Understanding the impact of this project together
The council and muf are working with an organisation called AKOU on a framework to measure the success and impact of the regeneration project. It will be used to understand how the changes for the Rec site, surrounding streets and market have made a difference to the community.
This project has been funded by grants which require a number of outcomes. Alongside these requirements we want to make sure this project benefits the local community and helps create a sustainable local economy and an inclusive and healthy environment.
The framework is currently in draft stage and we are engaging with local representatives and groups to make sure their ideas and concerns are reflected in the evaluation of the project. We hope that the framework will ensure residents feel they are included and equipped to monitor the project’s impact.
When we collect data for this project we will be guided by the principle of community-owned data, exploring opportunities for those who provide data to be able to use it for their own benefit too.
What is the framework looking to measure?
The framework is split up into five of key areas:
1. Restoring and enhancing the public space
- This will measure the impact of initiatives and improvements to the street and physical space (such as lighting, greenery, power for stall holders etc).
- It will also measure a number of environmental areas such as clean air initiatives and waste management
2. Incubating ideas and businesses
- Focusing on the impact that the planned new workspace to be housed in the Rec will have on supporting learning, skills and new ideas for business
- This also looks to understand how the market provides opportunities to test new business ideas
3. Supporting business and enterprise
- A number of activities are planned for this project to provide support and guidance to businesses on the site – this measurement area will explore how useful and meaningful the support is to businesses and individuals.
- New and existing workspace on the site provides opportunities for businesses and individuals to connect and support each other – we want to see what impact these interactions can have on businesses.
4. Building local connectivity and relationships
- The site has a great potential to help people and businesses to build new and valuable relationships – we want to see how improvements to the building and the street can help to support people to better connect.
- We will also look to explore if changes made through this project can help to bring more groups and local organisations to the site – again building more relationships and connections between people, businesses and groups.
5. Promoting and supporting local culture
- The Rec and surrounding site has a meaningful and important heritage that is of great value to Brixton’s community – this project wants to help celebrate that through a number of planned event, activities and investment.
- We will want to collect evidence to see how effective these events will be at supporting and promoting the heritage and culture of the site and the local community.
How to get involved
AKOU is having conversations with members of the public and local community groups who want to get involved in the evaluation.
Do you want to get involved too? Register interest by filling in the feedback form on the Get involved page or feel free to drop AKOU an email via hello@akou.co.uk.
AKOU is also building a Local Community Groups Index to check whose views have and haven’t yet been included in the process. They will continue to reach out to local groups and stakeholders for input and will host a series of workshops to support the process of creating community owned data.
Throughout this process, AKOU will consider and consolidate all feedback and make adaptations to the impact framework. The framework will then be launched as a working framework in a format that is easy to digest. AKOU will check in on the framework's relevance each time they carry out their quarterly reporting.