During February half-term, we delivered a creative 3-day programme at Stockport College exploring the exciting regeneration taking place in the town. The programme, commissioned by Stockport MDC, explored the ‘Stockport 8’ site, and involved talented young people from local schools and colleges. Throughout the programme, we were joined by various members of the Stockport 8 project team (Planit-IE, shedkm, Project Four, Hilson Moran, Walker Sime, and TACE) who supported the young people’s work and inspired them with information on different career pathways in the built environment.
The programme was part of our PLACED Partnership Academy. PLACED Partnership Academies are funded by a range of partners and focus on working with young people in specific areas of the Northwest, often linking directly to a live project. Programmes are bespoke and range in length, focusing on skills development, aspirations and confidence, whilst supporting access to professional careers. Activities and events put creativity and collaboration at the heart.
This 3-day programme of creative activities, skill-based learning and place education at Stockport College explored the Stockport 8 site and ‘social value’ – that is, how the upcoming changes in this key town centre location could bring social value benefits to local young people and the community, improving the quality of their lives. Stockport 8 is a Stockport MDC and English Cities Fund project and partnership between Homes England, Legal & General and MUSE. We are working alongside Social Value Portal on the social value aspect of the project. It will redevelop an 8-acre site west of the town centre, notably adjacent to the town’s historic viaduct and Stockport Interchange – a new development in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester which will include a new urban park and enhanced connectivity. As one of the largest town centre regeneration projects in the UK currently, it aims to create a new walkable neighbourhood.
The aim of the Stockport Holiday Programme was to include the youth voice in these ambitious plans for Stockport Town Centre, exploring what local young people’s priorities are in terms of possible future social value initiatives. Further, the programme also served to develop the young people’s awareness of built environment skills as well as university routes and career options within the built environment. Over the course of the 3-day programme, the young people involved would gain insight into the process of designing spaces and places, whilst developing crucial transferable skills such as teamwork, communication and creativity.
During day one of the programme, we received an introduction to Stockport 8 from Caleb Jones (Planit-IE) and James Spencer (ShedKM) who are on the project team. This presentation provided a crucial context for the young people and informed our later site visit. The group then walked to the Stockport 8 site where we saw the magnificent viaducts that characterise the area. Here, the young people completed a site analysis checklist, noting weakness, opportunities and threats, as well as general thoughts and opinions. Upon returning to the college, we then thought about who the key stakeholders are in the area and how the redevelopment of the Stockport 8 site could meet the needs and interests of those who live, work and visit, improving their quality of life.
Day two was a productive day of planning and strategy. In their groups, the young people chose a design brief and precedent images that could inspire their designs. They then began assigning themes to their sites, strategising 3 key aims for their proposal, and reflecting on how their proposals could meet the needs and interests of local stakeholders and members of the community. Lastly, they pulled all this important provisional work together into plans and drawings of their proposals.
On the third and final day of the programme, the young people created impressive models of their proposals and designs. In the afternoon, each group presented their proposals to their peers and members of the Stockport 8 project team, Sam Mathieson (TACE) and Darren Jones (ShedKM). The proposals presented were incredibly creative and considered; they brought together all the provisional work and ideas that had been done over the past three days and demonstrated a critical awareness of the site’s opportunities in terms of use, design and, crucially, social value. One group in fact produced a 3D visualisation of their proposal and gave us a professional presentation of their ideas just as a real-life professional architect or urban designer would. At the end of the programme, the group created a ‘community charter’ that summarised their top three asks to the client in terms of the Stockport 8 providing social value initiatives that meet the needs of local young people.
We were enormously impressed by the talent, intelligence and creativity that was shown by all the young people involved as well as the fantastic teamwork and behaviour. A big thank you to all the young people who got involved, spending their half-term with us at Stockport College.
We thank those who volunteered their time from the project team and Stockport College for being such a welcoming and supportive host; Caleb Jones (Planit), James Spender (shedkm), Nasar Ishfaq (Project Four), Tom Reade (Hilson Moran), Evelyn Kwanhui Ho (Planit), Jonathan Masters (Walker Sime), Darren Jones (shedkm) and Sam Mathieson (TACE).
