A new phase in CREW's development
CREW Regeneration Wales, the Centre established to promote integrated best practice regeneration, has began a new phase in its development with the announcement of three years of funding from Welsh Government, and the appointment of three new members to its team.
CREW Chief Executive, Professor Dave Adamson, said “It is a busy time for CREW, with the recent excellent news that we have been awarded three years of funding from Welsh Government, we are now planning how we extend our activities and commitment to promote and assist integrated best practice regeneration and policy in Wales”.
The appointment of three new Project Officers - Jemma Bere, Jonathan Bevan and Alan Southall – will strengthen the ability of the CREW team to work across the whole of Wales, and together with CREW’s existing team they will ensure CREW has a major impact across Wales in identifying best practice, undertaking research, organising events and training opportunities, and disseminating knowledge. CREW also has a dedicated team of Fellows and Associates, who are highly experienced regeneration practitioners.
CREW is part of the Community Housing Cymru Group and together they co-host a Housing-Led Regeneration Network. They also currently host the Small Towns Policy and Delivery Network and are in discussions with Regeneration Skills Collective Wales about how it might closer support them. Professor Adamson added “The role of all these networks is central to CREW’s goal of supporting best practice in regeneration and more effective and integrated policy development and delivery”.
CREW’s research programme is central to its work, and is driven by its networks, engagement activities and events. As well as a range of shorter research outputs, such as recent research into the future skills requirements of regeneration practitioners, it also undertakes a major piece of year-long research each year.
CREW’s Senior Researcher, Dr Mark Lang, said “This year we are undertaking a ‘Deep Place’ Study of Tredegar in Blaenau Gwent. This Study is a new approach to understanding place, and how through an integrated approach across all of the policy fields and interventions, a sustainable community might be created by 2030 by implementing a series of recommendations over the course of the next ten to fifteen years.”
All of CREW’s toolkits, research outputs and resources are free to access online www.regenwales.org, which also has regular opinion pieces written by leading regeneration professionals, which provide informative insights into the various aspects of regeneration.