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Design support for more than 40 community-led regeneration projects across the country, more than 900 participants on its design training courses, and 47 courses on offer. These are the numbers behind The Glass-House’s achievements, and its efforts to help communities contribute to the design of their neighbourhoods earned it the top position in this category.

Community engagement has become recognised as the cornerstone of successful regeneration. The Glass-House not only gives a voice, particularly to those who are most vulnerable, but also gives those people the skills and knowledge to improve their understanding of the proposals presented to them, demand better quality design solutions for their neighbourhoods and offer better informed community participation.

Recent Glass-House activities include: design training for a resident steering group in the regeneration of south Kilburn, London; training, design workshops and ongoing support for a youth project in Gamlingay, Bedfordshire, which will provide places where young people can spend time, skate and socialise; and design training, consultation, visits to playgrounds and continuing support in a project to refurbish a Lambeth park.

Runners up

Leicester Regeneration Company

The physical regeneration of central Leicester is in its hands and in five years, Leicester Regeneration Company has achieved much. It has established a masterplan aimed at broadening the local economy and stimulating new kinds of jobs, housing, and a better quality of life and environment. It has site work under way on four projects in its masterplan. The regeneration company has also invested in, brokered and supported 10 more projects in the city, worth an estimated £800m. In all, it has helped attract an estimated £3bn of investment into the city over the next five years. Leicester Regeneration Company is funded by Leicester council, East Midlands Development Agency and English Partnerships.

Pride in Camp Hill

Elvis Presley tribute evenings can have a part to play in regenerating communities. The fact that Camp Hill residents are organising such events shows their community is changing. The 7,000 strong former mining community in Nuneaton struggled with low employment, poor educational standards and a declining sense of belonging after the decline of the coal industry. The community regeneration agency is turning the area around by delivering social, service and physical change. Initiatives include: providing 172 new mixed tenure homes, training opportunities and establishing a residents’ forum. Now many improvements are being led by residents and the agency is working to provide Camp Hill with a village centre of 232 homes, 12,819ft2 of retail space and a community building.

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

The council is doing its bit to ensure that the borough’s River Mersey waterfront is improved to maximum community benefit. The local authority has obtained and invested more than £900,000 to facilitate waterside regeneration, obtaining land to create a new riverside park in Heaton Mersey. The authority has also played a key role in the £8.8m regeneration of Shawcross Fold including Staircase House – a group of listed buildings and vacant plots in the town centre – for affordable housing, a visitor attraction and other uses. The project is the most significant of its kind carried out in the town centre.