Press releases

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) today launches a major international competition, calling for visionary ideas for a landmark or series of landmarks in the East of England.

The Landmark East international ideas competition is open to anyone who can develop and deliver a visionary idea for a landmark – a sustainable icon representing the region to the rest of the world. The judges will be looking for ideas that will attract significant funding, stimulate tangible economic benefit and inspire a sense of pride and unity in the region.

Landmark East is borne out of research commissioned by EEDA that showed a weak sense of identity for the region as a whole. Whilst many areas have strong individual identities, there is no one place or thing that engenders pride on a region-wide level – nothing anchoring people to the region as a whole. Landmark East builds on EEDA’s ‘space for ideas’ marketing campaign, which positions the East of England as the UK’s ideas region, with success and opportunity at its heart.

Yasmin Shariff, the EEDA board member leading the Landmark East project, said: “Landmark East is a fantastic opportunity for us to come together as a region and decide how we want to present the East of England to the rest of the world. We live in a disparate region which presents a challenge but equally a huge opportunity to create some really special things for all of us to be proud of.”

The competition is open to everyone with the ability to develop and deliver a landmark, from artists and sculptors to engineers, architects, entrepreneurs, local authorities or partnerships and students. The landmark(s) could be anything from a piece of music to a conservation project or a bridge. There is no assumption that it will be a building.

The competition brief calls for ideas to be strongly rooted in the region. To help entrants from outside the region, the brief identifies themes that represent the region’s key assets and opportunities, from the natural environment and heritage, to innovation, renewable energy, art and culture.

The judging panel will be chaired by Anthea Case, former chief executive, Heritage Lottery Fund and includes: EEDA’s new chief executive David Marlow, Yasmin Shariff, EEDA board member; Professor Sir David King, chief scientific advisor to the Government; Tim Bishop, head of regional programming, BBC East; Bill Macnaught, Head of Cultural Development, Gateshead Council; Alex Lifschutz Davidson and Simon Loftus, chair of the Business in the Community leadership group.

Anthea Case chair of the judging panel said: “We are here to identify something exciting and achievable that helps drive economic development and puts the East of England on the map. Most of all, it should be a source of great pride. It could be literally anything, anywhere in the region. As panel members we have a responsibility to ensure that the front runners are rooted in the region as well as being genuinely deliverable and sustainable. I look forward to participating in judging this competition enormously.”

The deadline for entries to the competition is 18 February. The first stage judging will take place on 24 February – to agree a short list of twelve projects. These ideas will then be the focus for internet–led public consultation before the final judging at the beginning of April.

At the final judging stage, the panel will choose up to three ‘winners’ who will be awarded a total of £250,000 between them to fund feasibility studies – essentially first stage funding to help develop the ideas further. Subject to the outcome of the feasibility study, EEDA may provide further funds to assist with the early stage development of the idea(s). Thereafter (and depending on the size or magnitude of the idea), the project promoters will be expected to embark on longer term fundraising with EEDA’s assistance where appropriate.