The popular Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) SW conference returns to Bristol this month, when our Director of Placemaking Amanda Taylor will present to delegates on the topic of ‘engagement’.
Spanning two days (13 and 14 Feb 2025), the event attracts housing providers, practitioners and other professionals from across the region. It offers the chance to learn and share innovations through a programme which addresses the challenges facing the industry.
On day two, Amanda will join PlaceShapers CEO Catherine Ryder and SNG Community Foundation MD Matthew Buckham in a keynote session called ‘People at the Heart of Placemaking’. Chaired by Paul Smith, Group CEO of Elim Housing, the session will look at how to ensure communities positively influence and form part of how places and spaces are designed, programmed and managed.
In the session, Amanda will talk through a range of projects and draw on her extensive engagement experience to share some of the key lessons she’s learnt over the years. This will include ways of listening to and working with communities who are affected by development or regeneration. Her examples will range from district-wide engagement projects to town centre, community and neighbourhood plans, highlighting some of the ways these strategies have made a positive difference while putting people first.
Commenting on the event, Amanda said: “Effective engagement is a hot topic for housing professionals and one that I’m particularly passionate about. Whether we’re talking about a huge regeneration scheme or a small housing development, what’s vitally important is to really get under the skin of the place while also putting people at the heart of any engagement strategy. I’ve worked on projects up and down the country and look forward to sharing some examples of our innovative approaches – and lessons learnt along the way – in this exciting keynote session.”
Amanda is a qualified architect with more than 25 years of experience in housing, regeneration and community engagement. She’s worked for a range of local authority, housing association and developer clients on projects ranging from individual buildings to large-scale masterplans, affordable housing schemes for RPs and LAs, estate regeneration projects and town centre/high street renewal projects. She has delivered award-winning housing projects using innovative engagement methods and has published a research piece in the Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal.
Amanda is also a qualified Building with Nature Assessor and a Design West Review Panel member, reviewing the quality of projects in the South West as part of a technical panel.
If you’re interested in effective engagement, find out here how to join this conference session.