Matrix Partnership formed part of a team of practices commissioned by the City Council and the Places for People property management and development group to run a week-long Community Design event for the Walker Riverside area in Newcastle.

The project is one of the largest regeneration exercises in Europe, involving a major housing redevelopment programme together with the construction of a range of community facilities on the banks of the Tyne.

This involved an intensive series of workshops, partly facilitated by members of the practice, which brought together community representatives with a wide range of stakeholders in a spirit of collaboration. Design proposals were developed underpinned firstly by a deep and holistic understanding of the importance of networks across different neighbourhood groups, then qualifying in-principle what was considered to be of value to local people and then evolving regeneration concepts and physical options that were then tested for delivery.

The exercise helped to navigate through a dead-lock  and established a jointly agreed basis for the regeneration programme to move forward.