"People and Place has made me resilient and stubborn not to give up - to acknowledge the wins and celebrate them even if they weren't what were expected. To be brave."
- Pippa, Whitleigh, Plymouth
Peers outside Kitty's Laundrette, on our Spring Field Trip to Liverpool. Photo credit: Footwork
Telling the story of People and Place
From Footholds to Futures
What happens when community innovators get the support, connections and resources they need to bring their bold ideas to life?
In 2025, fifteen community innovators from ten neighbourhoods around the country joined People and Place. They came from Grimsby, Kilburn, Brent, Haggerston, Plymouth, Birmingham, Sheffield, Wigan, Stretford and Bicester.
All with home-grown solutions to pressing local challenges, and bringing buildings and spaces to life in their own way; from working to establish a city-wide registered provider in Plymouth, to Black-led community stewardship of land in Ladywood, Birmingham, to transforming empty homes into affordable housing in Grimsby.
Each was working to bring buildings and land back into local hands, reshaping what their neighbourhoods could become, one space at a time. And each has been working to bring their ideas to life, with us walking alongside them over the past year to help provide a bit of extra resource, mentorship, peer connection and visibility along the way.
Over twelve months, we worked alongside them. This is the story of what we got up to together and what it unlocked.
What We Got Up To Together
People and Place isn’t one thing, it’s a set of ingredients, each designed to unlock something different. Here’s what each one looked like in practice, and what it made possible.
1-1 Support: Generous people, practical support
Every innovator was matched with a mentor or peer supporter - someone chosen carefully for what they needed. Architects, housing specialists, community land trust practitioners, governance experts and community asset developers. People who'd been in the room before and who have the inside scoop on the slow, hard work of community asset development / neighbourhood transformation.
The idea was simple: industry on tap, not on top. Expert support on your terms, in service of your vision. Here's what that looked like in practice:
.png)
"This work is incredibly challenging; the odds are stacked against ordinary people taking land into community ownership. Having the backing and support of the staff at Footwork Trust, the peers and our mentor on the programme has been transformative.”
- Krissie, East End Trades Guild CLT, Haggerston
"Undoubtedly being placed on the Footwork programme introduced us to our team of mentors from ARUP. Having such quality of support and advice gave Neil and myself the belief that owning houses as an ethical landlord was not a dream and was clearly achievable.”
- Alan, West Marsh Development Trust, Grimsby
“Amazing mentor support from Jess. A great group of peers. An organised infrastructure team. Friends and allies — local, regional, national and global.”
- Angela, Northern Heart and Soul, Wigan, Greater Manchester
“Having practical governance to take us through the charity commission submission. A couple of phone calls with Bob to help me navigate the tricky interrelational issues within the team.”
- Paulette, Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm, Brent Cross
Gatherings and peer visits: Never going alone
From London to Liverpool, Wigan to Hastings, the cohort came together in person throughout the year. Not just to learn — to rest, to laugh, to see what was possible through the eyes of people doing the same kind of work in completely different places.
In Liverpool, peers spent a sunny April day moving between Anfield and the Baltic Triangle - from Kitty's Laundrette, where Grace Harrison talked openly about what it takes to run a worker-community co-operative, to Homebaked Community Land Trust, where Tom Murphy shared the story of nine derelict houses pulled from under them at the last minute, and the resolve that followed. By the end of the day, peers were naming what had stuck with them: courage for when it doesn't work, and courage for when it does.
In York, the cohort watched YorSpace's first homes taking shape; cladding going up, colours chosen by future residents, a housing shortage being answered one terracotta-clad wall at a time. Seeing a project that far along, that real, did something that no workshop could.
These weren't study visits. They were proof, that this is possible, that other people are doing it too, and that success doesn't have to look like anyone else's.
Here's what those moments meant:
.png)
“Liverpool and York were the most impactful activities - a perfect mixture of knowledge sharing from great projects alongside time to talk with other people. I learned so much.”
- Ethan, Sheffield Community Land Trust, Sheffield
“The gatherings and residentials to immerse in the context of other builders - seeing what others are doing and how they’re doing it.”
