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sustainable voice
a newsletter of the Sustainable Communities Excellence Network
Issue 11 April 2009
This bi-monthlynewsletter isdesigned toregularly updatethe SustainableCommunitiesExcellenceNetwork andstakeholders withcurrent events andnews of noteSubmissions of articles and/or photos or imageswith captions andphoto credit aredue to the NetworkDevelopmentOfficer by 15
th
 April for the May2009 issue.Submissions by e-mail only to:info@scen.org.uk
A large printversion of thisnewsletter isavailableupon request.
North East England isadding to its strongportfolio of activities tostrengthen place makingstandards with thecreation of a RegionalDesign Review andEnabling Service.The new service – whichwill be managed byIGNITE, the RegionalCentre of Excellence for Sustainable Communities – has just made keyappointments to lead thenew service which will golive in May.
Integreat Yorkshire latest RCE tosupport National Empowerment
IGNITE appoints key leads for newRegional Design Review service
Integreat Yorkshire is thelatest RCE to support TheNational EmpowermentPartnership in its region.Two RCEs – CreatingExcellence in the SouthWest and Inspire East inthe East of England – arealready the regional leadsfor empowermentpartnerships in the region.Now Integreat Yorkshire isassisting the Communities& Organisations Growthand Support (COGS)organisation, the regionallead in Yorkshire andHumber, to deliver alearning programme aboutbuilding sustainablecommunities.Commissioned by theHomes and CommunitiesAcademy, the programmeaims to raise awarenessand share practice inrelation to sustainablecommunities and willfocus on the role of community developmentworkers and their relationship to othersworking at communitylevel.The programme in theYorkshire and Humber Region took place inWakefield on 30 and 31March, 27 and willcontinue on 28 April 2009.Participants are expectedto carry out a short pieceof research to analysedevelopment in their ownor another community inbetween these blocks.Further information can befound by visitinghttp://www.cogs.uk.net.Funded by Communitiesand Local Government(CLG), The NationalPartnershipEmpowerment (NEP) is anational partnership set upto improve the quality, co-ordination and evidence of empowerment acrossEngland.ARUPs will provide theservice secretariat andJohn Devlin, formerlydirector of developmentand environment atGateshead Council, willchair the new service.John will head a designreview panel of 28experts.One North East – whichfunds IGNITE – will bemaking it a condition thatall appropriatedevelopment schemesseeking funding from theAgency will be required tohave passed through thedesign review process.For further information onthe Regional DesignReview and EnablingService, please contactKirsteen Thomson, leadon IGNITE andSustainable DevelopmentManager at One NorthEast, on Tel: 0191 2296424 or email:kirsteen.thomson@onenor theast.co.uk 
 
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RegenWM facilitated thefirst West Midlands DesignFair in Birmingham on25th February, an eventwhich showcased the bestin design and builtenvironment services andpartnerships.The Fair promoted designquality in the region.RegenWM, part of DEWM(Designed EnvironmentWest Midlands – apartnership of designorganisations in the WestMidlands) hosted a widemix of organisations fromacross the sector andcreated an upbeat andvibrant space for informalnetworking.The event was a greatsuccess – 33organisations exhibitedand over 200 peopleattended. Exhibitors
RegenWM succeeds with West Midlands’first Design Fair
included TransformingTelford, Play England,Sustrans, HCA, RIBA andvarious architectspractices, SanctuaryGroup, West MidlandsArchitecture Centres –MADE and UVNS,Birmingham City Council,Trigram Properties andBirmingham CityUniversity School of Architecture.The space was animatedwith a montage of regionalimages, supplied byexhibitors, a film of theBirmingham cityscape -routes and landscapes,static displays fromMatthew Boulton Collegeand Birmingham CityUniversity, jugglers andentertainers and anetworking café.The current operatingenvironment has notstopped calls for designquality to remain on theregional agenda andproduct quality and marketdifferentiation have thepotential to mark outactivity in an otherwisedifficult market. TheDesign Fair enabledorganisations andindividuals to makeconnections with others inthe field, to benchmarkagainst others, to stayinformed and to dobusiness.There has been a steadystream of positivefeedback following theevent. DEWM partners arenow considering staginganother Design Fair inSpring 2010. For moreinformation and to viewour online gallery from theFair, visit the RegenWMwebsite at:http://www.regenwm.org.Creating Excellence isnow acting as partner toCABE (the Commissionfor Architecture and theBuilt Environment) in theSouth West to promoteand deliver specifictraining on the adoptionand use of the Building for Life standard.From 2009 localauthorities must includeBuilding for Lifeassessments as part of their Annual MonitoringReport. Growth Pointsshould identify howBuilding for Life will beincorporated into their 
Creating Excellence offers Building for LifeAccredited Assessor Training
growth plans. Fullinformation regarding theBuilding for Life standardcan be found athttp://www.buildingforlife.org.Creating Excellence ismaking provision to trainofficers who might act asaccredited assessors onbehalf of local authorities.Working closely withCABE, they have alreadyheld two successfultraining workshops for prospective Building for Life assessors in Februaryin Bristol and Plymouth.They are now looking toarrange further courses inMay 2009. For further information on theseworkshops please contactAmanda.hamley@creatingexcellence.org.uk.Please note that due tothe degree of professionalexpertise required inundertaking a Building for Life assessmentcandidate assessorsshould have a previousqualification inArchitecture, UrbanDesign, LandscapeDesign, Planning or similar.
RegenWM facilitated thefirst West Midlands DesignFair, which took place inBirmingham on25 
th
February. The event brought together 33organisations to makeconnections with others inthe field, to benchmark against others, to stay informed and to dobusiness.Creating Excellence waslaunched in 2004. It is anindependent company limited by guarantee and governed by its own Board. Its mission it to build the skills and knowledge of people working for sustainable communitiesby providing improved learning opportunities for everyone through networking,events, website and  publications.
 
