This 1999 nomination by Dundee City Council is for the Ambassador Routes Design Guide in the "outstanding performance and quality in development plans" category. The Ambassador Routes Project brings to implementation Policy BE23 of the Dundee local Plan which commits the City Council to "environmental improvements-to positively enhance the attractiveness and image of the city". The design guide brings the philosophy of the Project to the attention of all route frontagers and has the potential to engender a feeling of civic pride in the people of Dundee. The Dundee "Ambassador Routes" are the main roads into the city centre from north, south, east, and west including the Marketgait, or Inner Ring Road, which links them all together. The enhancement of the Ambassador Routes aims to:
1) attract tourists to the city's Visitor attractions;
2) attract investors to available sites;
3) reinforce the good image of the city centre where £7.5m has been invested in environmental improvements.
The Ambassador Routes Project is jointly funded by Dundee City Council and Scottish Enterprise Tayside under the auspices of the Dundee Partnership. To underpin the programme of capital investment over the next five years, a Design guide has been prepared to address the multitude of small elements which also greatly affect the perception of the Routes. The guide was commissioned by the partnership and produced by Ironside Farrar Ltd. The guide is simple to use. Reference to a matrix of contents identifies the relevant worksheets and for most elements, high, medium, and low cost options are offered. The message is that whatever the frontagers budget, they can contribute, by their choice of product, to the consistency of the Route.
The elements addressed by the Design Guide are:
1) boundaries;
2) trees and soft landscaping;
3) hard landscaping and street furniture.
Besides the objective of establishing a consistent image along the Routes, it is also intended to introduce an element of variety between Routes by differing colour finishes for boundary fences and differing flowering regimes for the feature planting.
Implementation
Significant enhancement works, based on the Design Guide, have already been carried out on the Claypotts and Riverside Routes and the next phase of the project will see the first of the City Gateway features and an initial tranche of Visitor Attractions signage realised. As probably the single biggest investor on the Ambassador Routes, the City Council can lead by example during the course of cyclical road maintenance. The Guide is also referred to by the Council's Development Quality Officers and Departmental Property Managers. Private sector landowners along the Routes have been made aware of the Design Guide and a Public Relations exercise is ongoing to disseminate the benefits of the document to all route frontagers.
The judges asked for a presentation on this nomination. They were shown how the project had set out to unify design elements along key routes. Many of the elements were in the hands of public authorities. Many related to aspects not subject to planning permission. But whether for permitted development or not, the production of clear guidance - 'something to show people' - was already beginning to have an influence. The judges appreciated that these were still early days in the life of a long-term project. Nevertheless they were impressed by the well-thought-through approach and the sensitivity to local distinctiveness. The judges therefore recommend a 1999 Commendation for the Dundee Ambassador Routes design guide in this category.