Supporting Craigentinny Community Hub

Consulting the community

People Know How began supporting Craigentinny Community in 2017, when Shaping your future was launched. This community consultation project involved collaborating with the Craigentinny Community Centre to unlock positive social change in Craigentinny and the surrounding areas of Lochend, Restalrig and Loganlea.

This consultation, focusing on listening to the voices of local residents in the community, led to findings that prompted much action in the community.

This included a project to restore Craigentinny’s local children’s play area, Loganlea Park, part of our Outdoor Journeys project. Other results have included the foundation of our Walking Befriending and Wellbeing Calls projects within our Reconnect service, supporting adults with their health and wellbeing.

Craigentinny Community Hub

Having worked closely with the Craigentinny Community Centre throughout Shaping your future, People Know How are now supporting the community’s project to establish a Craigentinny Community Hub.

The current Community Centre sits next to another space, which has lain vacant for almost a decade after the council relocated their Social Work offices to Craigmillar. Much of the available space running underneath the building is without natural light and air flow, and these rooms can only be accessed by a narrow staircase, making the space completely inaccessible for those with mobility issues.

Now a group of passionate locals are taking action to restore the dilapidated building and develop a new Community Hub for the fantastic projects taking place in Craigentinny. Running regular meetings at the existing Community Centre, the group have formed an official committee and are in the process of applying for charity status. With the help of local residents, Craigentinny Committee wish to apply for a Community Asset Transfer, which will allow them to bring the building back into community, from the council, and set it up as the Community Hub. This will give them the authority to raise funds and restore the building to welcome individuals, groups and activities on a daily basis.

With fundraising well underway, the committee hope to begin renovations in 2021; creating a space which is fully accessible, flexible for multiple uses and accommodating of larger groups and activities. Moreover, a designated amount of this space will be available to rent by local businesses, providing a viable source of income to continually improve the facilities. Once established, the newly developed Craigentinny Community Hub will become a focal point of Craigentinny, allowing the local committee to continue running fantastic initiatives and supporting local people.

Bridging the gap

As a charity geared towards social innovation, People Know How are passionate about bridging the gap between the localities of Edinburgh. The standards of living within Edinburgh are highly disparate, with the most deprived areas often situated minutes from the areas of least deprivation (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, 2016). The outcomes of this are considerable, with some areas reaching a 30-year difference in male life-expectancy (ibid).

At People Know How, we aim to drive social innovation efforts within Edinburgh, enhance collaboration, foster community development and act as a catalyst for social change. This mindset prompted Shaping your future and is the driving force behind our projects and services. Our decision to relocate our offices to a new student-led residential development on London Road is also prompted by this aim. This new location will give us a base at the heart of the community we work with, close to the schools we work with in our Positive Transitions service, and near to Craigentinny and surrounding areas. This new base also opens the opportunity to establish relationships with the student community of Edinburgh, share fresh ideas and demonstrate the far-reaching benefits of social innovation. This is one of the many proactive steps we are taking to unite the ‘different worlds’ of Edinburgh and unlock positive social change.