29th October 3pm client meeting at Number 92

Present – Niki and Dave, Melanie, Emma, Olivia, Paul, Helen, Imran, Sarah and JamesApologies – Chris and Steve

Agenda – Interim review and discussing the final outcome We discussed the major findings of this mornings meeting with Mark.

Reception design – We discussed the options we had to approach Kier. As the reception is due to be built before Christmas this gives us little chance to dramatically change the design but we may be able to have an input the surface finishes and lighting. This also may give us the opportunity to challenge the necessity of the glazed screen and add in some other factors which may improve the atmosphere of the main entrance. We will price up the additional factors to the reception to ensure it is realistic.

The final documents we produce will hopefully enable Number 92 to continue the project when we have left and the funding comes through. This can even be explored further in a future live project. It can be used as a main reference point and explored further through events with the young people to give them a sense of ownership over the building.

Niki and Dave were very appreciative of the work we have produced so far and the way we have listened and readjusted the scheme when meeting with the different users.

Next meeting: Final meeting with MB, NL, DC, LP, RL and student team -Wednesday 7th November, 10.30 – 11.30am (No.92)

Minutes from Monday Meeting No.1 – 29 10 07

Attendees: Mark, Lisa, Imran, Chris, Helen, Steve, Sarah, James, Paul, Emma and Olivia

 Agenda:

Interim report

Reception design

Future changes to No.92

Final outcome expectations

Other business

Interim report:To open the meeting we gave a brief explanation our experience at No.92 and ran through our prepared document with Mark and Lisa highlighting key issues.

Reception design: One of the key issues is the reception design. We explained to Mark some issues which could arise from the instruction and construction of the current design e.g. overlooking circulation around the building,  fails to resolve any external social problems. Mark explained that the work to the reception would be completed by the end of November,  leaving us little scope for proposing an alternative. However, Mark would be interested to see our alternatives for the scheme.

We also discussed the possibility of introducing ‘non-architectural’ changes into Kier’s design i.e. screen designs, colours, lighting etc. Our ideas could be discussed in a meeting with Kier, the construction company to see if any alterations to the current design are viable and can be put in place.

Future changes to No.92: Mark explained that the service that No.92 offers is always developing and currently undergoing major reorganisation. This will affect the way the building is used now and that in the future the arrangement of No.92 could completely change within the time-span of the lease. The concept of ‘mobile working’ means that a lot of work could be done outside the office environment.

The arrival of the asylum team will again reorganise how the building is set out with the introduction of more staff and more visitors/young people.

Final outcome expectations:

• Mark would like to see some interventions, innovations and/or adjustments to the drop in space, ground floor areas and new reception area. 
• He would also be interested to see an alternative to the current reception option, including costs and feasibility. We could also introduce positive alterations to Kiers current design to make it more suitable for No.92. These ideas could be discussed in a meeting with Kier and ourselves. 

Other business:

• Mark confirmed he would read the interim report and respond to us with any comments or queries.
• CAST will be showing their video Tuesday-Thursday 
• Next meeting: Final meeting with MB, NL, DC, LP, RL and student team – Wednesday 7th November, 10.30 – 11.30am (No.92)

Article: Taking great care to make young lives better

I was away from Sheffield this weekend to recharge some run down batteries with fresh air, home cooked food and long walks on the beach. But a live project student never stops thinking about the job in hand – here’s an interesting article I found in Friday’s Eastern Daily Press.

Source: http://new.edp24.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&itemid=NOED26%20Oct%202007%2008:04:40:157

Taking care to make young lives better

Eastern Daily Press, 26 October 2007, p. 8-9

An innovative research project uncovering the experiences of children in care in Norfolk has been unveiled. Now social services bosses are promising to put its recommendations into practice. JON WELCH reports.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Social services bosses have pledged to act to improve the lives of young people in care after a research project came up with 37 recommendations.

The consultation, carried out by three care leavers in the county, focused on how children in care felt about education, social work and their carers.

