Welcome to the Spring 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 Living High Streets Initiative Launch
Over eighty attended the launch on 28 February 2024 at Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast. Representatives came from the Department for Communities (DfC), Department for Infrastructure, Department for the Economy, The Executive Office, Councils, NIHE, SIB, NILGA, MAG and many others.
Andrew Haley, MAG Chair provided the context for the Living High Streets approach and launched the starter pack, Benefits pamphlet and next steps.
Justine Daly, MAG Expert Advisor, interviewed Members of the Downpatrick Regeneration Working Group to hear their experiences using the craft kit. The panel included: Stephen Magorrian, Managing Director of the Horatio Group including Denvir’s of Downpatrick; Michael Morrissey, Partner at Morrissey Chartered Accountants and Chair of Down Business Centre; Ciara Toman, Regeneration Officer at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (Council) and provides Secretariat support to the Group; and, Damian Mullholand, who leads the South Eastern Regeneration Office of DfC.
The event concluded with Andrew chairing a Q & A session with: Justine, Stephen and Michael; Gerard Murray, Director of Regional Development Office; Jonathan McGilly, Assistant Director for Regeneration at the Council. There was positive feedback and an energized buzz in the room.
Please visit our webpage for more information on the Living High Streets approach, Craft Kit, Starter pack, Benefits pamphlet, Key insights from the Downpatrick Pilot and next steps for MAG.
Also as part of the initiative the UK High Streets Task Force is promoting MAG Living High Street resources including the Living High Streets Craft Kit and the Living High Street Starter Pack.
Lastly, MAG have provided written evidence to The House of Lords Built Environment Committee - Inquiry into High Streets in Towns and Small Cities, see HSC0012 at High streets in towns and small cities - Committees - UK Parliament.
Tribute to the Late Arthur Acheson
It was with great sadness that we heard the news of the death of Arthur Acheson on 25th March. In typical Arthur fashion in his ‘octogenarian decade’, he moved to the Wirral to be close to his family, designing and building himself a new house at a time when others would be taking it easy. Fortunately, these last months, since his cancer diagnosis, he has been near family. It will be Arthur’s tireless work and advocacy for good places across Northern Ireland that will, for many of us, be his legacy. Arthur was a successful architect in his own right, and through various roles, including as Chair of MAG from 2010-2016, MAG Expert Advisor and Design Council Built Environment Expert Associate, was a champion of the built environment. Working with neighbourhoods, including, using his terminology, ‘communities of interest’ and through regional advocacy, ‘civic stewardship’ as a quality has become embedded in good ways of working. Arthur will be missed greatly by all concerned with the Built Environment and beyond.
Many of us will reflect on our ‘Arthur stories’, which collectively provide a perspective on his work and his personality. Graham Marshall, one of MAG’s Expert Advisors got to know Arthur well, including during these recent months in the Wirral. The following tribute from Graham provides another valued insight:
For Arthur Lindsay Kerr Acheson
Arthur and I first met on Linked-In a decade ago when he supported my arguments for women’s unquestionable human right to have babies when it was best for them, not when strangers felt they were financially solvent enough. We shared a belief in self-determination, equity and an understanding that people rely on a range of resources, not merely economic ones.
Shortly after, in 2015, we all met in person on the Wirral for dinner where Arthur invited us to present our thoughts at a symposium he was curating for NI councils in Newtownabbey - Shaping Place; Changing Lives. Typically, Arthur put the community first and the morning was spent discussing a range of community-led projects. Our interactive talk on prosociality, evolutionary psychology and ‘well-design’ gelled with Arthur’s people centred format. The following morning, I was wandering around a deserted Belfast city centre and paused in Arthur Square. Suddenly, Arthur himself was calling out behind me, squeaking along with a wheelbarrow full of petunias. He was the ultimate prosocial citizen.
Over the past six months we worked with Arthur in Birkenhead. He was a very energetic community panel member for this important regeneration initiative. The panel marks a new way of doing things on the Wirral and Arthur was instrumental in raising its profile, status, worth and legitimacy. I will hopefully take over chairing and mentoring the Panel soon and Rhiannon is working in support via the GroundsWell team (Queens are also partners). At the forefront of my mind will be continuing Arthur’s selfless contribution. At the funeral, his sons spoke of his guiding wisdom throughout their lives - be flexible; adapt to change; question and challenge authority; have courage; just do things; and care.
