Year | 2021
Location | Sipelia Works, Sheffield
Client | Graham Bostock [CEO] Emmaus Sheffield
Emmaus Sheffield is a social enterprise located in the Wicker, which provides a home and meaningful work to previously homeless men and women. Over the course of the six week project, the Live Project team have collaborated with the Emmaus Team, to create a future vision for the community. A ‘companion’ is the name given to people who live and work in the Emmaus community. In the community, companions are assisted in gaining skills and qualifications, enabling them to overcome past difficulties and boost self esteem.
The Live Project team was tasked with creating a vision for the future of the grade II listed building in which Emmaus is located. Currently, the existing facilities and accommodation in the old cutlery works do not meet the needs of the community; the dining area cannot accommodate all residents at once, the workshop size is limited and there is a lack of accessible bedrooms. In addition, the charity needs more publicity and passing trade to enable it to meet its self sufficiency goals.
Meetings with key stakeholders enabled the team to establish a brief and understand the aspirations of staff and companions. Given the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the vulnerability of some of the companions, engagement activities were undertaken with Emmaus staff and pastoral care members. Following these meetings and engagement sessions, the scheme was broken down into four target areas; the shed, the courtyard, the northern block and public outreach.
The shed, currently used as an engineering workshop, will become a public cafe run by the companions who live on site. In addition, retail and exhibition spaces will allow for more points of connection between companions and the public. The courtyard will see the addition of movable planters to allow for vehicular access into the site. And in the final phase, the north wing will be renovated to create further retail opportunities and recreation spaces. For the public outreach strategy, the team identified areas in Sheffield that could be targeted for wayfinding and signage, and provided a written guide on how to increase virtual engagement.
The primary output for the client was a pack of booklets that could be presented to potential funders, in order to secure packages of funding in controlled phases. These booklets captured the overall vision for Emmaus so that funders could see the transformative impact the multiple phases could have for the scheme as a whole.
Credits:
Mentor: Satwinder Samra
Client: Emmaus Sheffield
Location: The Wicker, Sheffield
Students: Karen Chin, Dulcie Foster Finn, Yufong Han, Darren Lai,
Siyi Liu, Ye Liu, Michael Neal, Chloe Nicol, Balraj Sehmi, Ryan Smith,
Charlotte Staton, Sophie Turner, Jun Wang, Yifei Zhang
