Tag Archives: Hackney

Renaisi a winner twice over!!

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Renaisi| Leave a comment


We are extremely pleased to announce that Renaisi has scooped the top prize at this year’s Regeneration and Renewal Awards 2009, winning Regeneration Consultancy of the Year (trumping our position last year as a finalist in the same category).

Beating off stiff competition from the other finalists including Mace Group, Ekosgen, Halcrow Group, Urban Initiatives and FSquared, Renaisi was recognised as a consultancy that has been able to demonstrate a significant contribution to effective regeneration – with the judging panel particularly impressed by the broad range of tangible benefits to residents and communities that that our work has achieved, together with its reach across projects large and small.

Examples of Renaisi’s work highlighted in this category include our management of the Islington based NDC programme, EC1 NDC; our innovative place shaping work with local authorities; our management of demand and supply side economic development services in Hackney; extensive community empowerment work across London, and our involvement in Hackney’s Olympic planning and legacy work.

Stephen Nichol, managing director, Regeneris Consulting and a member of the judging panel said: “Renaisi demonstrated real impact across a wide range of actions, from delivery to advice, working with local authorities, businesses and researchers.

But it’s not just our general consultancy work that has been recognised. Renaisi was also nominated as a finalist in 2 other categories:

Renaisi’s management of ‘Invest in Hackney’ – the London Borough of Hackney’s inward investment agency, was shortlisted as a finalist in the ‘Boosting a Local Economy’ category, which was in fact won by EC1 NDC, an NDC programme managed by Renaisi, in partnership with the London Borough of Islington.

The London Borough of Hackney’s ‘Ways into Work’ delivery partnership was also recognised. The partnership, made up of Renaisi, Talent! and the council, have helped over 500 long-term unemployed people back into work, and engaged with a further 1000 in this innovative and highly successful project.

Winners for all awards were announced at the award ceremony, hosted by Alistair Campbell, which took place on 23rd September at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London. Congratulations to all of our staff and clients for helping Renaisi to achieve this recognition and reward.

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Congratulations Hackney!

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

London Borough of Hackney wins 2 Beacon Awards

On 3rd March 2009 it was announced that the London Borough of Hackney was awarded Beacon Status in the areas of Strategic Commissioning and Olympic Games and Paralympic Legacy: using the opportunity of hosting the Games to encourage communities to be more active.  The Beacon Scheme is a prestigious award scheme that recognises excellence in local government, and Renaisi is very happy that Hackney has been recognised for its work in these areas.

In the Olympics category, Hackney was awarded due to its early recognition of the potential legacy benefits of the Games, and for its development of a strategy to deliver the Mayor’s manifesto.  This included work around boosting jobs training and volunteering, increasing physical activity, encouraging involvement in cultural programmes and developing community environmental projects.  Renaisi has been supporting the borough with its Olympic legacy work since the very beginning, so we are very happy that Hackney has won Beacon status in this area.

In the strategic commissioning category, Hackney was recognised for its development of a Strategic Commissioning Framework alongside the Local Area Agreement, which is being used to performance manage the delivery of Hackney’s Sustainable Community Strategy.  The framework has helped the council to deliver continually improving services to benefit the local community as well as strengthening relationships with partners.

Over the coming year Hackney council will be sharing its best practice experience with local authorities throughout the Country.  This will be an excellent opportunity to raise the profile of the borough.  Renaisi would like to say a big “congratulations!” to everyone involved in the hard work that’s seen Hackney achieve this.

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The Indications are Good…

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

Hackney’s National Indicator Delivery plans

Following the introduction of the new local performance framework, included as part of the Local Government White Paper ‘Strong and Prosperous Communities’ in October, Renaisi has been commissioned by the London Borough of Hackney to establish a project management framework for the delivery of the eight national indicators assigned to the Regeneration and Planning directorate.

The indicators include ‘Tackling Fuel Poverty’, ‘Flood and Coastal Risk Management’, ‘Improved Local Biodiversity’, ‘Previously Developed Land that has been Vacant or Derelict for more than 5 years’, ‘Net additional Homes Provided’, ‘Supply of Ready to Develop Housing Sites’, ‘Per Capita Reduction in Carbon Emissions’, and ‘Adapting to Climate Change’.

Between now and March 2009, Renaisi will be delivering successful systems for reporting these indicators. A tool kit will be produced for each indicator to ensure that knowledge is transferred and embedded within the Council.

