SUPPORTING COMMUNITY-LED REGENERATION IN POST-WAR ESTATES

Gleadless Valley & Lowedges, Sheffield

The Challenge

Gleadless Valley and Lowedges are large post-war estates in Sheffield facing long-term socio-economic challenges, with parts of Lowedges within the top 10% most deprived neighbourhoods nationally. Alongside this, both areas have strong community identity and local assets, but historically fragmented activity, limited capacity and low trust in regeneration processes.

Gleadless Valley was entering a critical phase of regeneration, with a refreshed masterplan in development and a need to ensure community voice directly shaped design, investment and long-term governance.

"IT WAS INCREDIBLY VALUABLE TO WORK WITH A TEAM WHO HAVE GENUINELY 'BEEN THERE AND DONE IT BEFORE'. THEY BROUGHT A DEPTH OF PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE AND A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO UNLOCK COMMUNITY POTENTIAL IN A WAY THAT FELT GROUNDED AND ACHIEVABLE. THEIR APPROACH, PARTICULARLY THE USE OF CREATIVE AND IMMERSIVE METHODS, HELPED SHIFT THE TONE OF THE PROGRAMME — CREATING MORE OPENNESS, ENERGY AND CONFIDENCE AROUND WHAT COULD BE ACHIEVED TOGETHER."

Alexis Karachi, Independent Chair, Gleadless Valley Regeneration Board

Our Role

360 Degree Society worked alongside Sheffield City Council and Heeley Trust to:

Deliver a comprehensive community engagement and immersion programme

Support Board and leadership development

Ensure community insight informed spatial design and regeneration priorities

Build local capacity, leadership and long-term ownership

Gleadless Valley - Architecture by Brendan Ellis.png

Our Approach

We applied our 360 Degree placemaking methodology, combining deep engagement, creative practice and system leadership to move from insight to action.

1. Deep, Inclusive and Creative Engagement
We delivered a sustained and relational programme of engagement, including large-scale community conversations, walkabouts, regular gatherings and showcase events.

To reach beyond traditional consultation, we commissioned local organisations to deliver community journalism and storytelling, alongside a photography programme enabling residents to capture everyday life, identity and aspiration. These approaches surfaced rich insight and enabled participation from people less likely to engage through formal methods.

We also delivered structured engagement with young people, including a partnership with Springs Academy and a large-scale schools event involving over 700 young people, ensuring regeneration plans reflected the voices of future generations.

2. Immersion, Visioning and System Leadership
We facilitated a full-day immersion and visioning programme bringing together Board members, senior leaders, community organisations and national regeneration experts.

This combined site visits, community insight and facilitated workshops to explore practical models of community-led regeneration. It created space for honest reflection and ambition, while supporting leaders to move beyond consultation toward embedding community-led approaches in governance and delivery.

3. Connecting Community Voice to Design and Delivery
A key focus was ensuring engagement directly influenced regeneration decisions.

Community insight informed the refreshed masterplan and spatial framework, with residents given meaningful roles in shaping design conversations alongside master planners. Creative outputs, including film and photography, were used to influence how partners understood place and prioritised investment.

Alongside this, we prioritised investment into the community by commissioning local organisations, delivering micro-grants and supporting the development of local leadership and enterprise. This included early exploration of a community-led development trust model, creating a pathway toward long-term community ownership.

Outcomes and Impact

Community insight directly informed the Vision for the Valley and masterplanning process

Strengthened relationships between residents, partners and the Regeneration Board

Increased confidence among leaders to adopt community-led approaches

Established foundations for long-term community governance and delivery models

Created immediate momentum through community grants and local action

The programme demonstrated how relatively modest investment can build trust, surface insight and influence strategic decision-making.

Investing in the Community

A core feature of this work was ensuring that funding and opportunity flowed into the community:

Commissioning local organisations to deliver engagement

Funding community-led ideas and micro-grants

Investing in local events, spaces and participation

This ensured regeneration activity strengthened local capacity and retained value locally.

Gleadless Valley - Where We Live by Olivia Virgo.png

"THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO COME AND SPEND TIME IN THE VALLEY AND REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON HERE. IT FELT LIKE A GENUINE EFFORT TO LISTEN AND ENGAGE WITH THE COMMUNITY, RATHER THAN JUST ANOTHER CONSULTATION EXERCISE. I'VE SEEN A LOT OF CHANGE OVER THE YEARS, AND THERE CAN BE SCEPTICISM LOCALLY, BUT THIS APPROACH FELT DIFFERENT. I'M ALWAYS HAPPY TO STAY INVOLVED AND SUPPORT WORK THAT IS GENUINELY FOCUSED ON MAKING GLEADLESS VALLEY A BETTER PLACE FOR PEOPLE TO LIVE."

James, Resident, Gleadless Valley

Client/Funder

360 Degree Society worked alongside Sheffield City Council and Heeley Trust.