Urban Regeneration: Making a Difference

MMU is one of four universities involved in the Urban Regeneration: Making a Difference project, a £3.2m collaborative venture funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s (HEFCE) Strategic Development Fund.

The project supports the Egan Review’s call for a common goal and understanding of ‘sustainable communities’ and involves MMU Business School, Northumbria University, the University of Salford and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). It aims to demonstrate how universities are well-placed to provide expert knowledge that can be used to make a positive and sustainable impact in urban communities. The findings will help regional and national bodies form policy. 

Project aims

The project has two main aims:

1) To address key urban regeneration challenges in the North of England through collaboration between the partner universities and practitioner organisations, particularly in the public and voluntary sectors. This will also enhance their collective impact on society.

2) To build a long-term strategic alliance between the university partners, and also develop knowledge transfer (KT). This is both teaching and research-driven, and aims to help meet the needs of organisations and professionals in business and the community.


Regeneration themes

The project has four regeneration themes which relate to the expertise amongst the University partners. Each University will lead on a theme, but every University will contribute to each theme. The four themes are:

· Community Cohesion - led by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
· Health and Well-being - led by Northumbria University
· Enterprise - led by the University of Salford
· Crime - led by the University of Central Lancashire


The Centre for Enterprise’s role 

Centre for Enterprise's role is to lead the enterprise theme on behalf of MMU within the wider partnership. This includes delivering a number of Approved Enterprise Projects.

The projects and the key MMU contacts involved in each one are:

· Sustainability Mentoring for Micro Businesses

This project aims to provide mentor support to 50 people who are in the process of starting their own business within for the crucial first 12 months of operation. Partners involved are: MMU, UCLAN, Bolton Business Ventures (BBV),

Centre for Enterprise Contact: Dominic Martinez


· Managing Community Facilities through Social Enterprise

This project will develop, promote and support engagement in owning and managing community facilities and delivering services that support their effective use, as a means of generating community benefit. The project will deliver organisational support and training to create new employment and help new small business in asset skills such as property, housing management, cleaning and facilities management. It will also foster social enterprise through an innovation network. Partners involved are:University of Salford, UCLAN, MMU, Northumbria University, Fujitsu, Elevate, Urban Vision, Partners in Action, One Central Park, and Newcastle/Gateshead. 

Centre for Enterprise Contact: Dr Clare Schofield


· Connectivity and Best Practice for Local Enterprise Partnerships

University support for student and graduate enterprise complements similar interests in FE and long experience in new enterprise support by local authorities.

This project will initially explore, identify and record best practice in local partnership development between higher education, further education and the Economic Development Departments of Local Authorities in their provision of enterprise start-up support activities in urban areas. Partners involved are: Northumbria University, UCLAN, University of Salford and MMU. 

Centre for Enterprise Contact: Dominic Martinez 

· Embedding Innovation in SMEs

This project aims to address the lack of take up of innovation within SMEs in the region, by exploiting the tacit knowledge held within the organisations. The project builds upon a new ESF funded project and will aim to trial and develop a toolkit that embeds innovation with SMEs. Partners involved are: University of Salford and MMU.

MMU Contacts: Professor Ossie Jones and Dr Michael Zhang

Other MMU Enterprise-related projects are:

· Developing Online Portals for Designer-Makers and Arts Practitioners in the North West

The project will develop and trial a series of inter-related online portals initially based in the North West, to support designer-makers, artists and art practitioners. The portals will establish a virtual route-to-market for graduates and practitioners, supported by an extensive marketing campaign. Partners involved are: University of Salford, Design Initiative and MMU.

MMU Contacts: David Grimshaw and Tim Dunbar


· Black and Minority Ethnic Community Innovation Tool

The project represents a trial development of a new model for community innovation targeted at Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) enterprises, specifically in the North West. Working closely with the Asian Business Federation, based in Blackburn and representing over 1000 BME businesses, the project will develop a network of BME businesses and a model of community regeneration through enterprise, specifically targeted at BMEs. Partners involved are: University of Salford, MMU, Asian Business Federation and Enterprise4all.

MMU Contact: Professor Carolyn Kagan


· Promoting and Influencing the Creation of Community Land Trusts

This project focuses on the ownership of land with the express purpose of converting social enterprises into sustainable organisations at the heart of their community and providing opportunities for local businesses and households. This will be done through the creation of Community Land Trusts (CLTs) which will acquire land and property and use these assets for the wider community benefit. Partners involved are: University of Salford, Northumbria University, MMU, SALT, Great Places Housing, Ouseburn Trust, Wansbeck District Council, Northumberland National Park, and the House of Parliament Westminster Authority.

MMU Contact: Professor Carolyn Kagan


Key outcomes

Overall, UR MAD aims to achieve a range of key outcomes. These are:

· Greater understanding of the needs of communities and which interventions work in addressing regeneration issues.
· Increased participation and engagement with communities.
· Enhancing the capacity and capability of intermediary organisations to deliver knowledge, skills and resources.
· Positive influence on policy development and integration at all levels that enables sustainable communities to thrive.
· A sustainable and dynamic inter-disciplinary community of practice within and across the partner universities.
· Enhancing the capacity and capability across the partners to work together to positively impact on the needs of business and the community.
· Developing a distinctive third mission that is included in the partner universities’ strategic plans.
· Creating a sustainable strategic alliance that builds on our strengths and provides the basis for future collaboration and knowledge transfer.

Key outputs

The entire project also has a number of key outputs which it will achieve: 

· 600 organisations assisted
· 1,400 days of organisational support
· 1,600 learner days
· 200 networking, dissemination and support events
· 60 jobs created
· 35 evaluation studies