Workshop leaders were:

• Ruth Clarke Community Learning Manager London, The National Trust
• Nicole Crockett Director, The Building Exploratory
• Ginny Lunn Head of Policy and Development, The Prince’s Trust

The workshop started of with a group discussion around three key questions

• What is sustainability and what are the legacies?
• Who is sustainability for?
• What is the value of sustainability?

What is sustainability and what are the legacies?

• Valued beyond funding and organisational involvement
• Creating toolkits
• Creating personal relationships
• What has been given to the participants to take into the future?
• It has to be community groups’ decision what happens in the future, not that of the organisation running project
• Growth of individual and people as a collective
• Practical sustainability- relating to availability of funding / people
• Flexibility to what happens to project outcomes
• Individuals good will and interest
• Not static but organic delivery
• Tools to interpret things from own perspectives
• Behavioural change and developed partnerships
• Needs to be defined at the beginning of the project
• Sustainable element of a project changes as project evolves

Who is sustainability for?

Different for all the stakeholders in a project:

• Organisations / political agendas
• Individuals involved
• Local community
• Funders

What is the value of sustainability?

• Life changing development and opportunities
• Justifies resources spent on it
• ‘Value’ for individuals may not be defined as sustainability for funders or organisations
• Making it tangible

Brief case studies, where sustainability was at the core were presented by three speakers:

Ruth Clarke discussed a community partnership between Hackney Caribbean Elderly Organisation and the National Trust, Sutton House, Hackney.

Dr Nicole Crockett discussed Newington Green ‘Treasures’ project which was the result of a three year collaboration between the Building Exploratory, London borough of Islington and the communities of Newington Green. Aiming to provide access to the hidden heritage of the Newington Green.

Ginny Lunn discussed Elgin Youth Café, which is on of the longest running youth cafes in Scotland.