Placemaking
This theme highlights the wider work we do to create well-designed homes and neighbourhoods that meet local needs and provide great places for people to live and enjoy.
Placemaking is about more than buildings and public spaces. It is about helping neighbourhoods feel safe, welcoming and connected, so people can put down roots and take pride in where they live. During the reporting period, we continued to focus this work through our anchor neighbourhoods, where long-term neighbourhood plans are shaped by local evidence, customer priorities and partner insight. These plans bring together community investment, neighbourhood services, development, customer voice and asset management, helping activity on the ground feel more joined up and responsive to local need.
Anchor neighbourhoods help Great Places target resources where long-term investment can deliver the greatest social impact.
Our Anchor Neighbourhood Plans start with listening. In Wybourn, Sheffield, customers and local stakeholders have helped shape priorities around environmental improvements, skills and employment support and future housing growth.
Their feedback has informed a draft masterplan, a social value plan and proposals for new affordable homes on Manor Oaks Road. In Longridge and Shaw Heath, engagement has shaped priorities around better connections, community facilities and opportunities for children and young people, alongside work to secure affordable housing, walking and cycling improvements and wider investment through local planning proposals.
Our Place and Regeneration Team helps connect this work across services and partners, including securing more than £600k of funding for community partners each year. In Northmoor, this has meant bringing together customer insight, retrofit planning, neighbourhood management and local partnerships to improve homes, communal spaces and the wider environment. Across our anchor neighbourhoods, this approach is helping teams work more closely together, build stronger local partnerships and create the conditions for long-term benefits that customers and communities can see and feel.
Case studies
Youth hub brings new life to Northmoor Anchor Neighbourhood and supports young people
In our Northmoor Anchor Neighbourhood, Great Places worked with Youth Elements to bring vacant retail units on Northmoor Road back into use as a youth hub. The space has created new opportunities for young people and brought renewed energy to the area. Since moving in, Youth Elements has delivered informal education, life skills and creative activities, including youth clubs, leadership programmes, wellbeing sessions and community initiatives that help young people build confidence and feel connected to where they live.
The hub provides a safe and inclusive place for young people to learn, access support and take part in positive activities. Accredited leadership training, community clean-up projects and creative arts programmes have helped build a sense of ownership and pride in the neighbourhood. The project has also supported wider placemaking outcomes, including local job creation and improvements to the physical environment through community planting and public art celebrating local culture.
Wybourn festival brings residents together in Anchor Neighbourhood celebration
In our Wybourn Anchor Neighbourhood, Great Places supported a community festival that brought customers, partners and programme participants together to celebrate the success of the DWP-funded Wybourn Works programme. Held at Wybourn Primary School, the event showcased the achievements of local people who had taken part in employability, training and wellbeing activities. Certificates were awarded to participants and volunteers, recognising their progress and contribution to the community.
Hundreds of residents and partners attended, creating a day of activity, connection and celebration. The festival also helped raise awareness of local support and encouraged more people to get involved. Wybourn Works has supported residents to access training, volunteering and employment, helping people build confidence and develop new skills. The event reflected the positive impact of this work, sharing success stories and strengthening relationships across the community.
