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Guest Blog: Building Consensus in Oxford on Leap Day!

Submitted by Stephen Smith

The Glass-House marked Leap-Day with a workshop at Cutteslowe Community Centre in Oxford. Chief Executive Sophia de Sousa was joined by Glass-House Enabler Stephen Smith of Wright & Wright Architects and research partners from the Open University.

Located at a seemingly commonplace residential edge; several complex contextual emerged – the sense of a gateway building to a Primary School and Children’s Centre; an expanse of parkland both adjacent to it and beyond the bypass footbridge to allotments; and the proximity of the site of some nationally significant cartographic scars – the spike-topped Cutteslowe Walls – that previously divided streets between Council Houses and Private Ownership.

The group were engaged in a series of activities to begin to evolve a project vision for the transformation of the Centre. Discussion was animated and thoughts were articulated about creating a warmer and welcoming threshold, cross generational activity and planning and an understanding about further outreach and engagement.

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Glass-House Debate - Newcastle

Submitted by Rebecca Maguire

Once again the topic – Community Led Design: what is it and does it work? – was tackled in the latest Glass-House Debate, held on 21^st February. The event was hosted by partners, Northern Architecture, at the Bond Centre in central Newcastle. Sophia de Sousa, Glass-House Chief Executive, introduced the theme and said how glad she was to return to Newcastle, where there is always such a lively response to Glass-House Debates. 

As with all the Glass-House Debates, there were contrasting experiences from speakers of very different backgrounds. The first speaker was David Stewart, of the Allendale Community Housing (ACH), a community company, which is run as if it were a Community Land Trust. He spoke about the process of developing Allen Gardens - 1 family house and 2 apartments - for much needed social housing in Allendale, a small town of 3500 people in Northumberland.

Time, effort and the right skills were contributed at all levels from within the community, from the ACH Board to the developer to those working on all aspects of the project. It was possible to not only create housing with high environmental standards, meaning they cost very little to run for the tenants, but to employ local companies in the construction process too – thus ensuring that financial benefits circulated locally too.

The project was driven by clear evidence of need within the community, and allowed for lots of engagement and empowerment of the community, with open meetings throughout. There was too, a ‘mysterious ingredient’ – the passion and commitment, which helped the project complete in such a successful way.

Image courtesy: ACH

Carinna Gebhard, of space_architecture, continued the evening with her account of two projects that she had been involved with designing. Both were educational buildings, though for and with very different communities. The first example was the Evenwood Surestart and Community Centre, in a small mining town in County Durham – with high unemployment, especially amongst the young male population, many of whom were also carers. Although Teesdale Surestart was the client, the whole community was recognised as having a stake in the centre and were involved in workshops, organised so that many people could have a say in the whole building, not just the Surestart part of it. Carinna reflected that, although young people became, on completion and opening of the Centre, very proud and protective of the new centre – a higher level of involvement throughout the process could have made for fewer broken windows during the construction phase.

Her second example was a Special Educational Needs school. There was real engagement with all staff, many of the pupils and their families and carers, the medical community and wider community, as well as the client -  Knowesley Council. They listened and learnt from one another and continually reviewed and discussed the design. Collectively, the children, the wider stakeholders, client and designers, were able to come up with a beautiful and successful building designed very specifically for the range of needs of the user group –  the children themselves. 

Image courtesy of space_architecture

Last but not least, Nigel Brewer, of Places for people, talked about the engagement with existing and new communities. As one of the largest property management, development and regeneration companies in the UK – with assets in excess of over £3 billion, Places for People (PfP) still believe that every place requires a unique approach to design, and needs more than just houses to thrive – it needs schools, jobs and training opportunities, shops and leisure facilities too. For each development project they engage with both existing and future stakeholders in neighbourhood  and project planning and design. Mixing aspirations with realism, Nigel felt the process is creative and engaging. But PfP also pride themselves in providing local employment opportunities as a result of the developments  The immense social benefits of community led design, he felt, were greater ownership and respect, which in itself leads to safer communities; the raising of aspirations amongst local people and an enhanced environment for all.

