National Specialists in Town Centre Revitalisation.
What We Do
We are:
- Into Partnership Development
- Into Place Activation
- Into Place Diagnostics
- Into Leadership Support & Training
What We Do
We provide a toolkit for high streets and town centres to access support, best practice and guidance for your town.
By rethinking regeneration and by harnessing public, private and community assets we help places to create strong partnerships, a compelling vision and make positive change happen. Our ‘Rethinking Regeneration Framework’, shown below, spans five key elements all of which contribute to transforming towns.
Using our framework and toolkit, we provide practical support, training and workshops for particular elements of the framework or tailored to suit the requirements of a particular town centre. We provide a methodology that can be applied to neighbouring towns within a specific borough.
Rethinking Regeneration Framework
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Regroup & Rescope
Rethink
Refocus &
Revitalise
How We Can Help
We provide a single place for local leaders in high streets and town centres to access support and guidance to help to develop and implement high quality, evidence based, locally led plans for your town.
We offer:
Expert and bespoke support to help develop effective networks and robust town partnerships.
Diagnostic tools and best practice to provide impartial insight into your current situation. Providing reviews of business plans and advice and a ‘critical friend’ service.
Practical support and facilitated discussions and tailored workshops to help create a relevant and engaging vision.
Communication, marketing and engagement tools for targeted audiences.
A range of proven measures to help you create a clearly defined action plan tailored to your town’s needs.
Our Experience – Altrincham, from Ghost Town to Boom Town
In 2010 the South Manchester town of Altrincham was nationally shamed as England’s top ‘ghost town’, with 30% of the centres units being empty. Confidence in the town had crashed following the 2008 recession. Investors, retailers businesses and visitors were pulling out at alarming rates. It was clear that the traditional approach to retail led regeneration was broken.
Determined to reverse Altrincham’s fortunes, we envisaged a different way forward. We drew on the town’s best assets, its people, from across all sectors and walks of life to re-think and re-imagine a future Altrincham. To draw on the town’s unique features and heritage.
We galvanised local businesses and community representatives and together we crafted a compelling vision and action plan to make change happen. This reignited confidence and encouraged smaller independent businesses to grow. Bigger operators and landlords coalesced for the first time to drive growth. By the end of 2017, the vacancy rate had fallen by 73%* with footfall and vibrancy increasing dramatically. In Altrincham the award winning market was a catalyst for change, curated by the innovative Market Operations company. However, every town has its own unique assets that can be used to harness regeneration.
In 2018 Altrincham was in the media again, this time for the right
reasons, as winner of the National High Street of the Year Award.
*Beth Abbit, ‘From Ghost Town to Boom Town – How Altrincham Became
the Place to Be’ Manchester Evening News (Manchester, 18th
February 2018).
'What makes a great place to live? Answer: it's not a shopping plaza'
Simon Jenkins, The Guardian. 20th April 2019
‘Altrincham took hold of a ghostly centre and pondered what might draw people back to its streets. It set up market stalls and gradually colonised an old hall. It revived its economy from the bottom up, and with total success. Lettings in five years have gone from 30% vacancy to 10%. The market now employs 150 people. Altrincham is alive once more. The moral is that a town’s appeal – and thus its prosperity – lies in how we experience it, not in how much money a developer can extort from us. Start with that motive, and the answer will be none.’
Testimonials
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Meet Our Team
Hover over the pictures to learn more about our team
Penny Bell,
Director
Penny has over 20 years’ experience in town centre regeneration and management working with councils, businesses, landlords and developers. She is a long-time member of the Institute of Place Management and former Chair of the North West Association of Town Centre Management. Penny has developed a range of practical tools to create successful working partnerships such as the nationally recognised Landlords Forum and projects with the education sector as well as schemes to help new businesses start up and expand. Penny is a Member of the Institute of Place Management.
Matt Colledge,
Director
Matt created and chaired Altrincham Forward, the task force credited for revitalising the town, and recognised nationally as an exemplar of best practice. Alongside IntoPlaces, he is the Executive Director of the High Streets Task Force and one of their designated Experts. He has senior political experience as Leader of Trafford Council, Vice Chair of Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Chair of Transport for Greater Manchester. He also has considerable commercial experience gained from senior positions within the commercial world. Matt is a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management.
Sonia Cubrilo,
Director
Sonia applies 30 years of public sector, senior management experience to create successful places, helping high street and town centres meet changing expectations. She is skilled in delivering town centre regeneration, contract negotiations, partnership development, stakeholder and community engagement using asset/strength-based ways of working. Chair of Trafford Young Enterprise, helping develop young people’s business and entrepreneurial skills. Sonia is a Fellow if the Institute of Place Management.
Contact Us
If you would like any information on how we can help you, get in touch
Alternatively, please call:
Matt Colledge, Director | 07752 667 456
Penny Bell, Director | 07798 640 463
Sonia Cubrilo, Director | 07733 363 982