Transition by Design are appointed as the community engagement consultants for the new Blackbird Leys Community Centre. For the past 60 years, the existing centre has been a cornerstone of the Leys community—both Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys. Now, with the collaboration of Oxford City Council and Peabody, a comprehensive regeneration of Blackbird Leys is underway. It includes building over 200 affordable homes, retail spaces and finally a new community centre (at the existing community site) to breathe new life into the heart of the Leys with new community facilities. The masterplan had been approved, but the design work for the new community centre was just starting. With the outline planning application for the new centre, this means the City Council has agreed on the idea, but not all the details or the design. This is where the people of the Leys come in.
Over the course of 14 months (August 2023 – October 2024) we heard the thoughts from the people of the Leys to co-design and shape the new Blackbird Leys Community Centre ahead of its full planning application. Our engagement strategy had the following aims:
- To generate, collect and analyse the needs and views of the community
- To synthesise the information gathered and to integrate this with the RIBA construction work stages
- To inform the public of the project’s progress
- To activate the building
As the design is to meet Inclusive Design standards, from the outset Transition by Design has ensured that all engagement is as accessible as possible, reaching a wide range of people across the Leys from all demographics of age, gender and disability.
Our engagement strategy was driven by the following four key principles, as stated by the Oxford City Council Statement of Community Involvement (2021):
One way we did this, from the first step to the last, is by setting up a Leys Community Review Panel (LCRP). This group is made up of people who live in the area. We launched a recruitment process for the panel members in August 2023 to ensure that the final panel members were demographically representative of the Leys. The Community Review Panel acts as an independent, advisory role during the design process. They discussed issues such as the brief, materials and spatial design of the community centre. T/D facilitated each of the LCRP meetings and coordinating the panel (you can read about the first event here) and we will share more about the LCRP process in due course.
As well as the LCRP we engaged with a range of people in the Leys including:
- Stakeholder engagement: Including Blackbird Leys Parish Council, local organisations and previous tenants of the community centre
- User group engagement: Including grassroots organisations, community groups and partnerships
- Youth engagement: Partnering with key Oxford City Council partners
- Resident engagement: Engaging with residents across the Leys ward
- Community group engagement: Attending local community group events such as FriendLeys (seniors), Parent & child group and African Families in the UK Homework Club.
- Coordination between the design team, community engagement strategy and the client (Oxford City Council & Peabody as well as a range of professionals in the project team)
But it’s not just about the design; it’s about connecting with people. Our plan isn’t one-size-fits-all. We meet people at local events, make special one-off workshop events, and also use online forms and meetings. Together with the project team, we wanted to make sure they feel listened to and that their needs are being accounted for. We strongly believe in meeting people where they are at. We also spread the word and gave updates about the engagement in various ways including:
- Monthly newsletter updates
- Social media updates
- Press release content and publication
- Event flyer design and publication
Extensive engagement
In summary we held or attended over 40 events across a period of 12-14 months, with over 1,100 residents involved in the process.
Social Value
We endeavoured to ensure that community wealth building principles and social value were central to the engagement process.
Where are we now?
The project has now been submitted for planning in October 2024, and we hope to hear of the outcome in Spring 2025. There will be continued engagement after planning has been approved.
We have written a comprehensive Statement of Community Involvement document that summarises all of the community engagement. You can view it and download it below, and we will soon be featuring a 5-minute read version of it on our website.
We have also included RIBA Work Stage 2 & RIBA Work Stage 3 summary reports for engagement undertaken between August – December 2023 and January – October 2024 respectively. You can find the reports below.
The Design and Access Statement can also be accessed through this link.
You can read the following previous updates on our website:
- Launch of the Leys Community Review Panel recruitment process
- Update on events across November and December 2023 here.
- Update on events across January – March 2024
- Event updates from January & February 2024
With thanks to the community of the Leys, Oxford City Council communities team, Peabody, Oxford City Council and the design team, we’re excited to share that the Community Engagement for the Blackbird Leys Community Centre has been shortlisted for the Pineapple Awards.
The judging will take place during a livestream of the Festival of Pineapples which takes place between Tuesday 25th – Thursday 27th February. You can watch us present the community engagement strategy to the judges from 3:10 – 4:20pm on Tuesday 25th February by following this link and registering for the event here.
