Convent Way
Project
Community Engagement & Social Value
Client
Hounslow Council
Project Team
Bell Philipps Architects & Gillespies
Location
Hounslow, West London
We were commissioned by Hounslow Council to design and deliver a community engagement strategy and social value provision for Convent Way Estate, working in partnership with Bell Phillips Architects and landscapers Gillespies.
Working closely with the architectural design team and Hounslow’s regeneration team, we curated monthly co-design workshops and engagement events to gather insights and ideas in response to design proposals for a Phase 1 and Masterplan planning submission in line with RIBA design stages.
In order to engage as many residents as possible, we coupled social value outcomes to the community engagement events to create greater impact and more community cohesion, whilst engaging residents with the estates regeneration plans. This included creating paid roles for local residents to collaborate with us to design engagement programme.
DESIGNERS AND MAKERS WEEK
To reach those underrepresented groups who were not engaging in the regeneration plans, we designed a bespoke week-long Designers and Makers programme targeted at young residents living on the estate during the October half-term. The week saw us launch a design competition, inviting those 14-25 years of age to design a new community space and outside play space for their estate.
The young participants worked with our team and a number of local collaborators to take their design ideas from concept through to development. The young people worked closely with the architecture and design teams to build models of their designs and to share their insights into what they wanted to see from any planned community space.
We commissioned local photographer Kirin Sall to document what young people liked and disliked across the estate, with young people capturing their own photographic images through their lense. We collaborated with local actor training company Tale To Be Told, using the principles of acting to build the young peoples skills in order to confidently pitch their design ideas to a panel at the end of the week.
Working closer with the landscape team, we also explored what green spaces could and should look like on Convent Way, exploring materiality, sustainability and green infrastructure with the young participants
As part of the Masterplan Exhibition for Convent Way Estate in February 2022, we designed and delivered a weeklong Green Festival, bringing Hounslow’s new green recovery agenda to life whilst exploring the new design proposals of Bell Philipps Architects and Landscapers Gillespie’s and sharing how the insights gathered through the co-design workshops had informed the design proposals.
Green Festival
Exhibition Week
-
Focused on Green Transport and saw us collaborate with Sustrans who ran free cycling workshops for children and adults to learn to ride. We had Dr Bike on hand to fix residents bikes, so they could get back to cycling safely. We shared the architectural plans for a new cycle high way and green loop for the estate.
We ran two walking challenges, with a series of checkpoints for residents to engage in conversations with our Community Champions regarding the various design proposals for that estate, with children collecting stamps at each checkpoint which they could then redeem for prizes and books about bees, green energy, and sustainability, all whilst engaging in healthy exercise. We delivered a series of design activities for children whilst exploring the architectural model and plans for the estate.
-
Saw a collaboration with ZCD Architects who designed a Play Street and Forestry School takeover. The young residents explored nature and the surrounding green spaces through play and exploration, reclaiming the streets from cars, whilst gaining feedback on the plans for a series of pocket parks.
-
Explored Creative Connections with local residents engaged in recipe sharing and cookery class activities, learning about vegetarian and vegan dishes from difficult cultures. Conversations emerged regarding different communities and cultures having been sustainable for many centuries, growing and sourcing produce locally, learning and exchanging knowledge and ideas for how the new architectural plans and landscape plans could support more sustainable living.
We also ran up-cycling workshops throughout the day, with residents creating birdseed hangers and plant pots from plastic bottles, cardboard and food containers.
-
Explored Green Practice. We collaborated with Feltham Arts Group for a session on up-cycling, making and mending, led by artist Corinne, repurposing and reusing materials and clothes. We had an afternoon session led by the Recycling Team at Hounslow Council looking at what we should and shouldn't be recycling, whilst providing recycling bins for the home. We also hosted an informative talk about Passive House from expert Rick Wheal of Qoda Consulting, translated into Punjabi by Community Champion Jatinder. We rounded up the day with a design competition for young people.
During our time working with the residents of Convent Way, we employed a team of Community Champions. Over the coming months we will be running further capacity building sessions with the team, exploring exemplar community centre projects across London, as Bell Philips are drawing up plans for a new community centre for the estate as part of the regeneration scheme, and we are aiming to provide the residents with the networks, silks, and infrastructure needed to be able to run and programme their own centre. We will be visiting the Granville Centre In Brent, the Show Rooms on Kings Crescent Estate in Hackney, plus other exciting spaces, forming a knowledge share and exchange programme across the Capital.