A Healthy City Week 2016 event organised by gcp Chartered Architects has created a far ranging multi stage research project between University of the West of England Enterprise Studio and Ambition Lawrence Weston. The project will look at the benefits the Lawrence Weston Community Hub will bring to the people of Lawrence Weston. The hub comprises of a range of public and voluntary sector services including a gp practice, pharmacy, public health offices, library, community rooms (meetings, dance, exercise etc), shared consulting rooms and office space for Ambition Lawrence Weston.

The project, to be undertaken by a number of Masters interns in successive years, will examine the benefit the hub is expected to deliver concerning community health and well-being. The project will look at three clear phases to the project, namely before, during and after implementation of the Hub with the first year of the study essentially a baseline and planning year.

Jonathan Platt, director at gcp, part of the wider research support group said

“Having been part of the original group that managed to safeguard the development site for the hub, we are delighted the potential benefits of such an intervention (the hub) are central to this research project. So often capital investments are committed without hard evidence as to the real benefits the idea will deliver. Hopefully this research will demonstrate that such One Public Estate projects can bring real benefits to both public finances, but also the host community they are designed to support”.

The project is expected to start on site in early 2018 with a planning completion before the end of the year.