Welcome to the Autumn 2024 edition of the MAG Newsletter
We have taken the opportunity in this edition of our newsletter to outline a number of areas of our work that may be of interest to you.
MAG Loving Places Symposium 2024
Supporting Good Design - Benefits of the Design Review process and strategic design advice
This was the first MAG symposium held in person for five years, as the usually annual event was interrupted and affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The central glazed room at the heart of the recently restored former St Comgall’s school was a welcoming space for the one hundred, or so, in the audience keen to explore and discuss the processes and benefits of Design Review, and strategic advice.
Andrew Haley, MAG Chair, set the tone for the ambition, shared by all present, to share knowledge to create better places for our fellow citizens, reminding all that collaborations and relationships are the resource and the basis for learning from each other to get the best outcome for the places we desire.
The panel of speakers comprised: Ciarán Mackel, MAG Expert Advisor, who explored what a Design Review involves; Michael Tennyson of the Central Procurement Directorate in the Department of Finance, who talked about the benefits of strategic design advice in procurement processes; Alex Wright, a MAG Expert Advisor, who along with David Black, Architect at Hall Black Douglas, presented a summary of a recent Design Review in Ballycastle; Julie Tanner of Design West Bristol who brought her experience and perspective from a different geographic area on processes and relationships to help promote good architecture and good civic conversations and Ciarán Fox, Director of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, outlined the benefits of peer review in design professions.
Finally, the event concluded with a panel discussion and Q&A, chaired by Ciarán Fox, involving all the guest speakers and members of the audience.
Please visit our website for more information on the MAG Design Symposium 2024 including speakers, presentations and photo gallery.
MAG Living High Streets Initiative
In April MAG held a training session for placemaking facilitators. Participants came from councils, voluntary and community sectors and SIB.
In September, Graham Marshall and Justine Daly, MAG Expert Advisors delivered an interactive training session with Queen’s University MSC students.
MAG are planning the next training session for placemaking facilitators in January 2025. Please contact magsecretariat@communities-ni.gov.uk should you wish to participate.
MAG Member Ruth Hunter presents at Department for Communities Climate Change seminar
MAG Member Ruth Hunter presented at the Department for Communities policy seminar on the subject of climate change.
The seminars focus on what our statutory obligations are as a Department under the Climate Change Act (NI) 2022, what we need to do to make climate change a central part of our policy development, and how climate change impacts on us as individuals, both inside and outside of work.
On 27 September 2024, MAG Member Professor Ruth Hunter from Queen’s University Belfast delivered an online seminar covering areas such as climate change mitigation and adaptation in relation public health and urban green spaces and explored how climate change impacts on staff’s work lives, what this means for them as individuals and for society as a whole. For example, urban green spaces can provided areas for safe active travel, increasing biodiversity, improving air quality, tree planting and wetland expansion to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. The seminar also discussed the importance of reducing car dependency for a range of health, social, economic, climate and environmental benefits.
The presentation delivered by Ruth can be found on our website
Have you received this Newsletter from a friend? Subscribe to our stakeholder list and receive updates directly from MAG.