Among its recommendations were that the young people should change placements as little as possible, and that more should be done to tackle bullying.

It also recommended teaching children about the care system in school citizenship lessons, and ensuring children in care know how to access their files and the name of their legal guardian.

Norfolk currently has 851 young people in care. After watching the three care leavers – Danielle Bullock, Mikey “Maka” Walker and Gareth Rashid – present their findings to an audience of social workers and other child-care professionals, Lisa Christensen, Norfolk County Council’s director of children’s services, promised to act on their recommendations.

She told them: “We won’t let this gather dust on the bookshelf – you have my word on that.”

continues…

Talking to the Neighbours: 26.10.07

Having arranged a meeting as part of our formal, recorded interviews, James and I met with Derek Woolley of the P&A Partnership.

In the early briefing stage, the group had been told anecdotally that the “solicitors” (they are in fact accountants) across the street had been filming incidents outside Number 92 and had been vocal in their complaints to Sheffield City Council. It had also been suggested that funding may be available from the neighbours if their input was incorporated in any design proposal.

Derek gave us an extensive catalogue of complaints about the goings-on outside Number 92, the main problem with which seems to be excessive and offensive noise. The offices of P&A face onto Queen Street and, particularly in summer, when windows are open, are within easy earshot of any arguments that take place outside. Derek was able to tell us, from simple observation through his office window, many of the shortcomings of the internal space that have been highlighted in the last few weeks (eg the lack of internal private space leading to discussions happening on the street).

We were provided with the full correspondence between P&A and SCC with regard to Number 92, which is extensive. Derek was reluctant to pledge his support with the City Council for our proposal; which suggests that the prospect of funding may be remote.

“Watch this space” exhibition

Visit to NSPCC – 25.10.07

 

The centre is accessed directly through a glazed lobby which is situated within the building. Upon arrival, one rings the buzzer and is let into the reception by one of the admin staff. The reception is quite welcoming and is normally manned by two members of admin staff. The space uses a lot of comfortable seating and use of colour is evident all around.

                                   

The young people who use the centre normally come on an appointment basis. However, there are times when some may require an emergency appointment. The centre is also used by few groups e.g. young mothers and LGBT who even have their own bar in one of the corner.

The atmosphere is very relaxing and informal. The space is open planned and is quite flexible. There is also the facility to make your own hot drinks whilst waiting to be seen.

The main central space is compartmentalised by screens and it appears to work quite well with the groups who have not encountered any issues with privacy. There is also a small library section on the first floor accessible through a staircase directly from the reception area. There are also associated offices, kitchens, meeting rooms, staff room and toilets throughout the building.

                                                                          

                                               

The centre provides counselling sessions and has a number of rooms to accommodate this purpose. Young people requiring counselling are shown all the rooms and are given the choice to select one that they most feel comfortable with. The emphasis is to make the young people feel at ease as much as possible.
The centre has previously carried out consultations with the young people and implemented quite few of the finding in the design of this space.

The success of the place could be due to the fact that it is mainly used by the people who want to be there. The centre was donated a pool table which is currently not set up and may not be used at all. It may be worth looking into this and see if it could be used at number 92.

“Watch this space” exhibition panels

If you want to take a closer look at the panels we’re exhibiting at Number 92 this week, here’s a compressed pdf of all nine.

• combined_exhibition_panels_small1.pdf

Staff Lunch at No.92 – 24 10 07

Comments from boards:

 - two ypa’s – one is union rep who was consulted on reception designs.

They were both very worried about staff’s h&s issues with our designs. Felt that there deffinetly needed to be glass there as some of the young people are very volatile. I suggested if there were other people working near by that the situation might not get so bad, but they were adament that it was not a good idea.

They likes the boards 1 and 3, and with 2 – did not like the fishtank,  however thought it was good to have the option of going in the three different directions.

