County Hall, Durham

Around 100 delegates from across the region (and beyond) joined the CIHT for the second launch event for Manual for Streets 2 at County Hall, Durham.

following a keynote address by Norman Baker MP under Secretary of State for Transport, Alan Young of WSP Group outlined the scope, principles and processes behind Manual for Streets 2 such as the issues raised by the original Manual for Streets; barriers to the rollout of those principles and the issues tackled in the guidance. Steve Proctor of TMS presented details of research on visibility splay and priority junctions undertaken for the guidance, and detailed the findings. Phil Jones of Phil Jones Associates presented the details of the MfS2 document; Hierarchy, balance, desires, networks, collaboration and innovation; and running through numerous examples of the different measures discussed in the guidance.

In the second session, the deligates were shown two case studies detailing the background, the process and the delivery of :

• Inverness Streetscape project by Martin Tabor of Land Use Consultants, and
• London Road Improvement by Phillip Marshall of Southampton City Council.

The morning closed with a panel discussion chaired by Peter Neal of CABE.

Following a good lunch, Tim Cuell of WSP Group presented on a wider application of Manual for Streets principles - decluttering through the safety led Mixed Priority Routes study. John Emslie of MVA Consultancy provided an update on the DfT shared space guidance, due for publication in spring 2011.

After a break for coffee, Professor Catherine Ward Thompson of OPENspace, Edinburgh College of Art covered the design of streets with older people in mind; outlining the role of public space in quality of life. Finally Brian Johnson of Keep Britain Tidy presented on managing and maintaining the public realm, focusing on fitness for purpose and design for practical maintenance.

The afternoon panel discussion was chaired by Richard Smith, CIHT North Eastern Branch Chairman.

The presentations from each of the speakers at this event will be available here shortly.