Friary Estate, Southwark, London

Residents on a large housing estate in North Peckham used Spaceshaper to decide how to allocate £60,000 of Cleaner Greener Safer Communities funding.

Unwin and Friary Estate is a large housing estate in North Peckham. It combines mixed tenure apartment blocks with terraced houses. In July 2007, residents joined representatives from Southwark Council and Peckham Area Housing Office at a Spaceshaper workshop. The aim of the workshop was to decide how to allocate £60,000 of Cleaner Greener Safer Communities funding that had been awarded to the tenants’ and residents’ association for environmental improvements.

What was the aim of the workshop?

Julia Edwards of Southwark Council said: “Engaging with the diverse community groups on a large estate like Friary can be quite difficult. We were keen to find a new approach of inviting people to get involved on an individual basis and the Spaceshaper tool gave us a good opportunity to do this. It was also an effective way of bringing residents together with council officers and other local stakeholders such as the police and business owners.”

The workshop participants went on a walkabout around the estate, paying particular attention to ‘hotspots’ where there was potential conflict between different user groups and uses. Each participant had a map where they could mark ‘hangouts’ – places were people simply spend time or relax – as well as places that would benefit from improvements or extra facilities.

What were the results?

The Spaceshaper analysis showed that access to the estate is good, but navigation around it can be difficult. Residents felt that the design and appearance of the estate was very poor and that there would need to be a lot of improvements before they could feel a sense of community pride.

The group developed a list of actions, ranging from improving the community gardens to educating people about littering. The participants identified personal safety as the most pressing issue for the estate and decided that the grant funding would be spent on improving personal safety and lighting and tackling drug issues.

What happened next?

Following the workshop, the housing team were able to take prompt action on a number of pressing safety issues. The findings and recommendations from the workshop were passed on to the landscape designers developing plans for the estate and many of the residents stayed involved in the consultation process.