A fun, safe place to play…

One of the (many) joys of #highstreet #placemaking is finding projects that are making a real difference in their communities, and in these cases making great use of difficult to let vacant units.

As part of an all round enjoyable and insightful out & about in the city of Exeter (of which more later), I was lucky enough to see 3 special initiatives within a few feet of each other on the upper floor of The Guildhall Shopping Centre.

🦖 Little Exeter, a not-for-profit, #community #popup: “…utilising a city centre location and created by passionate people who have poured in their love and attention to create a fun, safe place to play for under 7s, funded by our awesome city partners”;

🎨 Meraki Art School: “Fun and inspiring art classes for young people aged 4-16 with a passion for art & craft, run and delivered by professional artists”;

• And between the two, an innovative Baby Nursing and Feeding room.

🤳🏽 I can’t do justice to the stories, the thinking behind them and the partnership working involved, in a single post, but would encourage town and city centre colleagues, especially those in shopping centres, to make contact to hear more.

All three are well-thought out, community-focused, carefully delivered projects that I’m certain will be of interest and could be a solution for your place…?

Thanks to Nikki Fairclough for sharing those stories and to Nicola Wheeler at InExeter BID for making the introduction.