Using the Place Standard Tool to turn a conversation about a town centre living development into a shared vision for regeneration
Living Alloa
Alloa, Scotland
£1.1m (plus £9m for Primrose Place)
Alloa First, Clackmannanshire Council, Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface, Kingdom Housing Association
Architecture & Design Scotland, Scottish Government
2019
Town (pop. 20,417)
Community / Economy / Health & Wellbeing
Less affluent
Creation of walking networks linking key trip attractors / Improved connectivity to other sustainable transport modes / Improvements to route appearance / Improvements to wayfinding / Reduction of traffic speeds / Development of commercial, retail, leisure, residential, civic and/or historic buildings / Policy development and awareness raising / Multiple improvement development or regeneration programmes / Healthy Streets and placemaking
When Clackmannanshire Council acquired the site of a former department store in Alloa, it was wary of simply redeveloping the commercial space – as there were already a number of vacant retail units in surrounding streets. As an alternative, discussions began with Kingdom Housing Association about re-purposing the site as a multi-generational housing complex for older, physically disabled and learning-disabled people.
With the support of Architecture & Design Scotland, the council held an initial design workshop, involving professionals from the planning, health and social care, dementia care, housing and transport sectors, as well as stakeholders representing local businesses. Using the Place Standard Tool, this workshop helped to identify simple but effective design measures for the complex which would benefit elderly residents and those with dementia. It also led to the realisation that local services and infrastructure would need to be improved to meet the wider needs of these residents.
The Council and Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface (with support from the Place Standard Conversations Fund) then conducted a consultation with residents, local businesses and third sector stakeholders – to gather views on the town centre and priorities for change in the vicinity of the development.
The consultation included a three-day drop-in event in a vacant town centre shop and an online survey, as well as focus group workshops and one-to-one sessions in local venues such as libraries, community centres and even a pub. The Place Standard Tool was used as the framework for all of these.
Demographic information was collected with responses, which allowed for targeted outreach to key under-represented groups such as older people, mental health groups, disability groups, ethnic minorities and younger people. In total, around 300 people took part.
The process highlighted the community’s concerns, including the need for communal and green space for residents to enjoy, perceptions of public safety at nighttime, and a car-centric culture making it unsafe for vulnerable pedestrians. Local businesses were also concerned about loss of trade if new residents weren’t able to use the town’s facilities, and because the cleared site was currently used as informal parking by their customers. These concerns and the community’s shared vision for improvement were fed into development of Living Alloa.
The five priorities for action were all relatively small-scale but would enable residents to get about safely and would bring active travel benefits for the whole community. They were:
To refurbish the recently closed public toilet next to the bus station (the closure of which had discouraged older people from coming into town) to create a community hub, the 'Alloa Hub’, where residents could integrate with local people.
To remove a labyrinth of tall brick walls and dog legs which were preventing residents from easily and safely navigating their way into High Street.
To re-model the poorly functioning and disconnected public space at Bank Street.
To ensure that residents weren’t cut off from their local park, supermarket and health centre by King Street, the inner ring road.
To re-model the public realm along Shillinghill, to provide a more appealing and safer feeling pedestrian route to Forth Valley College.
Primrose Place provides 60 purpose-built flats specifically designed for people with dementia and disabilities. Generous corridors provide space for people with sticks, frames or mobility scooters, while leaving plenty of space for people to personalise their front doors and make them easily recognisable. There are two lifts and, to help navigation, each floor is differentiated by a colour and symbol. Every flat includes a large cupboard for charging a mobility scooter or storing other mobility aids.
The complex has a communal sensory garden but doesn’t have any formal internal shared spaces – so residents are encouraged to get out into the community. To help with this, as part of their welcome pack, new residents are given a booklet on shops and services available in the town. Some shops have taken part in training to learn how to make their spaces and customer service more dementia friendly. For example, by removing dark coloured doormats, which people with dementia can mistake for holes.
Using Town Centre Fund Capital Grant funding, the Council was able to swiftly mobilise designs and approvals to deliver all the community’s priorities before the complex opened:
The Alloa Hub is now much more than just a public ‘lavvie’. It is an orientation point for people arriving in the town by public transport or bicycle. It offers community and travel information and sells a range of books and merchandise related to the local area and active travel. It hosts ‘Made in Clacks’ (a retail space for local crafters) and the Clackmannanshire Tapestry (part of the Great Tapestry of Scotland) – promoting the creativity and history of the community. At particular times of the year, it becomes a centre for festive activities, such as pancake tossing and Santa’s Grotto.
A legible pedestrian route, with single line of sight, leads from Primrose Place to the town centre. It is decorated with an iconic mural created by two local artists.
Bank Street square has been revitalised and is now more accessible due to buildouts and a raised table providing a safe crossing point, as well as additional dropped kerbs.
On King Street, informal crossing points have been created using raised tables and narrowed sections of carriageway, to ensure pedestrians can safely follow desire lines.
Walls and railings have been removed along Shillinghill, and replaced with steps, a ramp and green space. It is less intimidating now that seating, which was a honeypot for antisocial behaviour, has been relocated.
An impact study of the social and health benefits of Primrose Place for its residents is planned for the future. Anecdotally, the Living Alloa project has been very well received by the local community. One Primrose Place resident thanked those who worked on the project for “giving him his life back”, now he can go out unassisted. The mural remaining vandalism-free for more than two years is one small indicator of the sense of community pride the town’s residents have in the changes they brought about.
The visitor book at the Hub is full of effusive comments. Primrose Place residents regularly attend its lively ‘Thursday Club’ for socially isolated older people.
When Primrose Place opened, the local electrical shop sold out of TVs and fridges. Residents, their visitors and carers all continue to shop in the town and make use of its food and drink outlets. Only one retail unit on Primrose Street remains empty.
There is still plenty to deliver – with next steps being shopfront improvements and repurposing vacant units, and development of a longer-term masterplan for the town centre.
The Council’s experience with Primrose Place has shown that expanding town centre living could be key to the future of its towns. It has been using the Place Standard Tool with other communities, to understand their priorities too.
www.ourplace.scot/resource/place-standard-and-its-use-alloa-clackmannanshire-council