No Man Is An Island
1 October 2024
The location for Quality of Life’s Symposium 2024 was Freight Island, Manchester. This is a former rail depot regenerated into ‘an urban market and festival space – an axis of food, drink, music, immersive entertainment, festival takeovers and family focused.’
It was also raining. Alot. The clattering on the glass roof was practically a drumbeat and reinforced the island feel.
But it didn't dent spirits. The symposium brought together expertise and passion around ‘How can we go beyond meeting housing targets and create homes and neighbourhoods that genuinely enhance people’s health and well-being.’
I came away with much that informs our focus on putting place-shaping at the heart of decision-making. One question was how we avoid reinventing the wheel, and it was good to share among delegates the lesson-learning and collaborative approach of our PlaceShaping in Action series.
But back to what I took away. My main take-away was that nothing exists in isolation. At a time when housing associations face many challenges and local authority partners are struggling financially (rising costs of adult social care and temporary accommodation taking away from front line services...) how we assure the right infrastructure is part of early planning. And how this is informed by what matters to people who will live there.
When projects go for planning – and constraints on the planning system were a constant theme - community opposition can stall or overturn much needed regeneration. Often what people are objecting to is not the homes, but the lack of of infrastructure, be that roads, medical services, schools or community facilities. The NPPF is a good step forward (read our response here).
That applies for large scale regeneration or smaller services that support the most vulnerable. It got me thinking about SkyWaves, accommodation and support for homeless people, and of Worthing Homes’ work with the local community to explain and reassure.
When we launch our next PlaceShaping in Action, it's going to be digging down in the early stages of consultation for larger scale regeneration. It's 1000 homes but Raven Housing Trust is equally interested in the views of those living in the 3000 homes that surround it. They are not their residents but they are as much stakeholders as the people who will live in the 1000 homes.
It was good to connect with solutions-focused people and there's lots to follow up. Particular thanks to
- John Alker, Head of Sustainability, Legal & General
- Sarah Greenwood, Assistant Director for Sustainability and Design, Homes England
- Phil Marsden, Managing Director - North West, Muse
- Deb Upadhyaya, Director, AtkinsRéalis
- Susan Emmett, Social Value Director, Stantec
- Katie Wray, Director, Deloitte
- Paul Morris, Director, Civic Engineers
- Shefali Kapoor, Director of Communities, Manchester City Council