INCH Architecture has been announced as Building Design UK’s Architect of the Year 2024: Social Value, for their approach to working with community organisations, exemplified by creating three community projects in Inverclyde that enhance the quality of peoples’ lives through improving their physical and mental health.
Building Design UK Architect of the Year 2024 was held on 16th October in London. The judges said: “The practice’s founding principle of social value drives their long-standing efforts, as evidenced by thoroughly integrated design and community engagement across projects, yielding clear social impact.”
The Glasgow-based social enterprise practice has been recognised for three Inverclyde community projects: the Craigend Resource Centre in Greenock East, and the horticulture-focused community hubs of Broomhill Gardens and Parklea, a pavilion overlooking the Clyde Estuary. Inverclyde Council supported the projects, as well as the Big Lottery, Scottish Government Regeneration Capital Grants Fund.
Alisdair Clements, Director of INCH Architecture said: “Our values are rooted in the inequalities of architecture, and we believe that high quality architecture and design is for all. We have been working with communities in Inverclyde since 2012. It’s great news that our work on the three projects in these Inverclyde communities is recognised in this UK Award.
“Research shows that Inverclyde is home to communities that are living with multiple disadvantages – in income, employment, health and education and our work creates spaces and places which help local organisations address these issues.
“INCH led Craigend Resource Centre and Parklea Branching Out through securing funding, asset transfer of land, design and the construction process. Central to our methodology is ensuring long-term viability and working collaboratively with these communities and others who support them.
“Both projects support income generation and subsequently the ability for clients to reinvest in their programmes. The projects highlight how communities can use great design to attract new users, creating pathways to services for those who may not be contactable by other means. They are a model for community-led health and wealth building, and how the INCH methodology can assist our third sector clients reach their goals delivering real outcomes in their communities.”
Broomhill Gardens community centre and training facility is owned and managed by a local horticulture social enterprise, In-Works Enterprises Ltd. Accommodation comprises a walled garden designed to support people with cognitive impairments, community hall and cafe, seminar and meeting areas, roof top garden, offices, education rooms, workshops, greenhouses and accommodation for In-Work staff and volunteers.
The project was conceived as a walled garden, with a green roof and densely planted courtyard, taking cues from Greenock’s rich history of terraced green spaces and parks. Access to the community facilities, growing gardens and walled garden is unrestricted to the community and in addition In-Work (a subsidiary social enterprise of IAMH) uses the growing gardens for commercial production of shrubs and soft landscaping. In-Work operate the community cafe (which is served by the produce from the growing gardens) and provide training and educational programmes within the several seminar and teaching spaces. The mix of types of users ensures sustainability of the community facility over time.
Lesley Palmer, INCH Director and Project Designer, commented: “Broomhill Gardens broke the mould for community centre economic development – owned and operated by a charity with free and full access to the community. The building, designed to be physically and cognitively accessible to all, received a Scottish design award for best public health building in 2018, and is recognised as one of the few dementia friendly public buildings in the Worlds Alzheimer Report 2020 – Design Dignity Dementia.”
Craigend Resource Centre offers the community access to core lifeline services and provides a route for the Craigend team to engage with local people, signposting access to other services.
The Project Team said: “Craigend Resource Centre is a registered charity and bustling community hub providing opportunities for meaningful social interaction and skills training. Provision includes a café (serving low cost and freshly prepared food), multi-purpose hall, laundry, IT suite, play space and commercial kitchen. The building was delivered on a challenging site next to an existing burn and railway line whilst the centre remained operational. The project was shortlisted in the Health Category at The Scottish Design Awards in 2024.”
Alice Paul, Inverclyde Community Food Network (ICFN) who facilitate a weekly gardening group at Craigend Resource Centre, added: “It is a great centre for many people, assists to reduce social isolation and gives people a sense of community connection and enhances wellbeing. Food is exceptional value, as is the launderette. Queues for lunch start from 11.30am, people travel from across Inverclyde to utilise the centre.”
Parklea Branching out, a voluntary organisation and registered Scottish Charity in Port Glasgow, use horticulture as a vehicle to provide a variety of different training opportunities, work experience, supported employment, recreational and social facilities for clients including adults and children with learning and/or physical disabilities, those with mental health problems, school leavers, young and long term unemployed, elderly groups and community groups. They recognise the therapeutic value of a horticulture environment which has the beneficial impact of improving mental and physical health. It has a café, a community meeting space and other volunteer and training facilities.
Katherine Tynan, INCH Project Architect, said: “The Parklea community hub broadens the outreach of Parklea Branching Out’s work, using horticulture to provide support and facilities to a wide range of users, including those with additional support needs and the local community. The building has refocused the site alongside the River Clyde, with an ever-changing outlook to the surrounding natural landscape and ebb and flow of the tide which reveals and conceals the posts of the historic timber ponds. The community hub project has been a catalyst for further development and site re-organisation, providing opportunities for training and collaboration for their clients and wider community. INCH continues to work with Parklea on projects which further the organisation’s aims, focusing on accessibility and the local heritage of the area.”
INCH Architecture has collaborated with over 30 third sector organisations since 2012, supporting inexperienced clients deliver on their built ambitions through often daunting design and construction processes. The practice structure is nonprofit, reinvesting surplus in support of our social outcomes, objectives and values.
INCH will shortly be launching INCH by INCH – a new project management service for third sector organisations, and INCH Zero, helping our clients address their net zero and carbon reduction aims.
For further information on INCH Architecture visit www.inch-architecture.co.uk
