Job Details
The post offers an exciting opportunity for experienced and motivated creative professionals with backgrounds in public engagement, public programmes, stakeholder management and cultural space management to join one of the most progressive public sector design and policy teams in the UK, to coordinate the thought-leading and award-winning Croydon Urban Room project.
This is an exciting time to be working in Croydon. As we emerge from the impacts of the pandemic, we face an unprecedented challenge in shaping the recovery and sustainable growth of our borough. We are having to work innovatively, build partnerships and strengthen ties with local communities, businesses and wider society, working towards a more sustainable and inclusive future for the whole borough. The Planning and Sustainable Regeneration directorate, with its Placemaking Team at the heart of it, is helping drive this recovery – we are doing this through a diverse range of activities and programmes to support good growth, working to ensure Croydon meets its full potential; and providing inclusive and inviting places to live, work and visit. The Croydon Urban Room is at the heart of shaping the recovery and resilience of an important part of Croydon town centre since launching this summer. Its role is to explore and define the future of the town centre within the changing retail landscape and helping democratise what can often be top-down processes in future planning and placemaking.
High-quality design and placemaking sit at the heart of Croydon’s vision and work is already underway with the delivery of an ambitious programme of regeneration projects led by both the council and private sector partners. This includes the revival of large urban quarters and its suburbs, delivery of the Council’s Growth Zone programme including significant public realm improvements, and high-profile mixed-use developments across the borough. Central to this is the Placemaking Team and its exemplary work to transform the physical and environmental quality of a Croydon and tangibly improve the economic and social well-being of Croydon’s communities.
About the Placemaking Team
The Croydon Council Placemaking Team is an award winning, multidisciplinary team of built environment practitioners with experience from the strategic level through to detailed design and delivery. The team sits within the council’s Strategic Planning and Regeneration directorate and works across strategic planning, urban design, architecture & landscape architecture, research, public engagement, public realm, public art & culture, heritage and conservation. The team is part of the Spatial Planning Service, which brings together Croydon’s Placemaking and Planmaking functions to provide a holistic and coordinated approach to planning, design and delivery. It comprises of urban designers, architects, landscape architects, built heritage specialists, cultural practitioners and planners.
The work of the team has been highlighted and praised in the Farrell Review as an exemplar for best practice in ‘proactive planning’, emphasising the unique role that the team plays in providing a range of design and placemaking services to internal and external clients. This ranges from collaboratively developing 20 year Croydon Local Plans and related guidance documents; championing heritage; working with developers and local communities to create high quality and inclusive places and spaces; producing urban design frameworks and masterplans; building community capacity; improving perceptions and identity of places, and designing and building short, medium and long term projects on the ground.
The team’s work has contributed to several awards over recent years. Most recently, the team has gained recognition for innovative approaches to planning, design and regeneration, including the New London Architecture Meanwhile Award for the ongoing Meanwhile Croydon programme and a Planning Award for Planning for Increased Housing Delivery for the Suburban Design Guide SPD. In April 2021 the team successfully became one of 20 Corporate Partners of the Design Council, the only local authority team to be selected.
About the role
The role will coordinate and support the Croydon Urban Room project; a physical and digital space for public participation; fostering meaningful connection between people and place; past, present and future.
We are looking for candidates with innovative, design led and holistic approaches to public and stakeholder engagement, public programming, event & space management and exhibition curation. Candidates should be independent, critical and creative thinkers and project managers with experience of developing and delivering public facing creative and cultural spaces and programmes across a range of scales, and audiences. Candidates should be confident negotiators and communicators in a public-facing context and have a good knowledge of space management and event production alongside marketing & communications experience, graphic design, web and social media, and community outreach. Also desirable is knowledge and experience of funding and bid writing, contract management, local business and local government support, and fostering and supporting external partnership across universities, government and industry.
An interest in the Croydon context, with some knowledge of the south London context and the current challenges and opportunities of town centres and high streets, spatial policy and urban design would be desirable.
The Croydon Placemaking Team is committed to ensuring a fair and open place of work. We aim to shape places that are created with and enjoyed by all people of different cultures, identities, needs and experiences. We believe that our team should reflect the diverse communities we serve and therefore particularly encourage applications from disability groups and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour), and people with trans+ identities who are currently under-represented within our team.
Fixed term contract only until March 2026
The post will involve regular weekend and occasional evening work.
