As part of our Rochdale Partnership Academy, PLACED conducted eight youth workshops: seven in schools, one at a youth club, and we also attended a careers event. These sessions were aimed at understanding what young people across Rochdale want from the town’s ambitious regeneration scheme.
Between October 2025 and February 2026, we engaged with 232 young people to reimagine the town centres of Rochdale, Middleton, and Heywood. The participants worked in groups to discuss where they currently spend their time and why, while also exploring the needs of young people and other communities to ensure a good quality of life in their local town centres. The groups conducted thorough site analyses and developed both 2D and 3D designs for new public spaces that they would enjoy using. They then presented their ideas to their classmates through presentations.
We are excited to begin the Rochdale Partnership Academy’s February half-term programme tomorrow and to share the young people’s visions for the town’s future.
Massive thank you to all the wonderful schools we’ve worked with over the last five months. St Anne’s Academy, St Cuthbert’s RC High School, Kingsway Park High School, Edgar Wood Academy, Cardinal Langley RC High School, Hopwood Hall College, Rochdale Sixth Form College and The Yard Youth Club Darnhill. Along with all the fantastic teachers, TA’s and supporting staff!
PLACED Partnership Academy with M&Y Maintenance and Construction and The Regenda Group Programme Overview.
We ran our final workshops for our PLACED Partnership Academy during the May half-term with the Regenda Group, M&Y Maintenance and Construction and The Learning Foundry. The programme brought together young people aged 14-18 from Wirral and Liverpool to explore the differences and similarities between the areas they live in (New Ferry and Grove Street), thinking about the communities and their needs and wants, whilst also exploring the different careers available in construction and built environment industries. The groups worked on two live sites and their input will be used as part of the design process, as requested by Regenda and M&Y.
The first programme was split into Liverpool and Wirral applicants to focus on the developments happening in each area. In Liverpool, the young people focused on the development of Grove Street, whereas in Wirral they focused on New Ferry. Both sessions started with presentations from Regenda, M&Y, shedkm and John McCall Architects about why the project is happening, the key aims, the design considerations and why it’s important to involve young people. We took participants on-site to conduct a site analysis to better understand the current challenges and the opportunities of the new schemes and their ability to provide future residents with a better quality of life. Once back at the venue, they were tasked with creating scaled 3D models of each development and surrounding context at 1:500. Working collaboratively, they had to decide their approach, what materials would be used, who made which buildings and how to differentiate the new scheme from the existing buildings amongst other considerations. Both cohorts even managed to fit in CRITs at the end of their sessions, reflecting on the process, what worked well, what they would change next time etc…
The April programme was focused on creating a new island on the River Mersey, choosing from a range of themes to focus on. Each group selected a different theme and was tasked with outlining their core values and considering their target audience and how they could offer a diverse range of activities, events and opportunities. They created an incredible amount of material from naming and branding their island with posters to master planning and modelling key buildings that exemplified their island’s best features. Each island was packed with creative and engaging ways to enrich the lives of those who visit, from access to free and inclusive learning to multi-generational gardening spaces. As well as the need for more diverse representation within our cultural spaces and the need for greater access to sports activities and facilities. The presentations were delivered to a very high standard with considered ideas and attention to detail throughout. Afterwards, the young people jotted down supportive feedback on post-it notes about the island and ideas they liked most which ended the programme in a lovely, positive and supportive way.
The May programme was designed to bring together all the skills and knowledge the young people had gained over the last several months and focus them on Regenda’s new housing schemes. Across the three-day programme, the young people were given specific sites across both schemes that they designed. First, both groups had to design a pocket park, next the New Ferry group designed a pop-up market and the Grove Street group created a community space. The final brief saw both groups create community-focused businesses. They also had to demonstrate clubs, activities, workshops or social value initiatives supporting each space throughout their schemes.
They finished the Partnership programme by presenting their visions for each site to a prestigious panel of professionals across Regenda, M&Y, John McCall Architects and Shedkm who provided thoughtful and encouraging feedback on each proposal. The range of ideas, designs and initiatives the young people presented was inspiring. They created an array of diverse, multi-generational, biodiverse and community-driven designs that utilised their lived and learned experiences. So many young people have grown in so many ways in such a short space of time and they should be incredibly proud of themselves and all they’ve accomplished within this programme. The young people’s families were also invited to see everything they achieved. We brought the final day to a close with a certificate of achievement for each young person.
