The team beat off competition from students of Newcastle and Sheffield universities

Two landscape architecture students from the University of Greenwich have won a competition to design a new square in Kirkby, Nottinghamshire.

The competition was part of a wider initiative to regenerate the town centre.

Ashfield District Council paired up with the architecture centre for the East Midlands, OPUN, and picked Anna Sjeczak and Patricia Paegle as the winners.

Their joint proposal included ideas to divide the square into six integrated zones, placing meeting and market areas alongside events and recreation spaces.

The judges said: “This entry captured all these things. It demonstrates an excellent understanding of the immediate and wider site context, and a well thought out design which will encourage independent businesses to an inviting new space and surrounding streetscape.”

Elements from the winning design will now be used by Ashfield District Council to develop a final design for the new town square.

A public consultation will be held early next year, with work due to start on site in 2013.