrounding creative hubs and businesses
“Our vision is to breathe new life into a forgotten but highly valuable urban space. Located near cultural and artistic centres, historic landmarks, and a diverse local community, Charlotte Square has immense potential to become a vibrant point of connection between people and place.”
Temporary Dining Space
Name: Temporary Dining Space
Location: Friars Street Car Park
Team: MawsonKerr Architects with students from Newcastle and Northumbria Universities
CCN aim: Champion the development of sustainable, low-carbon cultural production.
A lightweight, low-carbon structure turning a car park into an evening dining space.
- Rapid-assembly scaffolding frame
- Reused fabric canopy providing shelter without blocking light
- Improved lighting for evening activation
- Minimal environmental footprint
© MawsonKerr Architects
© Mosedale Gillatt Architects
Reawakening and reconnecting
Name: Reawakening and reconnecting
Location: Waterloo Square
Team: Mosedale Gillatt Architects with students from Newcastle and Northumbria Universities
CCN aim: Support and meet the needs of existing cultural operators.
A placemaking strategy that opens up a concealed square and connects it to the surrounding cultural ecosystem.
- Improved vistas and clearer routes
- Wayfinding that extends beyond the site boundary
- Auditoria-style seating that encourages informal performance and play
- Raised beds that give Arcadea a permanent community engagement presence
The Discovery Link
Name: The Discovery Link
Location: Discovery Museum
Team: Napper Architects with students from Newcastle and Northumbria Universities
CCN aim: Support and meet the needs of existing cultural operators.
A landscape-led proposal to support play, rest and daily activity around the Discovery Museum.
- Triangular landscaped zones create a calmer micro-climate
- A pond and deck offer reflective seating
- A gazebo and central pavilion support social use and programming
- STEM-inspired play elements encourage learning
- A semi-permanent café boosts everyday footfall
- Colourful archways and suspended strips improve wayfinding
Working together for a creative city centre
The 2025 public realm workshop demonstrates how our strategic objectives translate into tangible, site-specific ideas.
Through this programme, CCN is:
- supporting existing cultural operators by improving the spaces around them
- creating pathways for emerging creative talent
- strengthening collaboration between education, practice and community partners
- exploring low-carbon and adaptable design approaches
- enhancing the liveability and attractiveness of the city centre
- developing the CCN footprint into a distinctive cultural destination.
This is a cumulative body of work. Each year adds new perspectives, new partnerships and new possibilities, shaping a place that can grow, adapt and continue to support a flourishing creative sector.
To hear about future opportunities, workshops or public realm initiatives, sign up to our newsletter in the footer or contact:
Anna Czigler, Economic Development Officer by email Anna.Czigler@newcastle.gov.uk