Tag: Bristol

St Anne’s House shows community regeneration in action  

St Anne's House

Resilient, thriving, connected. People readily use phrases like these to describe successful communities.

They sound great on paper – and God knows I’ve used them myself enough over the years when writing about places. But words without people to make them real are just slogans.

After five years of hard work, I’m seeing something very special happening in Brislington that’s connecting positive intent with people’s lives.

Led by Jack Gibbon, the charity Bricks is moving forward with quiet determination to transform a 70-year-old former council housing office block at St Anne’s House into a space for hundreds of creatives, artists and community groups.

Its open house event this weekend attracted more than 1,000 people across three days. I went on Friday to the launch and on Sunday with my daughter for lunch and look around the exhibitions. It was fantastic to see the place busy, with so much happening throughout the building.

It’s fair to say that St Anne’s House was on its uppers before Bricks took on a lease from Bristol City Council to run the building as a community space.

I remember the first time I visited before becoming a Bricks trustee about two years ago. Its vastness, the single glazed metal-framed windows across three floors and the range and scale of activity happening there struck me. I was aware of Bricks’ public art installations at new developments across Bristol and thought they were the perfect custodian for a project like St Anne’s House. And I was hooked on the concept from that first meeting.  

Continue reading “St Anne’s House shows community regeneration in action  “ →

It’s sad, but right, to say goodbye to the Grosvenor Hotel

Derelitct Grasvenor Hotel in Bristol behind cordons

A version of this post first appeared in Bristol 24/7’s Your Say section on 24 April. Thanks to them for taking these thoughts about a hot topic for the city.

Like many things in Bristol, there are mixed opinions online about news that the once grand (but now derelict) Grosvenor Hotel is to be demolished.

Bristol247 followed Bristol mayor Marvin Rees’ announcement that demolition will happen after years of wrangling, asking: should [the hotel] have been saved?

As owner of a small business based across the road from the building, who has worked in the area since 2010, I felt moved to respond to that question.

Continue reading “It’s sad, but right, to say goodbye to the Grosvenor Hotel” →

Mayor or committees won’t solve Bristol’s collaboration challenge alone

City of Hope Bristol

This post first appeared on Bristol 24/7’s Your Say section on 19 April. Thanks to them for their excellent coverage of all perspectives of the city’s mayoral referendum.

I’ve been fortunate to see devolution take shape in cities across England over the last 20 years.

That experience leads me to believe that local people, not Westminster, should have the tools to lead this change. Although Marvin Rees last year received a mandate to serve as mayor until 2024, Bristol has further to go before seeing the full benefits of devolution.

The referendum around whether the council is best led by a mayor or committee model of governance should sit within this context.

Context matters here. Although I’ve clocked hundreds of posts across Twitter and news feeds, this isn’t easy to see amidst claim and counterclaim.

Top posts online (by engagement) mentioning the referendum between 13 March and 16 April. 

I don’t have a vote in the referendum, but I am interested in its outcome as someone who works here and employs people living in the city. My thoughts come from that perspective, as someone who’s worked with the council and the offices of both elected mayors since 2010.

Continue reading “Mayor or committees won’t solve Bristol’s collaboration challenge alone” →

Collaboration, not culture wars, will help us return to the office

Work at home (if you can). Get back to work (sorry, the office). Forget that, work at home please. Go back, gradually and carefully. Read the guidance. Businesses must work out what’s best. It’s on you. Fingers crossed!

These phrases illustrate the chaos surrounding England’s official office working guidance during the pandemic. I exaggerate in places. But each statement reflects a government position at a certain moment. Sometimes, ministers even took different positions on the same day.

Navigating this is tricky, especially if you’re not expert in workplace design, occupational health or HR. I’m more used to writing about 600-acre spaces than 600 sq ft ones, and I struggle to visualise how a shell will look when kitted out and occupied. “How many desks can you get in here again?” was a stock phrase used during recent forays into Bristol to check potential new office space.

What knowledge I have is shaped by conversations with helpful agents and dozens of viewings over recent years. Much of this was during COVID, which detonated drastic changes to everyone’s living and working patterns. Once, I nearly agreed a three-year lease on office space before government guidance shifted (again) to work from home. Not signing saved us from paying for a space we couldn’t use.

The process feels fraught with uncertainty and confusion. I know I’m not alone in struggling to find something that works for us post-COVID, as the environment around us remains in flux.

From this muddled standpoint, I’ve watched with interest as people on all sides of the vexed office debate state their case with certainty. As I write from Scotland (that’s flexible location working for you), respective positions around this debate appear to have hardened. Whether it’s work from home or return to the office, it’s taken a binary either/or context.

This is unhelpful when many organisations are looking at somewhere between those points (or hybrid, to use the jargon).

Continue reading “Collaboration, not culture wars, will help us return to the office” →

Can the West of England’s new mayor tackle its collaboration challenge?

Although the West of England has had an incredibly tough year, it’s still one of the country’s best places to live and work by many measures.

Covering areas around Bristol and Bath, the region has the spirit, ingenuity and amazing places that are unmistakably its own. It’s also the most economically productive region outside London. But it’s the region’s human qualities that make it special for so many of us.  

Although many may not realise it, residents can decide this week who leads the organisaton representing the West of England on the political stage. Bristolians can vote on Thursday alongside electing their local councillors, Bristol’s mayor and Avon and Somerset’s Police and Crime Commissioner. 

‘Super Thursday’ presents an opportunity for candidates to lead a region that needs to make its case clearly.  

Business West touched on this point in its recent manifesto for the new mayor, who will lead an organisation covering Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire council areas. Full disclosure: I have worked with some of these organisations at Social. None are clients at the time of writing this.

Continue reading “Can the West of England’s new mayor tackle its collaboration challenge?” →

#WeAreBristol: statement for a city for hope

#WeAreBristol image

Watching Sunday’s scenes of rioting in Bristol gain traction across the world brought home a mix of feelings about a city and people I have barely seen over the last year.  

I know we were not alone in our dismay and anger at what happened. Many have said the scenes did not represent the city they know and experience up close.

Everyone’s experiences of Bristol are different, it’s true. For all the ‘best places to live’ write-ups, challenges around deprivation, equality of opportunity and housing are real and have terrible consequences for those at the sharp end. There are many, many good people who have worked tirelessly this year (and long before that) to address these challenges. They deserve our gratitude, not sniping from the side-lines.

We are proud of our connections with Bristol and of our colleagues who work and live here with their partners and families. We were struck by the response of thousands of Bristolians who appeared to speak as one this week in saying: this is not who we are.

We wanted to do something to capture this sentiment. So we were pleased to be asked to create a statement from Bristol City Leaders group, which was released on 25 March and is included below.

Continue reading “#WeAreBristol: statement for a city for hope” →