- Amahra, Hood Futures Studio,
Ladywood, Birmingham
“Every moment of the time I spent on the programme was of immense value to me. Being among kindred spirits inspired us and mentored us on our way.”
- Alan, West Marsh Development Trust, Grimsby
“They’ve all been beneficial in different ways… a bit like the pieces of a jigsaw.”
- Angela, Northern Heart and Soul, Wigan, Greater Manchester
Technical huddles: Tackling the stuff that keeps you up at night
Sometimes what you need isn't a bigger gathering - it's someone who's been exactly where you are. That's what technical huddles were for: focused sessions with peers and specialists who'd already wrestled with the same knotty questions. Alongside the gatherings, technical huddles gave the cohort space to go deep on the specific questions their projects were throwing up. Governance structures, retrofit, community finance, legal forms. The stuff that keeps you up at night.
Over the year, peers and specialists stepped in to run focused sessions on the specific questions the cohort was facing:
-
Peer-led fundraising - hosted by Alan and Gill
-
Fundraising strategy, including private investment, grants, CIL and S106 - hosted by Madeleine Blyth, Platform Places
-
Community-led retrofit - hosted by Sara Edmonds, National Retrofit Hub
-
Managing your finances - hard truths on risk and the practicalities of managing assets - hosted by Bob Thust, PG Collective
-
Governance: pitfalls and perfecting the imperfect - hosted by Bob Thust, PG Collective
-
Community shares - hosted by Simon Borkin, P&P peer and independent consultant
Here's what people took from them:
“Being part of People and Place gave us something concrete to point to — the national programme profile meant we could go into conversations with the council and Bruntwood with a bit more credibility and a clearer ask.”
- Simon, Stretford Town Centre Forum, Greater Manchester
“It’s made a difference in so many ways — giving me the words, concepts and analysis of this area, meeting others in the same position and getting a chance to really pick their brains and move forward as colleagues.”
- Leslie, Granville Community Kitchen, Kilburn
“I found the technical huddles particularly valuable. What I thought was especially helpful was where we had a huddle with Sarah from the national retrofit hub, and then I took part in the session in London 2–3 weeks after.”
- Alex, Makespace Oxford, Bicester
.png)
“Having Footwork to step into as a place of support and reflection after all of that campaigning has been incredibly important.”
- Krissie, East End Trades Guild CLT, Haggerston
< Len, Juliet and Simon workshopping during our January welcome gathering to Good Shepherd Studios, Leytonstone.
[Above] Peers hearing Grace (Kitty's Laundrette) and Tom (Homebaked CLT) during our Spring Field Trip to Liverpool.
Photo credit: Footwork
What's Shifted?
Across 2025, ten groups of community innovators spent twelve months getting a foothold in themselves, in their clarity, their connections, and their confidence to keep going.
When we asked innovators what had changed, the answers came back differently every time, but they kept landing in the same three places. More capable. More connected. More confident.
Here’s what that sounded like in practice:
More capable
Across the cohort, innovators spoke of finally trusting their own instincts on governance, of turning years of ambition into an actual business plan, of feeling "clear and intentional" rather than uncertain. It wasn't just new knowledge, it was the confidence to act on it.
“Time with Jess Steele and Bob Thust allowed me to trust my instincts and therefore feel more clear and intentional about the governance structure behind Hood Futures Studio. I presented my subsequent vision to a funder which ultimately led to commitment of capital funds.”
- Amahra, Hood Futures Studio, Ladywood, Birmingham
Having such quality of support and advice gave Neil and myself the belief that owning houses as an ethical landlord was not a dream and was clearly achievable.”
- Alan, West Marsh Development Trust, Grimsby
.png)
“The programme really prepared us for what’s to come. It’s given strength to our foundations to be able to undertake something pretty big in Wigan.”
- Gill, Northern Heart and Soul, Wigan, Greater Manchester
“Companionship and clarity of purpose. I think both of these give me hope for the future. A hope that change can happen when great people are given the support and opportunity to make it.”
