Consultation Event 1

Our first consultation event was held on 23rd May, following a period of promotion. We fliered 450 homes across the estate with details of the event, including leaving posters across the local area, laminated posters to key corners, fences and in flat stair noticeboards, in the local shop and in the neighbouring nursery.

On the day of the first engagement event, we set up a gazebo on the community centre entrance drive way to enable us to maximise coverage of passers-by.

We set up our engagement stand inside the centre along with a comments box and feedback cards for people to complete. 

We had a bouncy castle to keep our younger visitors busy, and inside has a series of activities for people to participate in - there was a planting workshop, colouring sheets, activity exercise and refreshments.

Overall we met with around 110 households - mostly from within the estate area, but some from further afield as they walked past the centre. The maximum access time to residents was around the time of school pickup - both on the way to collect children, and on the way back where most families stopped to use the bouncy castle or do activities and talk to us. 

The comments received were overwhelmingly positive about the refurbishment project, with lots of helpful suggestions about new uses, or how the centre could be improved.

Consultation Event 2

Our second consultation event was held on 11th August, following a period of promotion. We fliered 500 homes across the estate with details of the event, including leaving posters across the local area, laminated posters to key corners, fences and in flat stair noticeboards, in the local shop and in the neighbouring nursery.

On the day of the first engagement event, we set up a gazebo on the community centre entrance drive way to enable us to maximise coverage of passers-by.

We set up our engagement stand inside the centre as well as consultation boards. We also set up a table for a Magnetic Masterplanning activity,  along with a comments box and feedback cards for people to complete. 

We hired an ice-cream van and offered 100 free ice-creams in exchange for feedback. There were also activities arranged by Aston Group to keep our younger visitors busy; there was a planting workshop, crafts table and refreshments.

Consultation Event 3: Residents Design Group

Our third event was a smaller co-design exercise involving a group of 11 residents. We reached out to range of individuals who had showed particular interest in the refurbishment project to form a Resident’s Design Group representing the community who use the centre. We contacted individuals from a range backgrounds and by working with the centre staff, we were able to communicate with the group about suitable dates for the event to maximise attendance. 

The  Resident Design Group event was held on Tuesday 18th October. The session involved updating residents on the project so far, feeding back on the main findings of the consultation process and then sharing with residents our key recommendations for the centre based on this information. The session was an opportunity to ask the group how they felt about the suggestions and weather they had any further thoughts or ideas to put forward.

The session also involved workshop activities with the group. The first activity involved a co-design process, asking the group to think about the layout of the centre and how this could be modified to accommodate the new spaces and uses which have been requested by the community at large.

The second workshop activity involved individuals in the group creating mood boards of their desired  look and feel of the centre, using a range of existing examples of furniture, floor finishes, fittings and spaces. 

Both activities have helped to steer the design process of the centre refurbishment itself, with the aim of allowing the residents to take ownership in the decision making and enabling them to be a core part of the design process from the very beginning.