Driving the rejuvenation of the Blackbird Leys estate with a focus on community engagement

Blackbird Leys is a high-density social housing scheme that provides 294 affordable, low-energy homes within infill sites across Blackbird Leys District Centre in a joint venture between Oxford City Council (OCC) and Catalyst Housing Association. The regeneration utilises a patchwork of underused and infill council-owned land that caused a disconnect in the estate’s urban fabric, to meet the needs of the existing community. The project rethinks the importance of these spaces and redefines spatial priorities – demoting the car – to enhance pedestrian experience, introducing greenery through tree planting initiatives whilst helping to celebrate and recognise the established community.

Ranging in sizes from one bedroom apartments up to three bedroom houses, all dwellings are 100% affordable with 59% provided for social and affordable rent and 41% for shared ownership. Homes are designed to be adaptable for the future and spacious and the regeneration also minimises demolition, with only 19 existing flats to be rebuilt.

Alongside new affordable homes, the District Centre proposals will house a new community centre, over 1,000m2 of new retail spaces, a large public square, extensive public realm upgrades and road improvements. These improvements include 480m of new dedicated cycle lanes which will create safe and sustainable travel links through Blackbird Leys. Over 5,000m2 of green public open space will be provided alongside enhancements to Northfield Brook and Spindleberry Nature Reserve.

Pairing JTP’s pioneering community engagement approach with Peabody’s established presence in the community, the Blackbird Leys proposals were developed with continuous and active engagement spanning across several years. From March 2019, JTP commenced an extensive community engagement and outreach programme to encourage participation from all members of the community to shape the proposals and regeneration every step of the way.

This process also targeted hard to reach groups with the design team holding Young People’s Workshops with local schools – Mabel Pritchard School and Windale Primary School – to work with schoolchildren to encourage them to bring their ideas and vision into the design proposals.

In the next steps for the project, JTP will be designing the Blackbird Leys Community Centre.