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Green light for plans to remove dailies’ names from offices

Plans to remove the names of two sister titles from the exterior of their offices have been approved.

As previously reported on HTFP, regional publisher Archant applied to Norwich City Council to remove signs bearing the names of the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News from its Prospect House building, to be replaced with its own corporate branding.

The proposal, deemed “clumsy” by heritage group The Norwich Society, has now been given the green light by the council’s planning committee.

The company has previously stated it plans to introduce new branding for the EDP and Evening News at other locations in the building.

An artist's impression of the proposals

An artist’s impression of the proposed change

A statement by Archant on the proposal submitted to the council reads: “Archant recognises and values the input from the Norwich Society and others concerning the visual impact of the changes to signage which have been proposed.

“In fact Archant has throughout the process continued to listen to the inputs from many parts.

“Prospect House was commissioned and built by Eastern Counties Newspapers Ltd, a Norwich-centric, newspaper company. Over a number of years the company has evolved into the nation’s leading independent regional multimedia publisher.

“To reflect this change Eastern Counties Newspapers Ltd changed to Archant, and the proposed changes to signage reflect to ongoing evolution of the building from being a local newspapers office to providing the headquarters building for a nationally recognised organisation.

“The proposed changes to signage reflected a balanced response to these changes which are intended to retain the essential character of the building while reflecting the branding of the multi-media publisher. The colour of the signage is an integral part of Archant’s corporate branding.

“It is also of interest that many people who have viewed the proposed signage have commented positively about the visual impact of the signage.”

Archant has yet to respond to requests for further comment on the council’s decision.

7 comments

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  • March 4, 2015 at 10:25 am
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    I wonder how many small ads and stories they’ll lose because people think the EDP and NEN are no longer there.

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  • March 4, 2015 at 3:37 pm
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    People in Norfolk don’t traditionally respond well to parts of their heritage being ripped up but to be honest they’ve already voted with their feet on sales of the EDP and EEN anyway.

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  • March 4, 2015 at 7:53 pm
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    Biter is correct, the EDP and EN mean nothing to the people of the city as their free falling sales figures indicate do there’s ne Dr been a better time to brush these skiing titles under the carpet
    Secondly with the latest ABC figures giving a clear indication that these two ‘flagship’ titles are on their last legs it has to be said ‘who cares’
    Just a shame that Archant continue to pay lip service to what the locals and herutage societies say and do what they want anyway
    Another nail in the print product coffins

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  • March 4, 2015 at 7:57 pm
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    Apologies for the bad grammar/ lack of spell checking in the above post, like Archant it would my standards have slipped too!

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  • March 4, 2015 at 8:04 pm
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    “In fact Archant has throughout the process continued to listen to the inputs from many parts….”
    Err clearly not, but having seen their continuing huge copy sale losses the quicker they deny all knowledge or association with the DP and EN the better for them, will they also remove all branding from the offices of their dwindling weeklies too one wonders ?, give it time

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  • March 5, 2015 at 6:35 am
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    If the quality of the ‘artists impression’ of the new signage is any indication of the quality of these two ailing papers then it’s no wonder so few people are buying them anymore. And their quite; “The company has previously stated it plans to introduce new branding for the EDP and Evening News at other locations in the building” presumably means under the carpet ,
    they mat be hoping for ‘out if sight, out if mind ‘ but the embarrassing elephant in the room will still be there
    Really is tine for change st archant ,and not just in the front of the building

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  • March 5, 2015 at 9:55 am
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    The question is,does anybody really care ? They are no longer the force they once were and this coupled with the latest shocking losses in readers of all their newsprint publications indicates they plan moving away from the printed product altogether, if they felt both daily titles had a future they would work to develop and try to regain readers,this is the first fluttering a of a white flag which must be concerning to those people working on these titles.
    It’s sadly just another sign of how bad things are there and a sign of further changes to come

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