Sadly, our last scheduled speaker Phil Jones from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council was unable to attend due to poor health, but he contributed his reflections on developing a neighbourhood plan as one of the pilot Front Runners. He felt that whilst it will continue to be challenging, he felt that they had made some good progress and that in genuine partnership and collaborative effort, plans and aspirations could be achieved.

      Image The Glass-House                  

The debate that followed was passionate and heated at times. The audience was unusually ‘professional’ – usually there are many more community members in attendance. We debated the difference of scale that had been highlighted by the speakers and the impact that this had on community involvement; the different types of ‘communities’ that might be involved as users and clients, and indeed the differing nature of involvement and ownership. Once more, the breadth and importance of community involvement in the design process was eloquently emphasised by our speakers and audience.

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The Community Led Design Debate continues in Bristol

Submitted by Louise Dredge

From the concrete jungle on arrival in Bristol to the thriving regenerated docklands and to the home of our hosts and partner Architecture Centre Bristol, we gathered in the ground floor gallery for the second debate of the 2011/2012 Glass-House Debate Series. A tightly packed group of thirty community led design enthusiasts ready to hear and discuss the practice and realities of community led design in the UK today.

The four enlightening presentations had a common heart – people. None more so than Sandra Manson, a Youth Media Coordinator from Knowle West Media Centre who spoke of how a group of young people became the fearless drivers of a new community facility for their local area. Sandra demonstrated to us how the process of community led design brings far more transformative effects than the designed outcome. Her stories revealed that these young people developed a confidence from their engagement in this process that has propelled them in their personal and professional lives, while the wider community developed a pride of place that has had an impact far beyond the boundaries of the new building.

As a design professional Greg White admitted that the designer doesn’t always know best, as he has been shown on many occasions of involvement in community led design projects. Embedding a sense of ownership and pride in one’s area was key to the success of a project and Greg included an evocative example from Glasgow, where two parks were linked by a series of trees, each one planted with a ceremony of its own in memory of a young person who had died in that community.

Oona Goldsworthy, CEO of Bristol Community Housing Federation gave her reflections on community led design after over thirty years of being involved in such processes. She insisted that honesty, feedback, respect and listening be at the heart of any process, while she cautioned design professionals to be cognisant of scale and function, to ensure that the smallest details are considered and that every space designed has a function (the latter point relating to ongoing issues of management which cause problems long after the built project is completed).

Cleo Newcombe-Jones from Bath & North East Somerset Council revealed the changing nature of community engagement by local authorities, which has seen planners become involved more and more in enabling work. And the tide is turning for the local action groups as Cleo revealed how groups once set up to oppose the decisions of the local authority were now working in partnership with them, and with other groups who they may have been (or still are!) ideologically opposed to.

This theme of shared support pervaded the experience of all of the speakers and many of the audience members who discussed their own experiences of community engagement in the built environment. Community led design is a collective responsibility – to be inclusive, accessible, to communicate clearly and constantly. As put simply by Oona Goldsworthy, “It’s not ‘other’, it’s us”.

A clear definition of ‘community led design’ may once again have eluded us in Bristol but it was an audience member who reminded us of our ultimate responsibility to all in society - to inspire.

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In Bruges: Belgian students present their plans for East London site

Submitted by Sophia de Sousa

This week I paid a swift visit to Bruges, where I sat on a jury to assess 3rd year Applied Architecture students from Howest University College West Flanders who have developed masterplans for a mixed-use site close to the Olympic village in East London.  Fourteen groups presented their ideas on how to transform an industrial canal-side site into a place to live, work and play. 

The students had visited the area in September and were struck by the scale, density and diversity of East London, all of which they tried to respond to in their final plans.

They were also introduced to some of the challenges currently facing designers and the development industry in the UK and in particular in London.

Some very interesting ideas were put forward, particularly around sustainable technologies, and some quite playful references were made to the site’s industrial past. There were also a number of really evocative and sculptural designs.

