supporting change in Housing

	St. Augustine's New Avenham Centre, Preston. We were originally commissioned in 1998 by the RC Diocese of Lancaster to carry out a Feasibility Study into the options for a redundant Grade 2* listed church, St. Augustine’s of Canterbury in Avenham, Preston. The Church had be closed since the 1980’s and had previously been the subject of a number of unsuccessful attempts to find an alternative use for the building and/or the site.
	Our Feasibility Study assessed the many potential uses for the building and the site- commercial, retail, manufacture, residential and transport and distribution, and concluded that the optimum strategy was to use the building as a community building that would be at the heart of neighbourhood regeneration in the area but would be financially self sustaining. We proposed the demolition of the main part of the building, except for the iconic towers and main portico, and the creation of the St Augustine’s New Avenham Centre (SANAC) which would house: • Four Court Sports Hall • Fitness Suite • Business Incubator Units • IT Suite • Conference Suite • Créche • Community Café In 1999 we were appointed as Project Co-ordinators to prepare the Business Plan, secure planning permission for demolition, and then realise the scheme. Over the next six years we raised the £5.3million needed to build the Centre. The building was completed in 2005 and formally opened in Summer 2006.
	Clarendon Street Mosque Community Centre, Preston We worked with Community Technical Aid Lancashire to produce a Feasibility Study for a community centre to be sited within the boundaries of the Clarendon Street Mosque in Preston. The study looked at both conversion and new build options for the Centre, and we produced a Business Plan appraisal of all the physical options.
	ELAC Centre, Burnley Chris Bailey of PSC, working with residents in the Barclayhills, Griffin and Holmestrand areas of Burnley, initiated and developed an Education, Learning and Activity Centre (ELA) to support the needs of households in some of the most deprived areas in the North West. The project was supported by Burnley and Padiham Community Housing, who agreed to lease two adjacent houses to accommodate the project. ELAC offers a range of support services including breakfast clubs, homework clubs and a range of leisure services in term and vacation time. Chris developed the project, wrote the Business Plan, and raised over £80,000 to deliver it.
	Tree of Life Centre, Wythenshawe. With its core in St Mark's United Reform Church in Wythenshawe ( Manchester), PSC worked with the volunteer Steering Group in developing the ‘Tree’ of Life’ Project. This is a vibrant and financially viable centre which provides a range of services to the community around health and well being, food and diet, and a community shop which re-cycles donated goods. We wrote the Development Strategy and Business Plan and raised £69,000 from two charitable trusts to develop the project
	Blakenhall Neighbourhood Centre, Wolverhampton Commissioned by All Saints and Blakenhall Community Development (a New Deal for Communities project), we have worked to explore the options for a proposed new neighbourhood centre in the ABCD area. This involved evaluating options, which ranged from linking a new centre to a newly developed ‘extended’ primary school in the area, to a totally stand-alone building on a separate site. We prepared a business plan which assessed the viability of each option, and as part of the project, worked closely with local community groups to establish both need and demand for the centre. We also prepared a full income and expenditure budget and a supporting activity schedule.
	RoFTRA Strategic Plan & Funding Strategy RoFTRA (Rochdale Federation of Tenants and Residents Associations) is a major community and voluntary sector organisation run by a voluntary Board of Management drawn entirely from Rochdale Council tenants. It employs over 22 staff and in 2006/7 had an annual turnover of £1million. PSC has been employed by RoFTRA since 2003 on a variety of training and support projects and in 2004 we were asked to prepare the 2004-2007 Strategic Plan. Working closely with RoFTRA’s Board, membership and staff team, we prepared a strategy to help RoFTRA move away from substantial grant dependency by developing fee earning work. Following on from this we were re-appointed in 2005 to prepare the Funding Strategy to achieve the Plan Objectives
	Support After Murder & Manslaughter We have prepared a detailed Options Appraisal Report to assist SAMM, a small but thriving national charity, to assess its future options for the operation and management of the organisation and to help Trustees decide between the location of their central office in London or to relocate to Birmingham.