- Alex, Makespace Oxford,
Bicester
More connected
Again and again, innovators spoke of feeling "held," of finding peers "wading the same waters," and of being part of something bigger than their own project. The relief of not doing this alone came up more than almost anything else.
More confident
Many innovators arrived uncertain - not of their vision, but of whether they had permission to pursue it, or the tools to navigate the funding gaps, planning hurdles and power imbalances that come with doing this work. By December, something had shifted, from feeling stuck to feeling like they could actually make something happen
“I started to feel genuinely part of - like I belonged to - this wider sector and network of organisations. The Footwork programme played a huge role in helping me achieve this.”
- Ethan, Sheffield Community Land Trust, Sheffield
“People and Place made a difference in being held and seen and valued - and then practical help added onto that.”
- Leslie, Granville Community Kitchen, Kilburn
“I have a deeper feeling of companionship. I feel more connected and more hopeful having the space to be held for a year after a particularly difficult, intense campaigning period.”
- Krissie, East End Trades Guild CLT, Haggerston
“It helped mentally with the overriding sense of hope in bleak times - that we’re part of a wider movement countering mainstream discourse about what is possible across the country.”
- Amahra, Hood Futures Studio, Ladywood, Birmingham
.png)
“That shift from feeling stuck to feeling like we could actually make something happen is probably the most tangible thing I’d point to.”
- Simon, Stretford Town Centre Forum, Stretford, Greater Manchester
“Our final visit gave me a real boost at a moment I was feeling quite defeated - I’m grateful for that.”
- James, Sheffield Community Land Trust, Sheffield
"People and Place has helped me to be braver, to not wait for permission or to be asked to be included but to initiate conversations and action differently."
- Pippa, Whitleigh Community Trust, Whitleigh, Plymouth
“Having a purpose to take me through my healing journey. Stepping back a little to make space for other team members to step up and into different projects has been a joy.”
- Paulette, Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm, Brent Cross
Peer, Paulette of Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm in Brent, showing peers around their blooming garden. | Folk chit chatting at the Community Asset Leaders Gathering at Wolves Lane.
Photo credit: Footwork
Who is People and Place for?
People and Place is Footwork’s programme of support for community innovators, people with home-grown solutions to pressing local challenges, and the sense of urgency to address them.
Community innovators act to solve local issues, shape their local environment and grow long-term community power. They revive local spaces, ensure services meet local needs, and bring buildings, land and resources into local control.
Yet, from the start of their journey, they face systemic barriers in accessing and stewarding buildings and land. Funding that rarely stretches to cover both the people doing the work and the buildings themselves. Councils that don't always show up in the collaborative spirit this work needs, sometimes, without meaning to, standing in the way of progress, often while under real financial pressure themselves. And for many, this is the first time they've had to step into the built environment world at all - negotiating leases, commissioning architects, producing viability studies and business plans, without the resources, strategic tools or visibility that this kind of work demands. It's easy to see how that can conjure feelings of overwhelm.
People and Place was built around a different idea. That, what community innovators need isn’t just funding or advice - what community innovators need is a foothold. A place to stand, and the security to take the next step, whatever that looks like. Or, as our peers have put it themselves: ‘a strategic cuddle’. A wrap-around bolster for the people doing the slow, hard work of neighbourhood transformation.
What does the programme aim to do?
People and Place supports emerging community asset developers to turn their bold ideas into strong, lasting projects. It's a promise: to help people deepen their capabilities and confidence, reduce feelings of overwhelm and isolation, gain greater clarity and purpose, and feel more connected and hopeful as they take on the specific, often unfamiliar work of bringing land and buildings into community hands. It aims to support them to:
-
Deepen their capabilities and confidence
-
Effectively implement their strategies and plans
-
Reduce feelings of overwhelm and isolation
-
Gain greater clarity and purpose
-
Feel more connected and hopeful
We’re supporting community innovators to create lasting relationships with local stakeholders, and to lead collaborations that drive systemic change.
What does the programme offer?
People and Place is a 12-month peer-learning journey, with resources, support and connections for community innovators to get their project off the ground, or grow its impact.
