Welcome to the Spring edition of the MAG Newsletter
MAG have continued to be busy throughout the first months of 2022. Below is a summary of some of the areas of work we would like to highlight to you.
Living High Streets Toolkit
Living High Streets
As highlighted in our Winter Newsletter, MAG has co-produced a fresh approach to placemaking that engages local communities in working together on all aspects of their village, town or city. We have called it the Living High Streets initiative, and the expected output will be a unique co-designed Framework that is underpinned by local knowledge, agreed priorities for change and practical ways of delivering them. The process promotes continuity, with local people having a sense of ownership and control over their place, its stewardship and the consequent pride that comes from that.
You can now access The Living High Streets Craft Kit via the DfC website.
The Kit has two parts:
Part 1: Approach – explains the essential qualities of thriving high streets. It introduces a Place Change Model and the co-production process to reflect the purpose and meaning each community envisions for their place.
Part 2: Themes and Questions - guides Local Action Groups in co-producing their Living High Streets. It includes the purpose, outcomes and twenty-one questions with prompts for communities to address.
The High Street Task Force (HSTF) has produced a report “Delivering a 21st Century High Street” which contains 14 recommendations. Alongside this, the findings of the Call for Evidence have been summarised in a separate document and both can be found on The Executive Office website.
The first three recommendations relate to the MAG Living High Streets and these along with the other recommendations will be presented to the incoming Executive of Ministers for them to consider.
MAG is working with the HSTF to look at potential next steps and will provide an update once there is more clarity.
If there are any queries about Living High Streets, please don’t hesitate to contact the MAG Secretariat.
Iain Greenway, DfC Director of Historic Environment and Andrew Haley, MAG Chair presenting the Award for Integration of Art to Colm McGurk of McGurk Architects for Áras Uí Chonghaile. Also in the image is RSUA President Donal MacRandal and Feargal Rainey Project Architect of the year.
RSUA Awards
MAG, along with the Department for Communities, was delighted once again to be a sponsor of the RSUA Design Awards 2022.
On the evening of 29 April, people gathered in the Quadrangle before being seated in the Great Hall at the Queen’s University Belfast, Lanyon Building. There was a palpable sense of delight in being together, seeing each other in person and celebrating the work that has been going on ‘in isolation’ over these last couple of years.
Iain Greenway, DfC Director of Historic Environment and Andrew Haley (MAG Chair) were delighted to present the Award for Integration of Art to Colm McGurk of McGurk Architects for Áras Uí Chonghaile. This outstanding project saw the re-purposing of an end terrace on the Falls Road as a visitor centre, focusing on the life of James Connolly. The internal and external detailing is exemplary. It was however the perforated-metal gable wall, with the portrait of Connolly, that was the defining element of art that secured the award. The overall quality of the project was further recognised when it won the Liam McCormick Building of the Year Award. The commitment of Fergal Rainey saw him winning the Project Architect of the Year Award.
MAG was delighted to present the Award to this project, recognising the thoughtfulness of the design to re-purpose an ‘ordinary’ terrace property as a very special place on the Falls Road, with the artwork carefully conceived as an integral, yet defining element.
The 2022 Academy of Urbanism Congress will be held in Belfast
The Academy of Urbanism Congress 2022 – Belfast
Cities Overcoming Challenges
Belfast will be hosting the Academy of Urbanism (AoU) Congress from 8 - 10 June 2022.
Belfast has a history of overcoming challenges. Its long heritage of resilience and three decades of change is not all you think you know. It can inform cities in unexpected ways. As new energies combine in ways not seen in the city before, Belfast can also learn from others and reflect on what more it needs to do to make the next three decades a success.
The AoU Congress has a long-standing track record of attracting engaging speakers and delegates from around the world. Previous venues have included Aarhus, Cork and Eindhoven. MAG is looking forward to participating in the Congress, and encourages representatives from Departments, Councils, and the private and community sectors to join us.
MAG Design Review Workshops rolled out to District Councils
Over the last year, MAG has been focusing its efforts on ways of increasing the impact that we can have on delivering positive outcomes for urban and rural places across Northern Ireland. MAG's participation in the Design for Planet event as part of COP26 last year further emphasised the requirement for us all to re-double our efforts, putting Climate Change at the forefront of our attention.
One of the ways through which MAG is helping to deliver on Net Zero commitments is through its Briefing and Design Reviews, where a team of MAG Members and Expert Advisors offer impartial, constructive and expert advice, seeking to add value to the reviewed building, landscape or development project, and to ensure that climate and sustainability issues, among others, are taken into account.
MAG recently rolled out a series of workshops for NI's Councils, in order to highlight how the MAG's Design Reviews service can optimise project development and deliver best outcomes as they move through the planning process. Key decision-makers and influencers in all of the 11 councils have attended, combining elected members and staff. As a direct result of this outreach effort, MAG has already been approached for several Design Reviews.
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