waterside

Once a vibrant industrial town with several types of manufacturing the city of Leicester, had been struggling to reinvent themselves as a destination spot for culture within the Midlands. In doing so, Leicester was undertaking massive changes to the riverside and downtown areas in hopes of attracting rich developers and Londoners. City planners were busy coming up with new riverside properties, a new shopping center and a signature architectural building similar to Birmingham’s Bullring shopping area, Walsall’s Art Museum, Newcastle Upon Tyne’s Sage Gateshead Concert Hall or Middlesbrough’s Institute for Modern Art. In turn, developers were pitching their structures as being close to Leicester’s vibrant city centre and comparing the new developments as not being out of place in ‘California’ or ‘Cote Azur’.

Old mills located along the river Soar were marketed to London developers and whilst the city was anxious for ‘progress’ it was curious to see who in the city would benefit since the town was ostensibly working class. This piece documents the ‘progress’ to the city centre from the west side of the Soar – an area that was not slated for development in 2006/2007.