Scottish Centre for Regeneration
Recent Learning Events: Improving Practice

Information and presentations from all events in the Scottish Centre for Regeneration: Improving Practice events series will be made available here shortly after the event has been held.

How do we develop community assets?

How do we change the way people think and feel about places?

How can mainstream NHS services contribute to regeneration?

How can we get better employer engagement to improve employability?

How can we measure what really matters?

How can successful placemaking help community regeneration?

How can we create successful mixed communities?

Linking neighbourhood and local strategic planning for regeneration

Events held in 2005 - 06?

Tuesday 3 October 2006

How do we develop community assets?

Tannahill Centre, Paisley

By developing an asset base an organisation can create an independent stream of income that is not reliant upon short term funding from regeneration programmes, company sponsorship or charitable funding. This masterclass will explore how you go about this.

Lorraine Hart is Research & Development Officer with The Environment Trust, an independent charitable company limited by guarantee established in 1979 to promote environmental improvement and educational projects. The Environment Trust has particular expertise in creating asset bases that help empower local communities and create common wealth. Lorraine joined the Trust in 1984 as a town planner. She is responsible for managing some of the Trust’s teams of staff and for consultancy projects. She has authored the definitive guides to developing community owned assets, Asset Transfer – A Can-Do Guide and To Have and to Hold.

A Scottish Centre for Regeneration masterclass.

Download the programme

Download Lorraine's presentation (3 MB)

Thursday 9 November 2006

How can mainstream NHS services contribute to regeneration?

The Hub, Edinburgh

With unprecedented levels of investment in the health service in Scotland, and growing awareness and understanding of the links between public health and community regeneration, this event explored how mainstream health services can contribute most effectively to regeneration efforts.

The event also allowed time for consideration and discussion of four practice examples.

A Scottish Centre for Regeneration practice event.

Download the programme

Download Paul McColgan's presentation

Download Mark McAllister's presentation

Download Doreen Trainor's presentation

Monday 4 December

How can we get better employer engagement to improve employability?

Apex City Quay, Dundee

Workforce Plus, Scotland’s Employability Framework, was published in June, and challenges all community regeneration partners to work together to maximise prospects for employment and employability. Drawing on practice, this event will focus on one of the six themes identified by the framework – employer engagement.

A Scottish Centre for Regeneration practice event.

Download the programme.

Download Don Toonen's presentation

Download Sandra Inrig's presentation

Download Taisa Ranchber's presentation

Friday 26 January 2007

How can we measure what really matters?

platform@ The Bridge, Easterhouse

Understanding the real impact our work has on the quality of people’s lives will help us improve the way we work in community regeneration. For this to happen we need to develop ways to measure the changes which result from our work - that is, the outcomes of our work! But measuring what matters is notoriously difficult to do. It is often easier to count activities rather than account for and quantify the changes to people’s lives and the places they live.

This practice event was led by Steven Marwick, Director of Evaluation Support Scotland.

Morning workshops highlighted case studies where focusing on outcomes has made significant differences, including Lloyds TSB Foundation’s Partnership Drugs Initiative, the Performance Information Project for community learning and development, and the Voluntary Action Fund on how small investments can make a big impact. Afternoon workshops explored some of the tools available to help measure impact, including social return on investment, LEAP, social auditing and volunteer impact.

Download the programme

Download Steven Marwick's presentation

Download Andrew Noble's presentation

Download Eleanor Logan's presentation

Download Helen Chambers's presentation

Download Sean Stronach's presentation

Download Sheila Durie's presentation

Download Deryck Irving's presentation

Download Susan Wilson's presentation

Download Lorna Edward's presentation

Glasgow, Thursday 1 March 2007

How can successful placemaking help community regeneration?

Scottish Youth Theatre, Merchant City

“Placemaking is not about creating a particular architectural style; it’s about creating well designed functional homes and neighbourhoods that feel like somewhere.” CABE 2005.

There is a growing emphasis on placemaking which is underpinned by a policy commitment to quality urban design, sustainable outcomes and engaging communities. This masterclass looked at the importance of placemaking to regeneration. It examined the links between urban design and the social, environmental and economic aspects of place.

The masterclass was led by John Thompson, one of Europe’s leading urban designers and “placemakers”. John is chairman of John Thompson & Partners and an architect with extensive experience of urban regeneration and residential development in both the public and private sectors.

