Public Meeting called by 2 Parish Council members and a local community member concerned about lack of provision for youth in Gamlingay. This meeting highlighted not only the lack of provision for youth but also for sport, leisure, arts and out of school education, for all ages. The result of this meeting was the formation of Forward Gamlingay! as a community development group, working in collaboration with the Parish Council and representing all ages and sectors of the community.
Forward Gamlingay! survey of all local population through questionnaire to find what facilities people needed and wanted.
South Cambridgeshire District Council and Forward Gamlingay! survey of youth in Gamlingay through the No Voice, No Choice initiative. This was an online survey that resulted in a very good response and the awarding of a grant of £5000 for a youth shelter, goal posts and waste bin on the Community Playing Fields adjoining the Community Centre.
Parish Council commissioned Civic Architects to develop option proposals for the redevelopment of the Community Centre and to work with Forward Gamlingay! on the development of a youth led recreation area. Civic are an architecture practice that specialise in running a wide variety of community engagement processes with an emphasis on design. This initial design work lead to the creation of a strategic brief which has been used to inform the current Gamlingay Community Eco Hub concept and plans.
11 adults including representatives from the Parish Council and Forward Gamlingay! attend a 4 day course, Building by Design, at Trafford Hall, Shropshire run by The Glasshouse, a Sainsbury Plc funded charity concerned with good design in community projects. The brief was to design a new Community Building based on the needs analysis already completed.
12 young people representing most of the village youth groups attend a four day Glasshouse course, Young Spacemakers, at Trafford Hall. Their brief was to design a recreational space for young people next to the existing Community Centre. Working with Civic Architects the group designed a youth led recreation area and pavilion that was recently selected by CABE as an exemplar for it’s first ever guide for community clients “It’s Our Space”. Deborah Fox, CABE’s Head of Standards and Best Practice said:
Details of Consultations leading to the Eco Hub project :- Part 1 of 2
2003 - Parish led Village Design Statement.
2004 - Forward Gamlingay! survey of all clubs and organisations through local networks.
2004-05
2005
“Civic have looked at improving the quality of the whole space rather than at making piecemeal changes. That is why CABE Space selected the Gamlingay Community Eco Hub project from over 200 other proposed case studies, as a leading current example of a public space project.”