Homes and Communities Academy update
 
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Hosted by RegenerationEast Midlands, theEnterprising People,Enterprising Places (Ep2)website is now up andrunning. Ep2 is a newskills programme for people that work or live indisadvantaged areas inthe East Midlands andwho are committed toregeneration. The Ep2
Regeneration East Midlands project Ep2website goes live
Debate Place
HCA Academy’s onlineDebate Place has beenset up to enable cross-sector practitioners toshare their views on keyareas impacting their work. The first debate ranin February and generatedover 3000 hits and ahealthy debate ondelivering low carboncommunities. Strongthemes emerged rangingfrom policy implications,the importance of changing behaviour, toquestioning costs andcalling for communitybased solutions. Click onthe link for the full debate:http://tiny.cc/yIlkI Key messages from thedebate included:1. We need to thinkcarefully about theimplications of locating newdevelopments awayfrom existinginfrastructure. Therewas a strongconsensus that weshould instead focuson improving andincreasing densitiesin existing towns andcities.2. Subsidies should beincreased and madeavailable to enablehome-owners tomake their existinghomes more energyefficient, and for home-owners anddevelopers to installthe most costeffective andappropriate micro-renewables.3. More focus andresource needs to beput into communityengagement andeffective long-termmanagement of newplaces to enablethriving communities.4. European models for housing, such as co-housing, should beconsidered as a partof UK deliverymodels.5. There should bemore public andprofessionalawareness of theimportance of greatdesign and placemaking.The full report is availableon linehttp://www.hcaacademy.co.uk/node/490 
Coming Soon
For 3 weeks in April, theHCA Academy will hostthe second in the series of on line debates with thetitle ‘In the midst of arecession how can wedevelop cohesivecommunities?’. View aseries of films of practitioners in the field,down load reports andview case studies onshow case here:http://showcase.hcaacademy.co.uk 
From the HCA website, a proposed street scene at the second CarbonChallenge site inPeterborough. Copyright Browne Smith Baker, MorrisHomes Ltd and GentooHomes, 2008 
Future Communities
The Young Foundation,sponsored by HCA, IDeAand CIH, has developed anew website aimed ateveryone involved indeveloping the successfulsustainable communitiesof the future.
futurecommunities.net
 focuses on communityparticipation and placemanagement. It exploreshow developments canbecome socially,economically andenvironmentallysustainable, building inresident involvement andengagement from thestart.
The East Midlands’UrbanPartnership Group (UPG)is holding an Addressing City Flight event inLeicester on 19
th
May as part of the wider UPGinitiative facilitated by Regeneration East Midlands. UPGCoordinator SusanHallsworth is offering alimited number of free places to RCE staff – e-mails of interest tosusan@regenerationem.c o.uk . Confirmed speakersinclude Richard Simmonsfrom CABE and themesinclude quality of housing,local services and amenities and raising the profile of urban living.http://www.urbanpartnershipgroup.org.uk/  
programme is managedby Regeneration EastMidlands and fundedthrough the East MidlandsDevelopment Agency.The website –www.ep2online.org–highlights the Ep2programme, outlines thepolicy behind it and offersa downloadable Ep2library, among other tools.Ep2 is unique because itis about releasing thecapacity withincommunities to carry outregeneration for themselves. Theprogramme consists of aseries of innovative toolsand techniques for regeneration practitioners.
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