This includes:
-
Moments to gather as a peer group - from field trips and residentials across the country, to rest, reflect and learn from others
-
Bespoke 1-1 mentorship, carefully matched to each innovator’s needs
-
Online webinars, workshops and knowledge-share sessions, led by cohort needs
-
A shared pool of peer mentors and technical advisors for ad hoc support
-
A headspace grant, for every participating group
Who came on the journey with us?
Fifteen people. Ten neighbourhoods. Each with a different challenge, a different context, and a different idea about what their place could become.
Peers on Hastings Commons' Observer Building rooftop, on our Summer Residential to Hastings. | Peers and local Hastings innovators (Black Butterfly, Hastings Rental Health and Afri Collab) on the Hastings promenade / sea front. Photo credit: Footwork
We all have the capacity to learn even when the processes seem convoluted and opaque.
Marie, Sheffield Community
Land Trust
What we learned along the way
A year of working alongside ten groups of community innovators teaches you things. Some of what we learned confirmed what we suspected. Some of it surprised us.
Here’s what we’re taking forward:
1. This work takes longer than a year. Almost every innovator said it in some form — that the journey they’re on doesn’t fit neatly into twelve months. The programme gave people a foothold, but footholds need time to become foundations. Future iterations of People and Place will need to think carefully about how to hold people beyond the formal programme year — through alumni networks, continued peer connection, and ongoing light-touch support.
2. The experts and peer supporters need this as much as the innovators. Mentors, peer supporters, technical advisors and professionals who came into contact with the cohort didn’t just give — they got something back. Being alongside people doing bold, community-led work in their own neighbourhoods turned out to be energising, grounding and often eye-opening for practitioners more used to working within institutional frameworks. That reciprocity is worth naming and designing for.
3. Headspace grants. The £5,000 grants worked precisely because there were no strings attached. One grant helped to seed an entire Local Property Partnership. Another kept an innovator in post when their organisation’s finances tightened. When you trust people to know what they need, they use what they have well.
For locally-led neighbourhood transformation
as a movement
Councils can be the difference.
Again and again, local authorities showed up as either a critical enabler or a significant blocker - sometimes both at once. The innovators who made the most visible progress in 2025 were often those who found a way to work with, rather than around, their local council. That relationship takes time to build and trust to sustain. It also takes councils willing to show up differently - not as gatekeepers, but as partners. The 2026 Camden programme is a direct response to what we learned here.
Community asset development is always about people, not just buildings.
Across ten very different projects; a farm in Brent Cross, arches in Haggerston, a small-site in Plymouth, terraced houses in Grimsby - the common thread was never the asset itself. It was the people trying to bring it into community hands, and the systemic barriers standing in their way. Funders, policymakers and professionals who want to support this work need to fund the people doing it, not just the projects they’re delivering.
The movement is bigger than any one programme.
What People and Place 2025 made visible is that there are community innovators all over the country doing this work, often in isolation, often without the language or the networks to connect their efforts to something larger. The programme gave people that connection. What the sector needs now is more of it: more peer networks, more cross-geography learning, more honest spaces to share what’s working and what isn’t.
.png)
What’s next
People and Place: Camden is already underway!
For the past three years, Footwork has been facilitating a national programme of support for innovators bringing about change in their neighbourhoods (meet the 2025 cohort). As part of Camden Council’s We Make Camden missions approach, the council has set an ambitious goal that “By 2030, Camden’s estates and their neighbourhoods are healthy, sustainable, and unlock creativity.”
Camden’s Missions are bold, long-term collective goals that help bring people together to tackle the borough’s most important and complex challenges – with communities, partners and the Council working side by side, supporting local people to find local solutions.
And so in 2026, Footwork is proud to be collaborating with Camden Council to launch a Borough-specific programme.
-
Are you a local authority interested in a People and Place programme? Contact Footwork.
-
Interested in the national People and Place programme? Join Footwork's mailing list to hear about future cohorts.
-
Want to learn more about Camden’s Estates Mission? Contact Camden Council.
.png)