Winners announced for New Islington land competition

Two joint winners have been chosen for the first Property Week Site Life competition by developer Urban Splash in conjunction with New East Manchester and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The competition set out to find a temporary use for an empty 0.7 acre piece of land on the New Islington development in east Manchester.

In total, more than 30 entries were received. The winners included east end-based painter Jock McFadyen and Spitalfields architect Chris Dyson whose idea 'Field' is a lighting scheme that will flood the piece of land with vivid colours, inspired by the use of powerful floodlights during the Edinburgh Festival to animate the city's monuments and buildings. The other winner, 'SOW-SEW' by Cardiff designers, Chris Wilkins and Rachel Witham will involve creating a field of flax on the site, as a symbol of Manchester's textile heritage. 

Tom Bloxham MBE, Chairman of Urban Splash, speaking on behalf of the judging panel said: "We had a great set of quality entries, but the Judges loved the simplicity of Chris and Jock's idea and having met them were convinced both with the integrity of the idea and their ability to deliver.  The 'SOW-SEW' flax by Chris and Rachel will follow on and is sure to engage the public as the site will visibly change over the period.  It will be a privilege for Urban Splash to be able to host another great piece of art and keep up the creative momentum in New Islington. We try and be world class in all we do and I don't think either project will disappoint"
 
We've loved getting involved with Property Week's Site Life competition. We've had really great entries that showed real creativity. These are difficult times for all the property industry and this is another way we can use our imagination and ideas to improve our sites. And I'm looking forward to the finished schemes and seeing the wonder and excitement of everyone who visits."

Eddie Smith, chief executive of New East Manchester said: "It was great to get such a high level of interest from a diverse range of organisations. Ideas were submitted from national architecture practices through to small community groups. Clearly a great deal of thought had gone into their submissions and everyone who entered should be applauded for their efforts.  It will be exciting to see these winners' vision become reality, once again putting New Islington in the spotlight."

Deborah McLaughlin, Director North West of the Homes and Communities Agency said: "The winning designs will be a great addition to New Islington as they reflect the vibrant, creative and unique feel of the area really well. This development has always been an attractive and innovative one - now these Site Life winners will complement the provision of new housing as a great addition to the area for the local community to enjoy."

One of the creators of The Field, Chris Dyson said: "Jock and I are delighted that we have won this prestigious competition. We have worked together for many years and this, our biggest collaboration yet, is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the interesting things that can happen at the boundary of art and architecture. "The Field" proposes no structure, but takes an empty space that represents the future square behind Urban Splash's future development and transforms it very simply yet very dramatically. We think it will look fantastic and become a temporary landmark for East Manchester."

Rachel Witham, who along with Chris Wilkins created 'Sow-Sew' said: "Inspired by the site's textile heritage, we will be planting a field of flax, which will be sewn, harvested and processed on site, into fabric and paper, by volunteers and local artists. We hope it will heighten people's awareness of the seasons, from the emergence of tiny seedlings in spring to the dense and beautiful haze of blue in autumn. We're looking forward to seeing the scheme develop and are working with local community group MERCi [Manchester Environmental Research Centre Initiative] to deliver it in a way that will best involve the local people."

"The Field" will run first through the dark winter months, ending in Spring 2011 when it will be followed by "SOW-SEW", which will start to become evident as the flax starts to sprout. This will allow the temporary site to change throughout the year.

The judges were Property Week's editor, Giles Barrie; Tom Bloxham, Urban Splash's chairman; Deborah McLaughlin, the HCA's director north west; NEM's chief executive, Eddie Smith; Maria Balshaw from the Whitworth Art Gallery, architect Ian Simpson and Amanda Baillieu, editor of Building Design.   

For more information about New Islington visit http://www.east-manchester.com/ or http://www.urbansplash.com/.