The award by the Big Lottery is the result of a huge amount of work by the partner organisations and their customers to develop a successful funding application. A total of 172 neighbourhoods were considered before finally proposing 75 projects.

Places for People oversee the portfolio implementation and a steering group, consisting of the three partners, is responsible for the management and delivery of the portfolio. Local project management teams, which include housing staff, community engagement consultants, landscape architects and contractors have been set up to ensure each project is delivered to a high standard.

The portfolio has been developed on the following principles:

• to encourage innovation in approach, design, and environmental standards
• to encourage cost efficiency and effectiveness both in design and the long-term maintenance of each space
• to focus on customer involvement throughout the whole process, from planning to development and ongoing use
• to ensure that customer involvement is inclusive – available and accessible to everyone living in the local community.

We work with both public and private sector organisations such as local authorities, the police, local schools and CABE Space (the Government's advisor on urban design and public space) as well as community agencies like Groundwork, Wildlife Trust and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. Our approach to partnership working helps to create effective community involvement which leads to designs that are sustainable, employing contractors that have the relevant experience and developing spaces that will be managed locally.

All projects will have a management and maintenance plan to support their sustainability and opportunities will be explored for local communities to play a role in this.

Click here to have a look at our programme outputs.