Placemaking Case Studies

Two initiatives based in arts and history began the process.

Part one: Estate stories

First, Clúid officers and a local artist began knocking on doors to talk with households individually. They brought with them a gift box containing a map, ‘secret scroll’, torch, silhouettes, and other materials. And as it was the time of Covid they could not go into people’s homes – so they sat on the doorsteps exploring the box contents and just talking (This was the beginning of the Magic in the Mansions arts project – see inset for more details).

With the help of the gift box from the past, residents began to respond and create their own stories of the estate. Eventually there was an exhibition of people’s memories and memorabilia. Clúid stresses the input this process requires.

To get round every household, take the time to hear their stories and concerns, and keep going back again for more, took an intense amount of officer time – but the organisation regards this as an essential foundation. Resident Engagement Manager Steve Loveland comments: ‘Trust is the currency of engagement. So, you have to acknowledge people’s history and concerns first before going for a bigger ask.’

Part two: Resident-led refurbishment plans

The second initiative was to begin work with students from University College Dublin’s School of Architecture, working up the residents’ aspirations into practical designs for the refurbished internal courtyard. Here, residents’ voice was strongly heard as they took the role of client to the students.

Children were invited to spend a day at the university, seeing the residents’ ideas formed into 3-D models. The idea was both to move the process forward, and to help the youngsters experience campus life, sowing a thought seed that perhaps they too could become students in the future.

In a similar vein, adults from the estate were able to provide lived experience to students who were studying other Herbert Simms estates as part of their Masters degree. The relationship with UCD has created other opportunities for engagement, with residents from Clúid’s National Residents Advisory Group invited to give an online lecture to students about social justice and life in social housing.

The students then wrote essays on the topic and the residents marked them, with Clúid sponsoring a prize for the best. Now with the regular lecture gaining popularity among residents, a group are to take a bolder step and deliver the lecture in person.

Courtyard upgrade

Meanwhile, plans for the refurbishment of the inner courtyard and wider resident engagement are ploughing ahead. Clúid was keen to show first that it could get the basics of management right, further building trust. When it came to the actual construction, there were glitches: for technical reasons not everything people wanted could be achieved.

Nonetheless, through the relationship already built and because many features, including small details, were realised, the process was highly successful. Resident engagement staff feel that their earlier work with tenants brought them to a point where more difficult but necessary conversations could be had, without tainting the relationship.

Foundation for further tenant engagement

The completely refurbished St Mary’s Mansions has now re-opened with 23 of the original families moving back in, joined by new residents. The engagement work before and during the renewal continues and has laid the platform for a tenant association to form.

All of Clúid’s tenant engagement work is underpinned by its resident engagement strategy and action plan. This both directs and informs activities aimed at inclusion, under the banner ‘We’re all Clúid’. Part of the organisation’s measures of success at placemaking includes tracking whether it is an officer or residents leading an initiative: more resident-led activity is the goal.