Our Work

Strategic advice: case study

When disused Council playing fields on the edge of Aberdeen’s city centre were put up for sale with the restriction that the playing fields must be retained, the Alhikmah Foundation – a local charity which was already establishing a community centre in the area – saw the opportunity to extend its activities and create a new and distinctive community hub with sporting facilities.

We were pleased to be asked to be part of a creative, multi-disciplinary team assembled to support the Foundation’s bid to purchase the playing field site, with the aim of providing multi-use games areas, five aside pitches, cricket net practice tunnels and flexible, community hub space. We worked with the wider team to develop the project concept; to determine community support, through using social media; and to demonstrate that the proposed site development complied with relevant planning policies, and was deliverable.

The Foundation was selected as the preferred bidder and work is underway to prepare a planning application for a development that would enhance green space provision in the area and bring people together in a multi-dimensional sporting, cultural and social space, providing health and well-being benefits and creating opportunities for social enterprises and starter businesses.