Regeneration — 30 years of projects across South Yorkshire

Sheffield's Investment Zone: an opportunity to showcase the city’s “green” future?

The UK’s first Investment Zone has been declared spanning Sheffield city centre, the Lower Don Valley, Rotherham and beyond. The economic objectives are clear, but there is little mention of sustainability.

This feels like a major omission and a lost opportunity. The Investment Zone is home to many businesses that support a sustainable future. Sheffield has committed to net zero carbon by 2030 and is known for its pioneering work to create sustainable urban places. Why not build on this experience and know-how to create the UK’s “greenest” Investment Zone?

Imagine extending Grey to Green across Sheffield city centre and using the river, canal, railway, roads and development sites of the Lower Don Valley to showcase what an adaptive and resilient urban environment should be.

Libraries by design: the power of a well-designed library

We know that libraries are transformational. What interests me is the difference that good design can make to elevate the transformational impact of libraries. Here are three examples:

#1 A library building - the Learning Zone in Parson Cross, Sheffield

#2 A curated library - at South Yorkshire Housing Association’s Rockingham Street workspace

#3 A Human Library - an event co-produced with South Yorkshire Housing Association’s customers and employees

Asset based community development: what's changed in 20 years?

Neighbourhood Strategies in north Sheffield - how it started

In the first decade of the 21st century, a small experiment took place in north Sheffield: a group of us wanted to see if we could create a strategic and visionary masterplan for 6 neighbourhoods (50,000 population) starting not with facts and technical analysis, but with local people's stories and ideas.

Two things inspired this approach.

Moments of Joy: the value of participatory arts

At South Yorkshire Housing Association we want our customers’ experience with us to be a joy.

Since 2013 we have been exploring through a series of test projects how participatory arts can add value to our purpose: with us you can settle at home, live well and realise your potential. We call this programme Moments of Joy.

This year the programme has had fresh impetus as a direct result of the pandemic: as we locked down our extra care housing (homes for people aged 55 and over) we knew we had to do more to connect with people isolated in their homes.