Golden Lane Estate was shortlisted for an Urbanism Award 2018 in the Great Neighbourhood category alongside Byker in Newcastle and Smithfields in Dublin. Sadly we didn’t win, but we did come away with a framed commendation (proudly hanging in the estate office) and a very fitting poem from Academy of Urbanism‘s poet in residence, Ian McMillan.
Golden Lane Estate
All you need, anywhere, are streets paved with gold:
The gold of community, the gold of mutual benefit,
The gold of allotments in the early evening sun
That reflects on the windows of places built for living.
All you need anywhere is an island in the city
Connected to everywhere, central to the world
And looking out and in at the very same time
And so I give you the gleaming Golden Lane estate!
All you need is this: a place to live and breathe,
Gold spun from ideas, a Golden Lane of people
Because the people are what makes this place.
There I said it. Now let’s get on with living.
We don’t know who nominated us, so a thank you to them and a very big thank you to Ian Dowsett in the Estate Office, who enthusiastically supplied the Academy of Urbanism with all the info they needed and organised the jury visit.
We were piped to the post by Byker in Newcastle, the deserving winners:
‘There are a number of learning points from Golden Lane that could benefit similar estates around the country. Like Byker, it has benefitted from a strong and flexible management, but it has other advantages such as location and the wealth and creativity of private residents. Therefore, on balance we feel that Byker has made greater progress against tougher odds and is a better candidate for Great Neighbourhood, with Golden Lane a close second.’
Academy of Urbanism
Take a look at the assessors’ report for more insights.
2024 update: a BIG THANK YOU to David Rudlin who as generously given residents permission to use the beautiful image he created as part of the Urbanism Awards – you’ll find it on our homepage, on post cards for Sing Out Golden Lane…