John has undertaken masterplanning and urban design projects in towns and cities across Europe, and is currently working on an urban renewal projects in Istanbul and Moscow. He is Chair of the Academy of Urbanism, Vice-Chair of the RIBA Urbanism and Planning Group and a founder member of the Urban Villages Forum.

The masterclass was complemented by workshops exploring techniques which engage communities in placemaking, placemaking for the knowledge economy, specific approaches to placemaking such as ‘Smart Growth and Collaboration for Success’, and Greenspace Scotland approach to placemaking is to revitalise public spaces.

A Scottish Centre for Regeneration masterclass

Download the programme

Download John Thompson's presentation (12MB)

Download Rob Cowan's presentation (6MB)

Download John Lord's presentation (1.5 MB)

Download Deryck Irving's presentation (2 MB)

Download Peter Aviston's presentation (1.5 MB)

Edinburgh, Tuesday 27 March 2007

How can we ensure successful mixed communities?

The Hub, Castlehill

The Scottish Executive’s Regeneration Statement, People and Place, outlined its commitment to creating mixed communities. Mixed communities are areas where there is a mix of incomes and sufficient range, diversity, affordability and accessibility of housing within a balanced housing market. Evidence demonstrates that these communities are more likely to be sustainable in the longer term.

This event looked at how we can create mixed communities in Scotland.

It outlined some of the key principles which need to be put in place to develop, implement and manage mixed communities over the longer term.

The event was led by Nick Bailey, Professor of Urban Regeneration at the University of Westminster, and also offered case study examples of successful mixed communities.

This event was organised in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Download the programme

Download Alan Ferguson's presentation

Download the University of Westminster presentations

Download the Craigmillar Case Study presentation

Download the Ardler Case Study presentation

Perth, Tuesday 26 June 2007

Linking neighbourhood and local strategic planning for regeneration

Dewar's Centre

This event featured case studies from West Lothian, City of Edinburgh, South Lanarkshire and Aberdeen City on how community planning can work more effectively.

This one-day practice event showcased how four local community planning partnerships are addressing these issues and offer an opportunity to look at how we can share and learn from good practice.

Download the programme

Download Alan Bell's presentation

Download Alan Howie's presentation

Download Kath Beveridge's presentation

Download Jim Hayton's presentation

Download the Community Planning Network paper on Understanding Community relationships

Events held in 2005 - 6?

Information, programmes and presentations from the SCR events series of 2005 - 06 are still available at www.zealey.com/SCR.

About the Scottish Centre for Regeneration

The Scottish Centre for Regeneration is part of Communities Scotland, the Scottish Executive’s housing and regeneration agency.We work to help improve the effectiveness of people and organisations trying to achieve the Scottish Executive’s Closing the Opportunity Gap objectives including a specific target to:

“promote community regeneration of the most deprived neighbourhoods, through improvements by 2008 in employability, education, health, access to local services and quality of the local environment.”

We help support those involved in community regeneration to improve their effectiveness by identifying:

• what works and what doesn’t work and learn from this
• new approaches to community regeneration and how to implement them
• the skills needed and how to develop them.

We do this by putting in place programmes that support improvements in partnership working, mainstream services, develop the skills of people involved, and improve links between health, employment, educational and sustainable development programmes.

For more information:

www.scr.communitiesscotland.gov.uk

About the events

All events are free of charge but places are limited per organisation. Please note that if you book for an event and do not attend without cancelling your place 24 hours in advance, you will be given lower priority for all future events. Many of our events are over-subscribed and we need to be sure that as many people are able to benefit from them.

All venues are fully accessible for wheelchair users and we can make provision for people with other needs if you let us know in advance. Support towards care costs for those with children or other caring responsibilities may also be available. Please let us know if you require materials in another format or another language. We will try to meet requests for religious requirements if you tell us in advance.

Community representatives and members of the Community Voices network may be able to receive support towards travel and subsistence costs from their local partnership. If not, please contact us to see if we can help.

We will publish a Learning Point with key lessons from each event on our website at:

www.scr.communitiesscotland.gov.uk

Who should attend?

All partners interested in community regeneration policy and practice including:

• Scottish Executive
• Local authority departments
• NHS boards and the wider health sector
• Community planning partnerships
• Social economy organisations
• Registered social landlords
• Community and voluntary organisations
• Members of the Community Voices network and community representatives