Regenerating PLACE

29/01/20202

Update on RSUA’s PLACE Committee

RSUA is establishing a committee whose aim will be to explore the regeneration of Planning Landscape Architecture Community Environment, more commonly known as PLACE.

Background

In April 2019 the Arts Council for Northern Ireland announced that it had withdrawn its core funding for PLACE. In the short timeframe available all efforts to appeal the decision or find suitable alternative funds were ultimately unsuccessful. In early August 2019 the board of PLACE decided that the company should be wound up. RSUA agreed to accept the transfer of the organisation’s records, stock, equipment and intellectual property. The final board meeting of PLACE, as a standalone legal entity, was held at the end of September 2019 and it was agreed that remaining funds would be transferred to RSUA.

Headline purpose

The overarching aim of PLACE is two-fold:

• to increase co-operation between some of the key players involved in shaping the future of architecture and the built environment in Northern Ireland, with a particular focus on Belfast, and;
• to educate, engage and empower the public on matters of architecture and the built environment

Who else will be represented on the PLACE committee?

The committee will be chaired by RSUA with representation now confirmed from the following:

• Department for Communities
• Department for Infrastructure
• Belfast City Council
• Arts Council
• Business Improvement Districts
• Royal Town Planning Institute
• Landscape Institute
• Chartered Institute of Highways & Transport
• Institution of Civil Engineers
• Both universities
• RSUA members

Get involved

If you would like to be considered for membership of this committee please contact Jude Faloon by emailing jude@rsua.org.uk by 31 January 2020. Positions on this committee are strictly limited, however, if there is a large volume of interest RSUA will seek to find a role for all volunteers.