Release date: 31 October 2012
The Cabe team at the Design Council today announced the recipients of Design Your Neighbourhood programme grants. 11 communities from Plymouth to Newcastle have been selected to receive funding, aimed at helping them achieve good design as they develop and transform their neighbourhoods.
Design Your Neighbourhood works by linking community groups to local design partners who will provide expertise in architecture, planning and/ or urban design. Design support up to the value of £9,500 has been awarded to the 11 successful community groups. The funding is paid directly to the design partner that is commissioned to work on the successful projects, with the community group setting the priorities in consultation with Cabe.
Cabe received almost 100 applications from community groups throughout England. The 11 winners were chosen by a specially-convened panel. They were looking for projects that demonstrated both the need for good design in the local area, as well as a good level of community support
behind the project, in order to drive positive change.
The 11 communities receiving funding are:
- The 165 Project, Newcastle
- St Mary’s Road Community Project, Wakefield
- Middleport Design Festival, Stoke-on-Trent
- Barne Barton Neighbourhood Plan, Plymouth
- Carterton Market Square, West Oxfordshire
- Foxhill Futures, Bath
- Jewellery Quarter Neighbourhood Led Design, Birmingham
- Re-claiming and Re-making Redcliffe Way, Bristol
- Alley Links, Tottenham Hale
- Wicken Road, Cambridgeshire
- Outside the Box, Yorkshire
Nahid Majid, Director of the Cabe team at the Design Council, said:
“Supporting better design in communities is fundamental to our work at Cabe. We were overwhelmed by the number and quality of applications received for Design Your Neighbourhood. They demonstrate that all over the country, in all sorts of places, people care about good design and are committed to making their areas better. It was a tough job to select the 11 projects we will support this year and I just wish we could support everyone who applied.”
One of the communities is Ilkley in Yorkshire. Outside the Box is a project to engage learning-disabled adults and the wider community in the design of a new community cafe. The cafe will provide training, employment and volunteering opportunities for learning-disabled adults and will act as hub for local people to become involved in their community. The project is a collaboration between CTI2000, a charity providing support to adults with learning or other disabilities, and local architecture centre, Beam.
John Thirlwell, Chair of the Ilkley Community Enterprise cafe steering group, said:
“This support is a real boost. It’s fantastic to get help from design experts. It will give us the support we need to engage the whole Ilkley community in the design and development of our new cafe.”
Kathy MacEwen, Head of the Planning and Enabling for the Cabe team at the Design Council and chair of the selection panel, said:
“The application from CTI2000 really stood out to us because it reflected our values for making design accessible and open to all. In our experience, projects that engage the whole community have a greater impact. The 2up2down project - one of last year’s winners - by the Liverpool
Biennial of Contemporary Art Ltd is a great example of this. The project is transforming a collection of properties in Anfield, one of the poorest parts of England, into a community-owned and managed bakery and new homes. The project has taken care to engage local young people in the design aspects of the scheme and develop their skills around design in construction”.
Cabe will be reporting on the progress of all of the projects between now and March 2013, when the project is completed, to share learning, new ideas and good practice.
END
Notes to Editors
1. Cabe is the successor to CABE, the Government’s advisor on Architecture and the Built Environment, which merged with the Design Council in April 2011
2. The Design Council is a charity which enables people to use design to transform communities, business and the environment for the better. Its work places design at the heart of creating value by stimulating innovation in business and public services, improving the built environment and tackling complex social issues. The Design Council inspires new design thinking, encourages public debate and informs government policy to improve everyday life and help meet tomorrow’s challenges today
3. Design Your Neighbourhood is part of Cabe’s on-going commitment to work according to its values of supporting inclusive communities and creating better places and spaces that improve everyone’s quality of life
4. Design Your Neighbourhood is a programme delivered by the Cabe team at the Design Council on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government
5. For further information, please contact:
Tim Crowley, Head of Communications, Design Council: 020 7420 5263 / 07748 906897, tim.crowley@designcouncil.org.uk
6. The 11 winning projects are:
The 165 Project, Newcastle
What: Humanising a neglected housing estate in Newcastle through better design
Where: The Blakelaw165 Estate in Newcastle
Who: The 165 Estate Tenants’ & Residents’ Association, working with the Workers’ Educational Association partnering with Northern Architecture
