Ideas Competition | The Cambridge to Oxford Connection

The corridor that spans Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Oxford defines one of the most productive and fastest-growing knowledge networks in the United Kingdom. It is home to 3.3 million people and hosts some of the country’s most successful cities, as well as world-leading universities, knowledge-intensive high-tech firms and highly-skilled workers.

This free-to-enter, two-stage ideas competition is seeking forward-thinking, imaginative proposals to integrate sustainable placemaking with development and new infrastructure. The focus for the competition is the arc encompassing four of the UK’s fastest-growing and most productive centres: Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Oxford.

Submissions should consider how to provide the homes the area needs: high quality places that integrate the proposed infrastructure and enhance the identity of the corridor as a single knowledge-intensive cluster, while working with its distinctive environmental and cultural character.

The Oxford to Cambridge Connection: Ideas Competition is aimed at broad multidisciplinary teams of urban designers; architects; planning, policy, and community specialists; landscape designers; development economists; and others with local knowledge and general insight. Submissions from international teams and students are welcome.

Yet within this area significant housing and transport pressures exist: the scarcity of suitable and affordable homes, and difficulties in travelling within, and between, cities. These constraints are becoming obstacles to attracting and retaining talent and inevitably putting a break on economic growth.

Across the corridor, new infrastructure is coming in the form of rail and roads that will hugely improve connectivity, but really captivating, attractive places, which allow people to flourish – whether new or reinvented – are rarely accidental.

This is why the National Infrastructure Commission, an independent body with cross-party support that provides advice to government on infrastructure policy and strategy, is launching this free-to-enter, two-stage ideas contest aimed at broad multidisciplinary teams of urban designers; architects; planning, policy, and community specialists; landscape designers; development economists; and others with local knowledge and general insight Submissions from international teams and are welcome.

The aim of the competition is to gather, showcase and promote imaginative responses to integrating placemaking with the proposed infrastructure projects across the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford Corridor, and including Northampton.

This is a two-stage competition. At the first stage, competitors are asked to submit details of their proposed team and an emerging concept which addresses the following overarching question:
What is your vision for future development, and related development typologies, across the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford growth corridor, which creatively links existing, planned and proposed infrastructure with placemaking?

Interested teams will need to read the Search Statement on the competition website before submitting their emerging concept, team details and registration information via email (using templates provided on the website). The deadline for entries is 14:00 BST 3 August 2017. At the second stage of the competition, four shortlisted teams will receive additional briefing and progress their concepts into creative visions, developed on a specific location within the corridor.

Find out more at Competition website https://competitions.malcolmreading.co.uk/cambridgeoxfordconnection/