The last thing Arthur contributed to the Panel were six principles to guide their activities over the coming years. I have suggested we add a seventh; the ‘Arthur Principle’ based on his above wise guidance. Arthur met the ‘Bard of Birkenhead’ (Terry Briscoe) a short while ago who perfectly sums up the feelings of his Dock Branch Panel colleagues:
“It's sad to hear the news that Arthur.
Has sadly passed away.
I only ever got to meet him twice,
An he had nice words to say.
He said he liked my poetry.
When we first got to meet.
Yes Arthur he was amazed,
When I shouted in the street.
So he invited me along one day,
There was a meeting in the yard,
The Dock branch Committee it was
An they got to hear the bard.
Arthur he was a lovely guy,
And I only got to meet him twice.
An I ll never forget the twinkle in his eye
Yes Arthur he was lovely and nice.”
Graham Marshall (MAG)
Rhiannon Corcoran
Prosocial Place
MAG attendance at events - The Strategic Investment Board launch of the Adaptive Reuse of Existing Assets (AREA) Report
The Strategic Investment Board marked the launch of their new report on the Adaptive Reuse of Existing Assets with an event held in St Comgall’s, Falls Road Belfast on 28th March 2024. The event was attended by a variety of representatives of the local authorities, development agencies, community representatives and voluntary sector leaders, with MAG represented by member Rodney Hall and Department for Communities, Architecture Branch, represented by Nicola Donnelly.
St Comgall’s, a former secondary school on Belfast’s Falls Road, was a particularly appropriate choice of venue, having recently been restored and re-purposed as a multi function community hub, with new facilities which include a conference hall, a multi-use central atrium space (formed from the original school courtyard), a local history permanent display, and office/workshop and serviced desk facilities for new business start-ups. The SIB event took place in the central atrium, which comfortably accommodated the registration, coffee, display boards, seating and presentation/audio visual facilities
The event was introduced by Brett Hannam, Chief Executive, SIB, who welcomed all present and addressed the key objective of SIB in encouraging the public sector in Northern Ireland to make better use of its estate. He referred to the benefits, including the reduction in carbon emissions if old buildings can be retained and reused rather than replaced, and to the heritage and community values of ensuring that existing building stock is maintained, and that towns, villages and neighbourhoods are revitalised rather than allowed to decline.
The Report was introduced in two following addresses by co-authors Colin McCrossan and Gerry Millar, who highlighted a number of the schemes illustrated in the published document. These included a diverse range of projects, at one end of the scale some being large scale historic buildings such as St Comgall’s, developed in partnership between local communities and the public sector or local authority agencies, through to some much smaller projects based on more modest buildings.
These included the adaptive reuse of former public toilets in Portstewart as a cafe; the conversion of a former electrical sub-station in Belfast to a Boxing Club, the conversion of a former motorcycle dealership to high quality professional offices in Hillsborough, and community garden projects in Donegall Pass and in Randalstown. It was refreshing to see such smaller projects given prominence and value in the presentation, and a delight to see how these assets which could have been passed un-noticed have now been successfully repurposed to the benefit of local communities.
The event continued with some of the project ‘owners’ delivering accounts of their projects, either in person or in pre-recorded video presentations. Particularly interesting was the account of the re-use of the Court House in Bangor, as a community cultural venue, which demonstrated not only a community commitment to acquiring, saving and funding a restoration scheme, but an ongoing commitment to the successful management of the new venue, successfully introducing new genres of music and entertainment.
The event concluded with an opportunity for questions and comments from the floor. The director of the RSUA, speaking on behalf of the architectural profession and design teams, confirmed the support of the profession for the re-use of redundant buildings, but highlighted the procurement issue where design teams frequently support communities through long gestation periods, only to find that they are required by current procurement procedures to re-compete for appointments once funding is in place. SIB undertook to consider the issue.
A very successful event, with well chosen examples and good quality presentation, with an underlying message consistent with MAG objectives for quality design, addressing climate challenge and low carbon targets by valuing existing built assets. The SIB report may be downloaded at the sibni website.
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