Irvine Bay: Regeneration committed to local engagement

Is it more challenging to regenerate five small towns than to breath new life into a single, large, urban area?

That’s the question faced by Patrick Wiggins, chief executive of Irvine Bay Regeneration Company, who has the job of reviving the economies of five long-neglected communities, each with its own proud history – and each with its own firm views as to how their town should be improved. On top of that, Patrick Wiggins also has the job of regenerating the 14 mile arc of Clyde coastline that links the five towns of Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston, Kilwinning and Irvine.

“At an early stage we committed ourselves to a very high level of public engagement,” says Patrick Wiggins. “The people who live in the five communities know the history of their own town – and they have seen previous regeneration schemes come and go. Overcoming scepticism, and gaining their support, is a vital element in our future success.”

When planning the regeneration of the town centre in Kilwinning, an Abbey town with an ancient history and known as ‘the crossroads of Ayrshire’, Wiggins’ team launched their consultation exercise even before they had drawn up their first proposals.

As a first step they got local school pupils to carry out an on-street survey, asking local residents a single question: “What would make Kilwinning town centre get respect?” The pupils also visited other recently regenerated areas to see how improving streetscapes can revive small urban centres. The pupils then drew up their own ideas as to how best Kilwinning town centre could be improved while enhancing the area around the Abbey.

“The ‘respect’ project got many residents interested right from the outset,” Patrick Wiggins said. “To convince local businesses that we were serious about bringing economic benefits from the regeneration, we put a clause into the construction contract insisting that ‘local recruitment and training’ was a condition of winning the bid. These ideas were instrumental in winning the confidence of residents and local business people.”

When works started on the town centre streetscape improvements, that clause in the contract saw a substantial number of school pupils gain practical work experience with Land Engineering, an Ayrshire-based contractor. In addition, 12 skills-based training positions with a total of 312 weeks of training were agreed. Six trainees were involved in the first phase, with three of them already being employed on a full-time basis by the company and more likely to be hired as the construction sector pulls out of the recession.

Boosting the economy
The town centre regeneration includes improved shop fronts and the re-occupation of empty retail units, as well as new paving, seating, lighting and landscaping. Together, these are creating a safe and pleasant shopping environment with increased pedestrian footfall in the town centre. Even at this early stage of the project, six new retailers have opened for business on the Main Street, including a travel agency and a children’s shoe shop.

A business centre has been proposed for the Main Street, while the Abbeygate area is being redeveloped to create a venue for outdoor events such as festivals, markets, and local town activities.

To show local residents that the past can have an important impact on the future, Irvine Bay has match-funded a grant awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to carry out a major archaeological dig in the Abbey grounds – right in the town centre. Led by the Kilwinning and District Preservation Society, the excavation has attracted wide interest from archaeologists and the local community, schools and clubs. With a history dating back 12 centuries, the project will also explore how the style and design of Kilwinning’s buildings has changed during their lifetime.

“These will be major community exercises with enthusiastic adults and children working together under the guidance of professional archaeologists. It will also highlight the fact that we’re determined to respect the town’s past – both ancient and recent – and use it as a means of attracting new business, visitors and residents and in designing new-build projects,” said Patrick Wiggins.

He argues that while local engagement is vital in any regeneration project, it is of special importance in smaller towns where even relatively small changes can have a major impact: “People in places like Kilwinning have a much larger stake in their community and town centre than those living in larger cities. In smaller towns everything that happens is local and can have an impact on every resident.

“Engaging the people of Kilwinning in our regeneration project has been a major effort, but has been very worthwhile given the level of goodwill towards the improvements. It has also given us a template for working with the other four towns where we are also engaging residents with our regeneration proposals.”

Local benefit
Working with the towns has brought rewards for those involved. A Saltcoats’ school pupil’s design for a beach hut has attracted the attention of Scotland’s arts establishment, with 15-year old Scott Mitchell’s concept being highlighted by Public Art Scotland – an outdoors cultural initiative by the Scottish Arts Council.

As part of its engagement with local school children in the regeneration of the five towns of Irvine, Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston and Kilwinning, Irvine Bay Regeneration Company challenged Art and Design pupils at St Matthew’s Academy in Saltcoats to design a beach hut – with the winning concept to be built and put on display in the area. Local architects offered advice and encouragement to the pupils.

Marion Francis, project manager with Irvine Bay Regeneration Company, said: “Although it will be a temporary structure, we see the beach hut as a trailblazer for a larger project to create a permanent beach pavilion on the promenade at Ardrossan in 2011.”

Scott’s hut will be installed on the beach front at Ardrossan in August and will feature in the town’s ‘Big on the Beach’ festival where the local radio station will broadcast live from the event. The hut will then be moved permanently to the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine.

The project is part of a plan for a series of ‘coastal beacons’ that will mark promontories and landmarks along the 14 mile arc of Irvine Bay, some of which will be permanent and others temporary. The regeneration company has plans to repeat the competition annually, creating a ‘beach hut trail’ along the 14 mile seafront between Ardrossan and Irvine.

Visit: irvinebay.co.uk