Across the Partnership programme, we had 24 industry professionals from Regenda, M&Y, shedkm and John McCall Architects who all attended and offered their expertise, support and guidance to the young people. Thank you to Lesley Penton, Steph Harrison, Katie Davies, Lauren Huggon and John Janew (Regenda), Gill Kelly, Chris Mellor, Alastair Mail, Chris Roderick, Michael Court, David Cottrell, Louise Earl and Alex Williams (M&Y), Jo Reynolds (The Learning Foundry). Ian Killick, Claire Yates, Joanne Edmunds, Pippa Frazer and Martyn Jones (shedkm), as well as Ben Green and Lewis Joinson (JMA). Site visits were supported by Sean Swarbrick from Planit-IE, Lynn Haime (Baltic Creative), Elaine Cresswell (reshaped Landscape Architecture) and Sebastian Linares from Farm Urban.
Thank you to Port Sunlight Village Trust and The Learning Foundry for hosting us throughout the programme.
We ran our final workshops for our PLACED Partnership Academy during the May half-term with the Regenda Group, M&Y Maintenance and Construction and The Learning Foundry. The programme brings together young people aged 14-18 from Wirral and Liverpool to explore the differences and similarities between the areas they live in (New Ferry and Grove Street), thinking about the communities and their needs and wants, whilst also exploring the different careers available in construction and built environment industries. The groups are working on 2 live sites and their input will be used as part of the design process, as requested by Regenda and M&Y.
These final sessions were designed to bring together all the skills and knowledge the young people had gained over the last several months and focus them on Regenda’s new housing schemes. We organised a final best practice site visit, comprised of two community-centred businesses and a biodiversity initiative. We wanted to expose and inspire the young people by showcasing passionate and forward-thinking businesses and initiatives that work to build up their communities ahead of their final brief. We were given a talk by Lynn Haime, Chief Executive Officer from Baltic Creative who shared BC’s journey and how it’s become a leading example of regeneration across Europe. Elaine Cresswell, Landscape Architect from reShaped Landscape Architecture showcased one of the many biodiverse green spaces planted and maintained by local volunteers outlining the long list of benefits these types of initiatives have on people and cities. We finished the day at Farm Urban, where Sebastian Linares, a Farm Technician gave us a talk and tour of their vertical farms, sharing their hydroponic and aeroponic techniques and how they’re currently providing food banks with fresh produce.
Across the three-day programme, the young people were given specific sites across both schemes that they designed. First, both groups had to design a pocket park, next the New Ferry group designed a pop-up market and the Grove Street group created a community space. The final brief saw both groups create community-focused businesses. They also had to demonstrate clubs, activities, workshops or social value initiatives supporting each space throughout their schemes.
They finished the Partnership programme by presenting their visions for each site to a prestigious panel of professionals across Regenda, M&Y, John McCall Architects and Shedkm who provided thoughtful and encouraging feedback on each proposal. The range of ideas, designs and initiatives the young people presented was inspiring. They created an array of diverse, multi-generational, biodiverse and community-driven designs that utilised their lived and learned experiences. So many young people have grown in so many ways in such a short space of time and they should be incredibly proud of themselves and all they’ve accomplished within this programme. The young people’s families were also invited to see everything they achieved. We brought the final day to a close with a certificate of achievement for each young person.
Across the programme, we had 24 industry professionals from Regenda, M&Y, shedkm and John McCall Architects who all attended and offered their expertise, support and guidance to the young people. Thank you to Lesley Penton, Steph Harrison, Katies Davies, Lauren Huggon and John Janew (Regenda), Gill Kelly, Chris Mellor, Alastair Mail, Chris Roderick, Michael Court, David Cottrell, Louise Earl and Alex Williams (M&Y), Jo Reynolds (The Learning Foundry), Ian Killick, Claire Yates, Joanne Edmunds, Pippa Frazer and Martyn Jones (shedkm), as well as Ben Green and Lewis Joinson (JMA). Site visits were supported by Sean Swarbrick from Planit-IE, Lynn Haime (Baltic Creative), Elaine Cresswell (reshaped Landscape Architecture) and Sebastian Linares from Farm Urban.