Given their limited contact with the site, it was of course challenging for the students to gain a real understanding of its social, economic and environmental context.

This led to some gaps in their ideas and provoked interesting discussion around context, accessibility, financial viability and the balance between public and private realm.

Above all, we explored the real challenges of achieving quality of place for those who will live, work and play on the site and for those who manage, service and maintain it. 

My parting advice to the students was to think of all of the people who will come into contact with the site, intentionally or through circumstance. 

To achieve quality of place, any designer must be informed by local context and understand the complex balance of local needs and aspirations.

*Thank you to lecturer Rob van Helvoort and his students for allowing us to show some of their design ideas in this blog.

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The Secret Life of Buildings

Submitted by Sophia de Sousa

The Glass-House was really pleased to be a part of the first episode of The Secret Life of Buildings last night. It was fantastic to see Tom Dyckhoff looking at how our buildings and spaces affect us and challenging us all to be more demanding about the environments in which we live. Design does matter, and though there will always be a strong element of subjectivity about what we like and don’t like, we must work harder and more collaboratively to create places where people feel happy, safe, confident and inspired. We look forward to watching the next episode.

If you missed last night's episode, watch it on 4OD  

We’re keen to hear more about how your home is affecting your quality of life. Send us your comments.

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Upcoming events

Submitted by Jaina Tochia

The Glass-House and partner organisations are holding a series of lively and informative events all exploring the built environment from various perspectives. Below is a bitesize overview of each one with link to book your place. 

The Glass-House and Architecture Centre Network (ACN):

Community Engagement: Quality Design or Design Compromise?

A debate which discusses and explores the different approaches to ensuring design quality, and the importance of listening to responding to the community voice. There will be presentations from:

• The Glass-House
• The Building Exploratory
• The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment

with a chance to discuss key points and raise your queries after the presentations.

Where: The Gallery, 77 Cowcross St, London, EC1M 6EL

When: Tuesday 21 June 2011

Time: Refreshments from 6.30pm, debate 7-8pm

Cost: £5/£3 for students inc a glass of wine

More info: Event flyer

To book: www.eventelephant.com/communityengagement21june

A Planning in London Conference in association with The Glass-House

Community and Planning, The New Relationship

Communities are being empowered to shape and direct the future of their neighbourhoods. How will property and built environment professionals, local authorities work with communities to achieve the best outcomes?

This special one-day conference is designed to create opportunities for debate and discussion about how communities and professionals can engage collaboratively with neighbourhood planning, to create new Neighbourhood Plans.

Join us to debate the key issues with developers, architects, planners, local government authorities, politicians and community organisations.

Where: The Royal College of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1G 0AE

When: Thursday 7 July 2011

Time: 8.30 to 5.30pm with evening drinks reception

Cost: Standard ticket price £239.00 + VAT

NEW: If you are part of a community group/ organisation cost per person £20.00

More info: Programme

To book: Community and Planning, The New Relationship website 

The Glass-House and Design Council CABE  

Design Planning Workshop - Community Engagement

The Localism Bill presents a new role for urban planners as facilitators of neighbourhood plans. This half-day workshop will highlight the challenges and opportunities for planners and communities to prioritise design in the new planning system. The session will discuss the links to core strategies as well as local practical projects. Speakers will present a series of approaches to community planning through inspiring case studies. A practical exercise will help you develop a new approach to talking to local communities about the value of good design in the context of neighbourhood plans.

The workshop will be an opportunity for you to question our expert panel, who have years of experience on community planning projects. We will also encourage you to discuss your experiences with other local authorities, to discuss common problems and solutions.

Confirmed speakers:

• Paul Watson – Paul, Strategic Director for Regeneration and Development
• Shankari Raj – Shankari is a community activist from Bristol
• Sophia de Sousa – Sophia, Chief Executive of The Glass-House

Where: Design Council CABE, 34 Bow Street, London WC2E 7DL

When: Wednesday 13 July 2011

Who: Local authority planners

Time: 10am-1pm followed by lunch

Cost: Free

More info and to book: Design in Planning booking info and booking  

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