Heavily bombed in the war, blighted by unsightly designs and hit hard by economic hardship in the 1980s - Coventry was renowned for ugly car parks and buildings. What 'The Phoenix Initiative' set out to do was draw people back into an area of Coventry that was desperately in need of a facelift. 'Extreme Makeover' eat your heart out!

Coventry City Council wanted to create a mixed-use space, where people could shop, work, relax - and live. And - with the design provided by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard - they have succeeded. People have returned to live and work in the heart of Coventry. The reconstruction project has also attracted worldwide attention - being short-listed for the 2004 prestigious RIBA Stirling prize. The first reconstruction project to achieve this honour.  
 
The Phoenix Initiative is a £24-million regeneration concerned not just with structures but with the spaces between them: the squares, gardens and plazas - with the medieval ruins of Coventry's first cathedral as the starting point. From there, visitors are taken on a 'walk of 1,000 years', through gardens and squares to the futuristic Whittle arch.

Fast Facts 

• Five 70-tonne cranes were used to install the Whittle Arches
  
• The project allowed archaelogists to excavate previously unxplored remains of some of the city's richest medieval areas
  
• The giant long reach excavator - with a 27-metre arm - was used to raze buildings to the ground

To find out more go to MacCormac Jamieson Prichard Architects website