19th December 2022

In our final week before Christmas, we had further initial ideas and concepts on display in the space for St Werburgh’s and Birkenhead Town Centre. This will be on display at BirkenEd’s Place until 7^th January, so there is plenty of time to come back and have a look at this newer material. Plans for St Werburgh’s and Birkenhead Town Centre seek to improve the quality of shops, workspaces, and places to eat and drink, and include the proposal for a new Birkenhead Market, creating a sustainable new community at the heart of the town, with market businesses, independent shops, food and drink, and creative industries along with residential uses.

Saturday this week was the final day of BirkenEd’s Place for 2022 and also our last day of engagement in the space before Christmas. We marked the occasion with free warm drinks, mince pies and Christmas cake and had some free Christmas craft activities for children and families. Children and parents came in and made some brilliant Christmas decorations and cards (pictured below).

BirkenEd’s Place will now be closed until 4^th January. We have had a great first few weeks at the space with lots of meaningful community engagement, walking tours, creative activities for children and families, and valuable suggestions and ideas for projects like Dock Branch, Wirral Waterfront, and St Werburgh’s and Birkenhead Town Centre. In the new year, we will have lots more projects on display in the space including St Werburgh’s and Town Centre, Wirral Waterfront and Surrounds, Conway Street, Hind Street, and Dock Branch Masterplan. We will have further walking tours, evening presentations regarding specific projects, and more children and family workshops on the weekends.

Thank you to all our volunteers and ambassadors who kindly offered their time with us this week before the Christmas holiday – Emma Hopkins, James Hurley, Eve Wilkinson-Bell, Sam Harkin, Ian Greaves, Becca Gray, Lesley West, Simi Abidakun, and Nicola Donnery. From all the team at PLACED, we wish everyone a very merry Christmas and fantastic new year. We look forward to working with all our stakeholders, design teams, volunteers, and ambassadors in the new year – a year that promises to be full of exciting and valuable community engagement. See you in 2023!