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Hackney’s 2012 Legacy Plans

Posted on December 3, 2008 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

Ensuring Hackney’s involvement as a Host Borough

Renaisi principal consultant Nicky Doherty is working with Hackney’s Olympic and Paralympic Unit to co-ordinate Hackney’s involvement in three key 2012 Legacy plans:

1. Strategic Regeneration Framework

The Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) will articulate an over-arching vision and strategic objectives of the 5 Host Boroughs to reflect, guide and inform the spatial and socio-economic delivery plans across the boroughs.  The SRF is intended to be a high-level, long-term and flexible document.  It will articulate a series of common issues, common principles and a common purpose to facilitate working in partnership across the five host boroughs.

2. Legacy Masterplan Framework

The Legacy Masterplan Framework (LMF) is the spatial plan for the Olympic Park area and will form an integral part of the Strategic Regeneration Framework when it is published in summer 2009.

3. Multi-Area Agreement

The Multi-Area Agreement is a cross-boundary local area agreement designed to help tackle issues that are best dealt with jointly with other local authorities on a sub regional or regional basis.  LB Hackney will be part of three MAAs being put together by the Five Borough Unit.

Nicky’s role involves ensuring that all Hackney’s representatives, on upwards of 20 themed groups involved in putting these plans together, are supported to contribute to the process to the best of their ability and capacity.  She has established a Forum for Hackney representatives that will meet monthly to ensure that communication between theme groups is opened up and that synergy and conflicts between various theme groups are identified and either built on or resolved.  The Hackney Forum will also make sure that the strategic aims of the borough being discussed at a political level are fed through the Forum and into the various theme groups.

Nicky says “Integrating the three documents and development processes will be crucial if there is to be a plan that is legible to investors and the communities that live in Hackney.  It is really important that Hackney contributes as much as it can to these processes and is not isolated from the other four Olympic boroughs when high level ambitions are being discussed that will affect our borough.”

For more information please contact Nicky Doherty

E. n.doherty@renaisi.com

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Spatial Planning in Hackney

Posted on September 18, 2008 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Renaisi recently supported the London Borough of Hackney with the development of its Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy, helping the council to translate its ambitions for the area into a spatial vision. We supported Hackney’s Policy and Strategy unit to ensure their vision fits well with, and aligns to, the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS), and to ensure that it acts as a proactive and ambitious spatial delivery framework for the Council and the community. As part of this work we consulted with stakeholders from across the Council and partner agencies to agree the main spatial priorities for the Borough.  Key to this was the co-ordination of the spatial vision with major investment programmes, such as education capital programmes, health programmes and other asset-based strategies.

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Posted in Neighbourhoods and Communities, Planning and Local Economic Development, Project and Programme Management

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Hackney’s kids to get new playgrounds

Posted on August 22, 2008 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

Renaisi consultants have been appointed by The Learning Trust to manage the London Borough of Hackney’s £2.6 million Play Pathfinder scheme to provide new adventure playgrounds and exciting and innovative play areas for children and young people in the borough.

The 2 year scheme, funded by The Department for Children, Schools and Families, is one of 30 across the country, and aims to change the way play is approached. It seeks to create play areas that are flexible, innovative and challenging, and that encourage creative and educational play. Moving away from the standard metal frames commonly used in play areas, the scheme will introduce interactive play areas in natural settings.

Within the borough of Hackney, 27 play areas will be created, including an adventure playground and one area designed especially for disabled children. Many will utilise existing sites, but there will be new ones in locations yet to be decided upon. The Learning Trust is currently gathering suggestions and opinions from residents and young people via a survey on their website www.learningtrust.co.uk

Renaisi Consultant Daniel Fitzpatrick, who will be managing the Hackney Play Pathfinder, says “this is a great project which will provide new, exciting and creative play areas for children and young people in Hackney, as well as being an important opportunity for Hackney’s delivery bodies to work together on improving public spaces”

The Play Pathfinders scheme links very closely with the borough’s play strategy for 2007-2012. Hackney’s education service, The Learning Trust, believes that some of the guiding principals for play environments should be the natural elements, the natural world, movement, challenges and opportunities to play with others, which links very closely with the ethos of the Play Pathfinders scheme. Alan Wood, The Learning Trust’s Chief Executive, says “We want Pathfinder playgrounds to serve the diversity of Hackney communities with exciting, innovative equipment such as sand, water and natural areas for children to relax.”

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Hackney is ‘Streets Ahead’

Posted on November 19, 2007 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

Hackney is Streets Ahead as a business destination

Jules Pipe, the Mayor of Hackney and David Taylor from the Hoxton Hotel helped Invest in Hackney, the boroughs inward investment agency, celebrate Hackney as a growing and exciting business destination at a champagne reception at the Geffrye Museum on 7th November.