Why: This was a strongly-focussed proposal from a grass-roots community group committed to making their estate safer and more sociable
www.wea.org.uk
www.northernarchitecture.com
St Mary’s Road Community Project, Wakefield
What: Bringing grassroots community organisations together to design a new community and sports club that will meet the needs of everyone in Altofts
Where: Village of Altofts near Wakefield
Who: Altofts Community Sports Foundation Ltd partnering with Beam
Why: We were really impressed by the community group’s passionate commitment to creating a new centre for everyone in their community, from young to old. Design support will make a huge difference to take this project from people’s aspirations to feasible design proposals
www.acsf.org.uk
www.beam.uk.net
Middleport Design Festival, Stoke-on-Trent
What: Organising a community design festival to harness the energy of local people in a community-led vision for affordable housing and redevelopment
Where: Middleport, near Stoke-on-Trent
Who: Burslem and Middleport Local Forum partnering with Urban Vision North Staffordshire
Why: This project is a challenging new opportunity to put local people in the driving seat for a community that has been let down by previous government housing initiatives
www.facebook.com/groups/myburslem
www.uvns.org
Barne Barton Neighbourhood Plan, Plymouth
What: Developing a neighbourhood plan to improve the quality of life for residents in this isolated but active former naval estate in Plymouth Where: Plymouth
Who: Tamar View Community Complex Ltd partnering with Design Action
Why: We were particularly impressed by the strength of Tamar View’s community organisation and their long track record in improving their area. Barne Barton is an isolated area with few facilities and amenities where neighbourhood planning could make a huge differenc
www.tamarview.co.uk
www.acdandc.org.uk
Carterton Market Square, West Oxfordshire
What: Coodinating a new design-led approach to improve the town centre in Carterton
Where: Carterton in West Oxfordshire
Who: Carterton Town Council, working with the Carterton Fast Forward Partnership partnering with Transform Places
Why: This was a high quality application from a town council that really understands and is committed to improving design of public space www.carterton-tc.gov.uk
www.transformplaces.com
Foxhill Futures, Bath
What: Giving residents a voice in masterplanning an ex-MOD site, so that local people benefit from regeneration
Where: Foxhill in Bath
Who: Foxhill Point Community Group partnering with Creating Excellence
Why: This is a big new housing development where there is real opportunity for good design to link old and new communities together and improve the lives of existing residents in quite a deprived area
www.creatingexcellence.org.uk
Jewellery Quarter Neighbourhood Led Design, Birmingham
What: Engaging residents in plans for new affordable and self-build housing for families in Birmingham's Jewellery quarter
Where: Jewellery Quarter in central Birmingham
Who: Jewellery Quarter Neighbourhood Forum partnering with MADE
Why: We are really keen to support proposals for housing that come from the community. We chose this project to show how local people can take the lead and help solve our housing crisis
www.jqnf.org.uk
www.made.org.uk
Re-claiming and Re-making Redcliffe Way, Bristol
What: Developing a neighbourhood plan to re-make Redcliffe Way into a promenade of public space, green infrastructure and high-density development in inner-Bristol
Where: Redcliffe Way in central Bristol
Who: Redcliffe Neighbourhood Development Forum partnering with the Architecture Centre
Why: This is a neighbourhood with a huge design challenge: Redcliffe Way is a busy road that cuts straight through the heart of the neighbourhood and presents an ugly, unwelcoming entrance to Bristol city centre
www.architecturecentre.co.uk
Alley Links, Tottenham Hale
What: Transforming run-down alley ways between Tottenham High Road and surrounding housing estates into a safe, attractive area and a source of pride
Where: Tottenham Hale in London
Who: Friends of Down Lane Park partnering with Clear Village
Why: This is an area with a poor public realm where better design could make a huge difference to improving people’s lives. The local authority is very supportive and there is funding available to turn the community’s design aspirations into real action
www.fdlp.org.uk
www.clear-village.org
Wicken Road, Cambridgeshire
What: Developing design proposals for affordable community-owned homes and workplaces
Where: Parishes of Stretham and Wilburton in rural Cambridgeshire
Who: Stretham and Wilburton Community Land Trust partnering with Community Spirit Partnership
Why: Lack of affordable housing is a huge issue. This application showed how one community is getting together to address the problem and build new homes
www.clteast.org
http://www.facebook.com/foundationeast
http://communitylandtrusts.ning.com
www.communityspiritpartnership.webs.com
Outside the Box, Yorkshire
What: Engaging learning-disabled adults and the wider community in design of a new community café
Where: Ilkley in Yorkshire
Who: CTI2000 partnering with Beam
Why: This project is a great example of inclusive design. Their application demonstrated a lot of community support for the project and a track record in getting things done to date
www.beam.uk.net
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beam/252966581417274