Other Partners - Associates and Companies

I am happy to say that I find all arc⁴'s staff helpful and supportive and enjoy hearing about how life is never dull with all the activities arc⁴ gets involved in!

Mandi Lamb

We are always interested in talking with industry professionals who would like to partner with us on projects and become an arc⁴ associate. This enables us to offer our clients a rich and impressive array of skills to complement our existing full time employees. Our recent general Associates also have incluided:

Ade Aboaba

A professional, enthusiastic and motivated urban designer and consultation practitioner with extensive experience of creative solutions.

Key strengths include:

Mapping and analysing the unique character of place, people and aspirations.
Drawing upon strong interpersonal skills and experiences to build good relationships with clients and stakeholders.
Effectively coordinating projects within multi-disciplinary teams.
Utilising innovative methods of engagement to identify opportunities as well as challenges.

Clare Boland

Clare is a community engagement and participation consultant and has extensive project experience across the UK, in particular working in the private sector. She specialises in worked closely with hard to reach and other excluded groups in sometimes challenging environments building trust and capacity to successfully deliver projects.

Clare has undertaken research and fieldwork with amongst many others the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in Burnley during the tense local elections, youth orientated projects and exclusion across the north of England.

Carole Gradwell BA (Hons), DBA, MCIH

Carole's background is in social housing management, community involvement and independent advisor to communities.

She is particularly interested in Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships, and the way that they can empower and combine energy and skills at the local level. Her work covers LSP agendas such as Local Charters, participatory budgeting and asset transfers. Carole's work has covered police, health and leisure services as well as housing. Her work covers:

neighbourhood management feasibility studies
tenant management organisations, as an Approved Assessor of TMO competence
service development and reviews, with SPRINT Process re-engineering methods
project and interim management
governance training for Boards

Kevin Farrell MCIH, Dip.PSM

Kevin joined arc⁴as an associate in summer 2009, prior to that he worked as a freelance consultant for seven years.He has worked as a housing practitioner in strategic and local authorities, as an executive director of a housing association and for a voluntary sector homelessness organisation. He taught at the School of Architecture & Built Environment at the University of Westminster from 2003 to 2006, on the Master's Housing Practice and Regeneration Programme. Kevin’s career in Housing and Regeneration began in East London in the mid-80s. He worked in area regeneration in north London during the 90s and was a Director of Housing & Development for two years, also in London.

Kevin's recent work includes:

Resident engagement and participation, acting as Independent Tenant Advisor on a number of Option Appraisals, Stock Transfers and Neighbourhood Planning Exercises
Feasibility studies and service reviews for a number of RSLs and local authorities
Work for the Housing Corporation, the National Housing Federation and HouseMark.

Kevin is a member of The Institute of Housing and holds a Diploma in Public Service Management from Sheffield Hallam University (Dip.PSM).

Mark Herbert BSc FRICS - Chapman Herbert

Mark is a Chartered Surveyor and property consultant with over 27 years of experience covering the private, public and charity sectors. He has substantial experience of commercial and mixed-use development/regeneration, property acquisition/disposal/leasing, valuation and professional work.

Rowan Atkins

Rowan Atkins is an experienced communications consultant and has been using social marketing techniques to engage communities and target hard to reach audiences for the past ten years. She uses a variety of consultation and marketing methods to understand audiences, shift attitudes and motivate people to take action or change their behaviour.

Rowan has experience of raising awareness of key issues amongst young people, older groups, people with disabilities, BME communities and deprived neighbourhoods; using engagement processes that achieve results.

In the past Rowan has delivered consultation and engagement work for a wide range of voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises and public sector bodies including Black Health Agency, South Yorkshire Social Firms Development Agency (IMBY), Greater Manchester Public Transport Executive and Oldham Against Crime Partnership’s Community Safety Unit.

Rowan’s previous roles include Marketing Manager for Warrington Borough Council where she marketed the cultural offer within the Borough to local community groups. She also worked for three years as Youth Brand Manager for the Guardian and Observer Newspapers, managing all national marketing targeting a youth audience. Clients include regeneration company New East Manchester and social research agency Substance.

Andy Sage BA (Hons) MBA

Andy is an experienced housing and regeneration consultant, with a proven track record of successful and innovative community engagement and empowerment on Neighbourhood Renewal Studies and Masterplans. Clients include Bolsover District Council, Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Manchester City Council, Calderdale Borough Council, Salford City Council, and Birmingham City Council. Andy previously worked in the public housing sector in a number of senior management roles which gives him valuable insight in his work with communities.

He has a national reputation for being at the forefront of thinking on community engagement in housing-led regeneration projects. The Homes and Communities Agency recently sponsoring him to undertake RealityRegen, a cutting edge research project, looking at good practice around community engagement and capacity building from the viewpoint of communities.

Andy specialises in providing advice and support to communities and developing their capacity to genuinely become equal partners in the regeneration process. He is especially effective in highly challenging and politically sensitive neighbourhoods, for example:

Accurately capturing and communicating the views of the community, ensuring its views shape proposals
Ensuring communities fully understand the challenges and pressures the Client and its regeneration partners are under
Getting the best deal available through challenging all parties to look at the bigger picture and how it can be best achieved
Mitigating conflict through supporting all parties to adopt a positive and mutually beneficial approach to working together.

Partner Companies

We have a number of partner companies with whom we work on a regular basis and who provide complementary services, including:

Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners - planners and housing market evaluation

Rider Levitt Bucknall - eonomic evaluations and scheme assessments

ddpSHAPE - masterplanners and urban solutions

Arups - planning and site assessments

Duo Design - website development and self sustained websites

Laurie Peake - creative arts based engagement and enterprise