The event also launched a new photography based book promoting investment opportunities throughout the borough called ‘Hackney: Streets Ahead’. The book profiles the borough as a diverse and exciting business location, as well as a desirable and attractive place to live, work and visit. The launch included actors recreating photographs from the book throughout the museum.

Jules Pipe in his speech said that there are “very real, long term infrastructural, economic and social changes going in Hackney”, and emphasised the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as improved transport links as the major drivers of this change.

David Taylor, General Manager at the Hoxton Hotel told the packed venue, made up of a wide range of representatives from local and regional government, local business and business support agencies, that he had “no doubt that Hackney has established itself as a business location”, and that he sees the award winning Hoxton Hotel “as being both a driver and a beneficiary of the continued inward investment in the borough”.

Hackney: A Business Destination:
- Hackney receives £37.7 million in tourism spending a year
- Four Underground stations in operation by 2010/Much improved Overground services/London’s ‘Best Bus’ Borough
- 1.3 million sq ft of prime inner city commercial space available after 2012 Games due to Media Centres
- Shoreditch had the largest concentration of creative industries in Europe
- London’s new cultural hub, home to the Vortex Jazz Club, Rivington Place, Shoreditch House, The Hothouse, The Hackney Empire, White Cube Gallery, and countless galleries, clubs, bars, and restaurants.

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Streamlining in Hackney

Posted on October 18, 2007 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

Renaisi Consultant Zoe Collins has started working with the London Borough Hackney to help support the streamlining of their S106 processes from tendering for funding through to appraising and monitoring of projects.

Section 106 is part of the planning legislation and ensures any social impacts caused by a development, residential, commercial or otherwise is offset by either a financial contribution or an in-kind arrangement to benefit the affected community.

Such contributions and arrangements are managed by the local council and include supporting youth clubs, building new community facilities to financial support for local heath and educational centres.

The size of the S106 fund in Hackney is approximately £9 million at present but looks likely to increase. It is important that Hackney ensures that supported projects represent best value for the community and contribute to wider goals and strategies of the borough.

Zoe says “the purpose of my role is to ensure a coherent and accountable structure is in place to not only rectify any social costs incurred by developments but to gain as much value added for the community from each project as possible”.

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Renaisi wins research bid

Posted on October 18, 2007 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

Renaisi project Invest in Hackney, Hackney’s inward investment agency, has recently been commissioned by Hackney Strategic Partnership to investigate inward investment opportunities within the borough – in particular to look at the barriers to inward investment and the relationship between enterprise and worklessness.

Lindsay Tripp, Head of Invest in Hackney says, “Over the past few years Hackney has established itself as a viable business destination, benefiting from a significantly higher that average number of business start-ups. However, there are still not enough suitable jobs generated to meet the needs of the working age population, and we need to understand why this is the case”.

The research project will investigate the relationship between enterprise creation and worklessness and will also explore barriers to growth, business retention, and how best to support the expansion of small and medium sized businesses in the borough. The intelligence gathering exercise will enable Team Hackney to evaluate the opportunities for inward investment in the borough and to find ways for inward investment to translate into job opportunities for local people.

The research is being conducted between October 2007 until March 2008 and will contribute to an inward investment strategy for Hackney, which will include a framework for managing and capitalizing on inward investment in relation to the 2012 games.

For more information please contact Lindsay Tripp on 0207 033 2600 or email l.tripp@renaisi.com

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Schools at the Heart of 2012 plans

Posted on August 15, 2007 by Renaisi| Leave a comment

Hackney’s Education Service – the Learning Trust – appointed Renaisi consultant Lucy Norgate to manage their 2012 project ‘Schools at the Heart’. The project aims to engage all of Hackney’s young people in 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games activity through the schools’ curriculum.

The ‘Schools in the Heart’ steering group will support all schools to develop a curriculum around the games which promote international links, cultural understanding and the learning of new languages. The project also aims to help increase young people’s participation in healthy physical activity and involvement in skills training and employment opportunities.

Renaisi’s Chief Executive Kevin Sugrue commented “We are delighted that the Learning Trust has appointed one of our consultants as the Interim Project Manager for Hackney’s schools’ project. Renaisi has been a part of the Hackney 2012 efforts since 2004 and Lucy has been an integral part of the 2012 unit. She will bring considerable experience, skill and commitment to the post to ensure Hackney’s 2012 legacy”.

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