The 'go to' organisation for Local Government improvement in Scotland

The Wellbeing Hub and Lochies School is a significant development for Clackmannanshire Project. The vision for the Wellbeing Hub and Lochies School is driven by an ambition to deliver an inclusive, accessible and inspiring facility that will improve the quality of life for communities across Clackmannanshire. The Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme offers a place-based approach that supports the realisation of this ambition. By undertaking a Place and Wellbeing Assessment, it has identified specific actions to strengthen links with other local initiatives and target work to reduce inequalities. Specific impacts include:

• Contributing a place perspective and expertise to project development workshops.
• Invitation for the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Project Lead to actively participate in fortnightly project meetings.
• Being an early support, contributing to the development of proposals that led to an active co-design group.
• Integration of recommendations from the Place and Wellbeing Assessment as opportunities on the project Risk and Opportunities Register.
• An opportunity to undertake a follow-up Assessment at a more advanced stage in the project’s development.

Our story so far

First assessment – Wellbeing Hub location

In July 2022, the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme Team in Alloa was given a chance to conduct a Place and Wellbeing Assessment, aimed at comparing two potential locations for the highly anticipated Wellbeing Hub development. The purpose of a Place and Wellbeing Assessment is to consider the potential impacts of a plan or proposal on a place – to help mitigate adverse impacts, enhance positives ones and reduce inequality. The support received from the Alloa Steering Group greatly contributed to the success of the assessment.

Following publication of the assessment report (Clackmannanshire Council Wellbeing Hub Location Analysis Place and Wellbeing Assessment Report), meetings were scheduled to review the report’s recommendations and explore possibilities for progressing these within the project. The assessment had drawn out recommendations for ensuring a place-based approach that promoted people’s wellbeing in either site location.

Over winter 2022-2023, Clackmannanshire Council recruited new team members to bolster the existing team. The Wellbeing Hub came together to be co-located with the new Lochies School – a high-quality replacement ASN school.

Regular check-ins were established with the expanding team, fostering strong working relationships and providing a solid support system. By prioritising these check-ins during this crucial project phase and gaining a clear understanding of the team’s expectations and requirements, a consensus was reached on how to move forward with recommendations.

Embedment of a place-based approach

From the beginning of the Programme’s engagement, the entire team and collaborative partners embraced the transformative potential of the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme. It has been an honour to support a team that is so eager to embrace new and innovative ways of working. The Programme has supported the Wellbeing Hub and Lochies School team with all three aspects of a place-based approach:

• People. It is important to understand what the people in a place are experiencing, particularly those facing the greatest inequality. The Programme engaged in early conversations with foundational Wellbeing Hub team members about effective approaches and sharing network contacts to developing a co-design process. The team enthusiastically brought this forward to set-up a co-design group. With advisory support and facilitation from Animate, 14 people from the community with lived experience of inequalities were invited to form part of the extended design team alongside the Council’s internal Project Team and Design team. It is evident that this co-design process has meaningfully brought citizen voice to the project’s development.
• Place. It has been helpful to use the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes as a framework for conversations with the team. The Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme Alloa Team were invited to contribute a place and wellbeing perspective during fortnightly project meetings, as well as additional development workshops. These included a vision and objectives workshop facilitated by the Scottish Futures Trust, and a Place and Masterplan workshop facilitated by the project architects.

Second assessment – site layout and landscaping

In March 2024, there was an opportunity for a follow-up Place and Wellbeing Assessment to be undertaken now the Project is at a more advanced stage in its development. The design of the outdoor spaces on the Wellbeing Hub and Lochies School site have the potential to promote physical and mental health and wellbeing for all. This Assessment brought together 15 internal and external stakeholders, from Learning Estates to Public Health, Clackmannanshire Older Adults Forum to the Countryside Rangers.

As this was the second Assessment on the Wellbeing Hub and Lochies School, the project team are already familiar with the recommendation embedment process. They have therefore been able to take responsibility for bringing this forward following Assessment facilitation by the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme Team. Multiple recommendations have already been integrated into the next version of the Design Brief, and others will be added to the Risk and Opportunities register as before.

We are proud to be a foundational support for this project and contribute the collective aim that champions people, place and preventative measures to reduce health inequalities in Alloa. We’re excited to see how the project continues to develop and can’t wait to visit when it opens!

Read the second Assessment Report – Wellbeing Hub and Lochies School site layout and landscaping (follow-up assessment).