Myatt's Fields Park Project

Myatt’s Fields Park Project Group were working with Lambeth Council to make sure that local residents had their say in the design of the refurbished Myatt’s Fields Park. The group worked with the Glass-House to undertake a series of three design workshops with children and young people who use the park or who live in the area to develop a vision for a new playground proposed to be built within the park.

In 2000, a group of mothers decided that they wanted to improve their local park. The mothers got together with other local residents and joined a partnership with the London Borough of Lambeth. In 2002 the group were constituted as the Myatt’s Fields Park Project Group and in 2005, they became a registered charity. The group’s purpose is to regenerate Myatt’s Fields Park, a small Victorian park in Vassall Ward, so that it would attract more visitors, especially from the many estates around the park.

The regeneration included the renovation of historic features such as a bandstand and roundhouse, plus sports facilities and a new playground. A new One O’Clock Club would be built in the new playground offering wrap-around services for children and their parents. The existing One O’Clock Club building would be rebuilt to include a crèche and training room that could also be used out of crèche hours by the community. The park depot building would be refurbished to provide office space for a new park manager, a development and education officer, and a social enterprise that would provide horticultural training for local people. A new wildlife garden would also provide educational opportunities and a relaxing place to visit.

In 2003, the group was awarded £37,000 by Lambeth Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. This was spent preparing a successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund. In March 2004, the group was awarded £45,000 development funding from this application to spend on commissioning land use consultants who prepared a Stage One bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. This application included drawing up a conservation management plan, an audience and development plan, and a training plan as well as other various surveys. They took the group’s vision and turned the proposals into a viable plan, advising them on where new buildings would be best placed, costings for improvements, and carrying out consultation exercises in partnership with the project group.

In June 2005 some members of the group went on a Buildings by Design course at Trafford Hall. They were given the task of developing a vision for the new One O'Clock Club. In August 2005 the group were awarded £2550 from the Glass-House to carry out further consultation over the development of the adjoining playground, as this area was key to getting the community on board with the new building.

The group took 12 children from the local school to visit three playgrounds and the children then made models of their ideal playgrounds during the afternoon. Another visit was carried out for 36 local people to look at other London playgrounds. An afternoon consultation took place in the playground at the end of the month. This included a treasure hunt, marking pictures of play equipment that children liked best, tying ribbons around favorite existing equipment and building a model of the future One O'Clock Club out of hay bales so people could visualise its size and location.

The Buildings by Design course engaged several members of the community who had no previous involvement in the regeneration of the park.  This resulted in one member joining the group’s management team. This is the first time that Lambeth’s One O’Clock Club staff has been consulted about the buildings they work in, and this consultation work was influential in winning support for the project. The follow-up support from the Glass-House’s Community Design Advisor helped in engaging the community, both schools and individual families, with workshops and a fun day informing them about progress with the project and giving a real sense of input into the plans.

Engagement with the community has moved the project from suspicion by some sectors to general acceptance and delight. The Heritage Lottery Fund was impressed by the group’s consultation skills both with the community and professional organisations.

The Glass-House provided a £2550 cash grant. This was used towards a number of community consultation activities and resources including:
A newsletter celebrating what already exists in Myatt’s Fields and publicising the project;
Separate children's and adult study tours;
Community design festival at the site of the project;
The Glass-House Community Design Advisor developed the itinerary for the visits and attended the workshops.

This has been extremely helpful in getting young people on board, and also very helpful in carrying out effective consultation with children and local adults about the design of the children’s building and playground.

Spaces

Public Park Improvement
After School Club within Victorian Park
Partnership with local Council
Consultation with children
Using the site as a focal point for a design festival

Cash Grant (no longer available)

Project support and related activities

Newsletter celebrating existing Myatt’s Fields, and publicising the project.
Separate children's and adult study tours.
Community design festival at the site of the project.

Buildings by Design training course

The Glass-House Community Design Advisor developed the itinerary for the visits and attended the workshops

The Glass-House staff