Chatham High Street Heritage Action Zone Evaluation

Culture Commons was commissioned by the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Kent (ADP) to assess the impact of ADP’s collaboration on the High Street Heritage Action Zone at Intra Historic High Street, Chatham.

This project is part of a collaboration between ADP and Medway Council, Historic England and private design consultants, HTA Design. 

The High Street Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) project is an ambitious £95 million UK Government-funded initiative led by Historic England across more than 60 sites in England. The aim is enhance the vibrancy of high streets through culture and heritage.

The School of ADP contributed to the HAZ through a series of live educational projects involving MArch and Stage 3 BA Architecture students over a four-year period.

Our independent evaluation of the activity sets out details of the current (and fast evolving) policy landscape associated with culture-led regeneration and heritage development in the UK. Following an extensive period of community engagement, focus groups, workshops and 1-2-1 sessions with key stakeholders, the evaluation:

• Considers the effectiveness of ADP’s teaching modules and identify the primary outcomes produced in terms of student learning and professional development.

• Assesses the extent to which ADP’s involvement had an impact on the other stakeholders involved in the project, including faculty, community, local authorities, and professional consultants.

• Highlights the key insights that might inform future collaborations between ADP and local stakeholders.

• Sets out a series of recommendations to the University of Kent teams and wider stakeholder groups to build on the programme of work for the future.

Read the evaluation report here.

Our evaluation report has was used to inform the University of Kent’s future teaching modules, the establishment of a new Urban Room for the region and engagement in a series of new engagements with other heritage projects.