What happens when buildings stop working?

Stop selling.
Stop opening.
Stop being, well useful?
You close them.
And then what?

The places around those empty buildings start to decay as well.

Not pretty, is it? And doing anything about it is tricky.
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Limited by a lack of direct ownership.
A lack of access to investment (either fiscal or emotional, direct or indirect.)
The result is that a good deal of the built environment ~ that constitutes the ‘hard’ aspects of place ~ is rarely, truly ‘public’ space.
 
So when its owners lose interest in it ~ because it falls out of favour, is deemed too costly to renovate or reuse, no longer fits the business model or needs ~ the rot sets in.
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Buildings become vacant.
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Then begin to decay.

So what can be done?

But the tide is turning.
Restoring a sense of place is now beginning to become a practical possibility for communities.
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To reclaim not just the streets, but some of the built environment that frames them.
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We’re all aware of the politics, and all the promises associated with which colour you’d like to vote for, but people are starting to make their own plans, taking control, and making places suited for themselves.
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From the ground, up and community~led.

For example, Stretford Community Centre, with Friends of Stretford who raised funds from local community shares as part of their funding

And what could we do?

Meda have been researching and developing ideas around the power and potential of regeneration for the past several years ~ to explore how to help shape and support ‘localness’ and making sense of places for everyone.

So what might ~ what could ~ this potential look like?

The short answer is ‘many~shaped’.
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Is it a disused commercial shed?
A now vacant car showroom, a surplus~to~the~estate department store? The empty office.
The defunct shopping mall.
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It hardly matters.
While the building might define the space, we can establish its place ~ in the community ~ by taking what’s ‘here’ and taking it to a new ‘there’.

Here's just a taster...

This is just one idea we’ve had and and are working on ~ everything from old factories, retail malls, peri~farms, department stores ~ we’d love to take a little time to talk to you about.

Or, even better, show you how we could collaborate with you and your communities to bring a regeneration project to life, re~using the places and spaces you have.

Want buildings~full of potential?
Our door’s open.

+44 (0) 1235 448 580
info@experiencemeda.com
www.experiencemeda.com
@wearemeda
linkedin: meda-international