The project is a collaboration between Nottingham City Council, Skate Nottingham and Skateboard GB and has created a major opportunity to reimagine a city centre space, making space for public green spaces and sites for leisure and physical exercise, including skateboarding.  

Together, the partners will create an all-weather, well-lit, free-to-use skate friendly public space.  This will be filled with several modular pieces of skateable street furniture, designed and built with Betongpark, a specialist firm responsible for recent skateboarding installations at Somerset House and The Strand, in London.

With the success of last summer’s Olympic Games, when Sky Brown became Team GB’s youngest ever summer medallist, there has been a huge increase in skateboarding across all ages and genders. This is particularly the case in Nottingham, hometown to 13-year-old Miriam Nelson, this year’s National Champion in the women’s street discipline,

Nottingham City Council and Skate Nottingham have been working with local and international experts to design the space, close to the entrance of Nottingham Caves and Nottingham Contemporary and part of the wider Sussex Street development that runs from the new Nottingham College city campus.

The space will be surrounded by a perimeter ledge (skateable only on the inside edge) between the skate area and the pedestrian footpath and entrance to the Caves and will be bordered by a semi-permanent hoarding that will provide a canvas for street art and collaborative exhibition space for local skate community. 

It will be very different from a traditional ‘skatepark’ and will fit into the wider feel of Sussex Street, which will include a flexible events area, basketball hoops and outdoor public seating. 

Skate Nottingham was recently awarded a National Lottery Awards for All grant of almost £10,000 to fund a nine-month programme of opening activities from the site, including free weekly beginners’ and women and girls only skateboard sessions along with the regular presence of trained coaches as good role models, to ensure positive usage from its first opening. They will also launch a Crowdfunder UK campaign to help finance the installation of the skateable street furniture.

The partners will also work to maximise the careers, personal development and employability benefits for local young people involved in the project, including work experience and further study.

“This is a really forward-thinking project for our young people to get involved with and, when completed, will help to further enhance this key part of the Broad Marsh area,” said councillor David Mellen, leader of Nottingham City Council and portfolio holder for strategic regeneration and development.

“Introducing a skateboard space fits in perfectly with the wider, more contemporary feel of the area and we look forward to seeing how it develops over the coming months.”