Place Activation & Meanwhile Use

Introducing new and unexpected activity into places, testing ideas, building momentum and creating a platform for long-term change

Dumbarton Active Streets

Dumbarton Active Streets aimed to make everyday travel safer and more accessible by prioritising walking, wheeling and cycling. New Practice led engagement with local communities to understand barriers to movement and identify opportunities for improvement. Through workshops and on-the-ground conversations, the project gathered insight to inform street design interventions. The outcome supports a more connected and inclusive public realm, encouraging active travel while responding directly to local experience and need

Newark Creative Place Commission

Using creative activation to reposition a town centre as a destination shaped by local culture and community voice

Newark Markets

Revitalising traditional market space through design and engagement, supporting local economies and everyday social life

The Agora

Creating a temporary and contemporary space for gathering and exchange for TEDx Glasgow

Worthwhile Use Hartree

Meanwhile use strategy bringing temporary life and purpose to an underused site, informing long‑term potential

Round-About-Bradford

Reimagining a theatre to move, expand and grow across a programme of cultural expression

Jamestown Road

Activation and landscape design for the ground floor of a new development testing how movement, use and identity can be rebalanced

Orr Trust Public Park, Landscape Plan

Community‑driven landscape strategy shaping the long‑term future and identity of a valued local park

Lines for Kilmarnock

A commemorative public space centred on a bespoke poem by Scots Makar Jackie Kay, developed through community storytelling

Clydeside Cinema

Meanwhile activation of an underused and under-loved piece of public realm with the Glasgow Youth Film Festival building the space in the imagination of visitors and changing perception of the river to be a civic and creative destination

Streets for All

Streets for All is an engagement-led initiative focused on creating safer, more inclusive streets for everyone. The project brought together community insight, lived experience and design thinking to inform improvements to the public realm. By prioritising accessibility and everyday use, it addressed barriers faced by different users, including those often underrepresented in planning processes. The work supports a more equitable approach to street design, ensuring spaces are usable, welcoming and responsive to diverse needs

Walk Up Avenue

Walk Up Avenue reimagines a key local route as a safer, more welcoming space for pedestrians and active travel. Through community engagement and site-based research, the project identified challenges around accessibility, safety and use. The resulting proposals prioritise people over vehicles, improving connections and enhancing the quality of the street environment. The project demonstrates how targeted interventions can transform everyday routes into places that support health, social interaction and local identity

Subtle Shifts

Small‑scale intervention demonstrating how light‑touch design can meaningfully change how places are used and understood for London Festival of Architecture with Get Living

High Street Tweak

Quick, responsive design actions testing how minor changes can unlock new high street activity and engagement

Sustainable Glasgow Landing

Sustainable Glasgow Landing explored how strategic sites across the city can support low-carbon development and more sustainable urban living. The project combined engagement, research and design thinking to identify opportunities for future growth. By working with stakeholders and communities, it developed ideas that balance environmental performance with social value. The work contributes to wider conversations about how cities can transition towards more sustainable, resilient futures

Mantle Yard Activation Strategy

A placemaking and ground floor activation strategy for a major student development in Edinburgh, rooted in local context, community and market insight. The project sets out how Mantle Yard can operate as a connected, outward-facing place - supporting both resident experience and neighbourhood character

Shawlands Parklets

Design and delivery of a series of bespoke parklets to green a busy high street. Colourful, multi-functional structures create new public spaces for sitting, planting and social activity, supporting local businesses and community use

Charlton Riverside

Responsive neighbourhood strategy for a rapidly changing riverside area in London which connects existing communities with future development through creative engagement, temporary public interventions and ongoing dialogue, supporting an inclusive vision where new homes, workspaces and cultural activity are integrated over time

Rosefield Mills

Rosefield Mills explores the future of a historic industrial site, focusing on adaptive reuse and long-term regeneration. Through research and design thinking, the project considered how the buildings could be transformed to support new uses while retaining their character, highlighting the potential of existing structures to contribute to sustainable development

Artworks for Libraries

Artworks for Libraries integrates public art into library spaces, enhancing their role as cultural and community hubs. Supporting libraries as spaces for creativity, learning and connection, enriching everyday experiences through art

Out in the Open

Out in the Open is a public-facing project that brings creative activity into shared spaces, encouraging participation and interaction. Through temporary installations and events, it activates underused areas and invites communities to engage with place in new ways. The project demonstrates how small-scale interventions can create visibility, spark conversation and support more inclusive use of public space

Rooted پیوستہ

Suite of public realm artworks sited across Bagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Gardens) as part of the Lahore Biennale made in collaboration with artists Unum Babar and Matt Kushan

A Corner for Johnstone

Meanwhile use project transforming a neglected town centre site into a bold, community-focused installation. Through co-design the project introduced colour, creativity and conversation, helping build momentum and raise aspirations for the future of Johnstone High Street

Cumbernauld Living Landscape

Transformation programme using engagement, feasibility studies and creative interventions, to support new green routes, community gardens and artworks that celebrate and strengthen relationships between people and place

Northolt Art Stops

A series of artworks embedded within a wider development, connecting people to place through creative expression. Collaboration between artists and communities created work that demonstrates how public art enhances the built environment and shared ownership

Beacons

Part artwork and part funding strategy, this piece is the visual outcome of the network which supported the National Theatre of Scotland to develop a new home at Rockvilla

PULSE

A dynamic engagement project capturing real‑time community insight to inform future decision‑making and strategy

Redesigning Grovesnor Square

High‑profile engagement shaping the future of a major London public space through wide‑ranging public input

The Shilling Ground

A strategic framework guiding the transformation of a significant site through community‑informed planning

Make Way

Co‑designed public artwork supporting active travel, combining infrastructure and community expression. Make Way moves with you as you walk, wheel, bike or pass by in a vehicle, creating a visual alignment of the elements

Kirkwall Markers

Place‑specific wayfinding and public realm interventions strengthening identity, orientation and local storytelling

Passing on Light

A new National Trans* Monument designed for Sackville Gardens, Manchester. Originally conceived for an open callout to trans and gender diverse designers, artists, and architects run by Sparkle and Arup and won by New Practice in Spring 2023, the monument replaces the original National Trans Memorial. As the first and only memorial of its kind in the UK, it aims to commemorate and celebrate the lives of trans peoples by ‘passing on light’ to foreground the elation and joy in being trans

High Street Heritage

Integrating community consultation into a celebration of Glasgow’s architectural and cultural heritage to inform a future vision for the city’s oldest High Street. Combining research, engagement and masterplanning, the project developed a shared understanding of place through storytelling, creative events and locally driven heritage interpretation

Find out more about our other workstreams:

Community Strategies
& Engagement

Working directly with communities to shape projects through meaningful participation, supporting social and civic connection to the built environment

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Community-led
Architecture

Transforming existing buildings into functional, flexible and accessible spaces, making the most of rich histories to support new uses and futures

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