Homelessness and inner-city regeneration: how the two can co-exist

Major inner-city regeneration developments are creating not just more and better homes, but better neighbourhoods, improved communities, enhanced commercial stock and better public realm design and engineering. But some societal issues are so complicated they may never be solved and there is an argument that society needs to support certain marginalised people in a different way.

Some feel that inner-city change, brand new apartment towers, office blocks and fancy restaurants are pushing native communities out. But the fact is, derelict buildings and poor public design from the 60s, 70s and 80s have created no-go and uninhabitable areas where anti-social behaviour can flourish.

The investors, developers and construction teams working on these projects must consider every aspect – good and bad – that can come from regeneration. The social impact of our projects does not just relate to the building of a new health centre, school or affordable homes alongside the new developments, but also how that development impacts those who are hidden, ostracised and invisible.

When VINCI Building won the contract for Muse’s New Victoria scheme in Manchester, we knew this site was significant and in an area that needed change. One of my colleagues Tony Grindrod reached out to a local homelessness charity, Lifeshare, to see what impact this scheme might have on the wider inner city Manchester community.

We wanted to see if there was something tangible we could do to support Lifeshare – Manchester’s oldest charity focused on homelessness. It was never lost on us that we were building homes that many wouldn’t be able to afford, but we realised we could do something practical to help locally.

When work began, we asked Judy Vickers, the charities operations manager, to come and chat about we could do. We scheduled monthly meetings and Lifeshare became our preferred charity partner. Initially, our relationship was probably like many other corporate social responsibility partnerships – refurbishments for their offices, fundraising and attending events.

It wasn’t until 2021, when Lifeshare explained they’d lost the venue where they’d run their Christmas Project for 30 years – because of a CPO for regeneration! It seemed that no one really wanted a homeless project on their doorstep over the Christmas period, or ever. This project offers vulnerable people and those who are homeless a place to go over Christmas, somewhere they can get support and kindness.

It was obvious to us that we had a valuable resource on our construction site that was closed over Christmas. With an amenity-packed welfare building, it was the perfect place for a shelter for those in need over Christmas.

And so, the project began and was repeated last Christmas. Our client Muse and the owner Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) were fully behind us – creating real social impact is as important to them as it is to us. All parties supported us with insurances and provided volunteers alongside cash. VINCI worked really hard with Lifeshare to prepare the centre and push for donations, and finally we opened to those who were homeless or vulnerable to have food, company, hot showers, new clothes and life-saving support from the charity and its partners for seven days over Christmas.

Christmas 2022 welcomed double the number of homeless and vulnerable people that used the service in 2021.

This project was different because we actually considered an inner-city community, which most regeneration schemes don’t. Major regeneration developments often drive people out of places they call home. But getting those who are homeless off the streets is not a one-fix issue. It’s multifaceted and requires changes at every level.  Even then, someone who is homeless may still find that being on the streets is their preferred solution to their personal problems.

As an industry, we have to critically assess our impact on the wider society. On the whole, the industry is making society better, cleaner and healthier by clever design and construction.  It’s also working hard to address the growing dearth of accommodation. But sometimes people lose out. As a business, we are very aware of this and believe we can do something about that. This may have been a small project in one city, but it had a big impact. It could be so much more – replicated across the country.

So, what happens now? New Victoria is about to be completed, but there will be another New Victoria – and not just in Manchester, we hope. There is a solution for grassroots homeless charities losing their shelters or pop-up services because of regeneration. Temporary shelters on construction sites during down time could be a real solution to a problem that most inner-city homeless charities experience.

We are so committed to making sure 2023 can go ahead in Manchester, we’re handing the baton to one of our competitors, John Sisk. We’re hoping the company is about to secure a big scheme in Manchester and can carry on offering Manchester’s vulnerable and homeless a bit of Christmas joy. We welcome this partnership working.

I urge other construction firms in big cities around the UK to ask themselves: could they also do something that really makes a difference to a community that will be affected by large-scale regeneration schemes?