Communities must influence thoughtful regeneration

Large regeneration schemes are having a significant impact on the landscape and amenity across the region as developers endeavour to meet the housing shortfall. We can expect to see real impacts, positive and not so positive, on our communities. Thoughtful community driven approaches will be key to ensuring long term success of these schemes along with the delivery of basic infrastructure and the creation of a sense of place.

What form does real consultation and community engagement take? The usual public open meetings with grand plans and big ideas set out and an opportunity to ask questions in public is no longer sufficient to meet the criteria for real community consultation. Active involvement of local people, real consideration of their concerns and the establishment of a positive working relationship are the minimum requirements of the master-planner. Listening is the new watchword - driven by the lessons learned from the Grenfell tragedy and from the greater scrutiny, both formal and community driven, that will follow - a greater say in the shape of thoughtful regeneration schemes is both inevitable and to be welcomed.

In addition, the burgeoning and highly competitive build to rent (BtR) sector will change the way that future residents think about their homes. An expectation that on estate amenities will deliver wellbeing and convenience benefits attached to healthcare, fitness, transport, child care and community driven events and experiences all within the immediate locality. All of this to be potentially driven by proptech, with easy user interfaces that adapt to deliver what each local community needs, whether it is responsive repairs, parcel handling, key management, playgroups or a weekly food market or even a monthly outdoor music event.

This transformation must be both sustainable and beneficial.  It must deliver infrastructure that encourages a sense of ownership and delivers measurable benefits to wellbeing and it should encourage local enterprise. It might include restriction of vehicle access, the creation of cycle ways and footpaths and of public realm that brings the people outside and doesn’t seek to discourage children from playing and communities from meeting. It must consider working with local businesses to deliver employment through retail and leisure services and the formation of training and employment partnerships.

Public transport, access to services, high speed internet, health care and schooling seem like fundamentals but still get overlooked in the race to bring new stock to the market. But the growing influence of amenity rich build to rent, a cooling market and a wholesale shift to longer term interests and sustainable brand values, means that developers, regeneration specialists and planners, all see the value of creating communities that will stand the test of time.

That also means that the quality of ongoing estate management is paramount and, in conjunction with communities, helps to maintain both quality of the environment and asset values for the long term.

At Mainstay we have been working with master planners and home builders for nearly 20 years, providing post completion management packages for complex regeneration schemes.  Our holistic approach to estate management engages the community and seeks their involvement at every level and this sets us apart from the standard schemes of management. Our early involvement, pre and post planning, ensures the right amenities are supported by the right the right service levels which in turn sit within the right corporate structure - giving residents an effective degree of control and oversight of estate services for the longer term and creating better communities with real 'ownership' in their locality.