Receiving unparallelled praise, Blackbird Leys, Oxford won the Best Housing Scheme (Under 500 homes) and the Community-Led Placemaking Award and was Highly Commended in the Planning for Affordable Housing category. Unanimously approved by the planning committee in August 2023, Blackbird Leys is a joint venture between Oxford City Council and Peabody that provides 294 affordable, low-energy homes and other community uses, located within several council-owned infill sites, including the district centre.
Pairing JTP’s community engagement approach with Peabody’s established presence in Blackbird Leys, continuous and active engagement began with a community planning day and spanned over five years. Our goal was to nurture the strong existing community and amplify their voice through an in-depth co-design process, which involved thousands of local people with hands-on-planning workshops, questionnaires, community review panels, and family fun days. The project was commended by the judges as, “an excellent example of sensitive urban development” brought forward in a way that gave the existing community a sense that the new place was “theirs and something they had helped create”.
