Community Engagement, Talks and Tours
Community Projects
Are you working on a project concerning the built environment?
Do you want to engage or collaborate with local communities?
Are you passionate about empowering people and giving them a voice?
I work with groups / societies, charities, and public and private sector organisations to facilitate community engagement and collaboration.
Programmes are tailored to your needs, whether that is for educational value or linked to a specific development where community engagement and consultation are statutory requirements. I work across all project types including:
- Historical or community interest projects
- Understanding stakeholder values and priorities
- Community-led design / regeneration
- Heritage-led design / regeneration
- Participatory design / Co-design
- Programme design
- Implementation (i.e. facilitating workshops and data collection)
- Data analysis
- Interpretation
- Reporting / presentation
“This project was the very best thing that happened to me during the Lockdown. Something completely different to my usual life. Thank you for the opportunity.”
“Such a great project to take part in. The outcome looks amazing…”
“Since the project I have looked at that area in a completely different light and have really enjoyed walking the streets with the old maps and comparing then to now.”
Rediscovering the lost streets of Victorian Burmantofts and Sheepscar – in partnership with Leeds Libraries and Leeds Museums and Galleries
This project involved working with Leeds residents to enhance the online photographic archive Leodis. Using historic resources we mapped the location of the demolished Victorian streets and provided social history case studies to complement the collection.
A series of talks and interactive online workshops were scheduled over a 4 month period, and the findings are available online. The exhibition toured Leeds Museums and Leeds Libraries for more than two years.
See the blogs about the project at Secret Library Leeds and read more about my social history research services here.
Back-to-back houses and their communities in 21st century Leeds
This project engages both former and current residents of Harehills to create a shared understanding of the houses, neighbourhood and communities. Celebrating the architecture, the neighbourhood’s social history and its present life gives residents the opportunity to consider their aspirations for the place as we move through the 21st century. Could action now ensure these are delivered?
Engagement methods include questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and participatory design workshops.
Talks and Tours
I give talks to community groups, and to corporate / institutional organisations. Whether you are a local group / society or a library looking for an engaging talk for a general audience, an educational establishment wishing to introduce your students to architecture, local history or heritage, or a practice of built environment professionals seeking new themes for CPD, I can provide a ready-made or tailored talk to meet your needs.
I also lead walking tours for groups of up to 15 people.
Talks
- The history of back-to-back houses in Leeds
- Back-to-back houses in Harehills, Leeds
- A social history of Harehills, Leeds
- The lost streets of Victorian Burmantofts and Sheepscar, Leeds
- Chantry Chapel, Wakefield
- Wakefield Cathedral
- Clarke Hall, Wakefield
- Pathfinder and the Welsh Streets, Liverpool
- Historic building conservation – philosophy
- Historic building conservation – policy
- Historic building conservation – retrofit for energy efficiency
Tours
- Walking tour of the back-to-back houses in Harehills, Leeds