Team meeting 23 10 07

People present: Sarah, Helen, Olly, Imran, Chris, Emma, Paul, Steve, Lisa and me.

Agenda
Future Meetings
Responses from our Care Leavers Week Event
Working Groups
Funding
What we want as the final outcome

Future Meetings
See Calendar.

Responses from our Care Leavers Week Event

What a great afternoon?! We all agreed this was an incredibly useful event and more people turned up than we expected. A few of the YPAs came along from upstairs as well as Dave and the Connexions team. Some young people also came along to give us their views. A blog is already up from Olly and Sarah, so comment on it if there is anything you want to say… The exhibition will be left there all this week to use in the meetings we have with the staff and young people.

Working Groups

Interviews with staff and young people

The boards for our exhibition need to be adapted due to some confusion of the positioning of the three reception areas. Sarah will produce an extra sheet for tomorrows meeting with Niki and Dave.
The interviews will be finishing this week so we can get the feedback from Paul and Emma then.

Antenatal and Breakfast Club will continue this week for feedback on the exhibition boards and model.

Funding

Lisa will be talking with Dave tomorrow about the initial budget.
A meeting this Friday has been arranged with the solicitors in which Emma and Paul are attending with the exhibition boards.

FINAL OUTCOME

It has been decided that we need to collate all the research we have done to date into a document to show Mark on Mondays meeting. This will give him an insight into the issues we have come across by being involved with No. 92.

The principal themes that have been recognised so far are: (this can list can be added to)

• Activities
• Confidentiality
• Calmness
• Privacy
• Flexibility
• Responsibility
• Staffing
• Security
• Movement
• Familiararity

These themes will be the sections in our document we use to show Mark, so now all our information needs to be sifted through to support each theme!
Paul and Emma are to continue with the interviews.
Chris and Imran are to analyse the precedents- bad and good.
Sarah and Helen are to analyse and record log books and blog.
Olly and myself are to go through the documents we have found and produce the template for the document.
Steve is to draw up the plans we drew when we were all at No.92, making observations.

Meeting with Niki and Dave, discuss 

Designs
What they expect for our final production

Meeting with Mark on Monday, discuss

Observations and findings at No.92
Designs
Reception – who will be the receptionist? When will it happen? Could we explore one of our designs more fully?
What he expects or wants us to produce in the time we have remaining.

It has been suggested our final outcome is to be a booklet showing how the space is used now: 2007 and another document what they could achieve in a year for example: 2008. Should, Could, Would? We can discuss this further after the meetings with all our clients.

Over and out.

Care Leavers Week: Our Exhibition 22 10 07

Yesterday afternoon we set up an exhibition for care leavers, the young people and all of the staff at No.92 as part of the Care Leavers Week activities.

Our exhibition involved 9 boards: a brief introduction to who we are and what our design principles are, both proposed and our own ideas for the reception area and ideas for changing the space on a small and larger scale. We used a model of the No.92 ground floor plan and used plasticine to model ideas for the spaces with the young people. We also used the cool/uncool wall to again to create discussion with the young people about our concepts and their ideas.

 I personally found the afternoon useful. One young girl explained to me that No.92 is a lot nicer than her own flat, our conversation helped me understand that No.92 isn’t just a drop in centre for most, it offers a familiar setting that many of the young people have grown up with. Although we agree change is important for No.92, we still need to be sensitive to a non architectural viewpoint of the space and that super modern and glossy magazine ideals might not be the type of environment which are necessary for the people of No.92.

The idea of a fish-tank in a quiet area was also quite telling of what is needed by the young people. One girl explained that she has a fish tank at home and when she’s stressed she sits next to it and it calms her down. From this we can see that a private and relaxing area is very important in the success at No.92.

 The pool table issue was again raised, all the young people I spoke to absolutely love the idea and we discussed a way in which the cue, balls etc can be managed so that when someone wants a game they ask a member of staff to watch or are given the responsibility of returning the equipment after a game….!