The winners of the Scottish Civic Trust 2023 My Place Awards and My Place Photography Competition were announced on 24th April.
My Place Awards
The My Place Awards celebrate community-led built environment projects that have transformed their locality. They are supported by the Scottish Government, and are unique in Scotland as a national celebration of good design and conservation nominated by local people.
Winner: Catherine Street Inclusive Park
A working group led by parents of disabled children formed in 2018 to campaign for an inclusive play space in Dumfries. They were frustrated that their children didn’t have accessible space to play and socialise.
With the dream of redeveloping a run-down local playpark, the working group was constituted as ‘Include Us’ (a SCIO). Following community consultation, the group successfully raised £225,000 from trusts, community fundraising and Dumfries and Galloway Council.
The concept for Catherine Street Inclusive Park is “welcoming, inclusive and naturally playful.” The park has a unique design with physical, social and sensory play in mind. Visitors to the park can play with waterwheels, sand chutes and trampolines. Through partnerships with carer groups, autism and disability groups, mental health services and employability services, the park offers a variety of activities to support community cohesion and skills development.
Since opening in 2020, the park has been a hub of activity, supporting health and wellbeing. Described as a ‘community centre without walls’, the park encourages all age groups and abilities to share a space and spend recreation time side-by-side.
The judges said:“Entries to the 2023 My Place Awards were of extremely high quality, but what made Catherine Street Inclusive Park stand out from the crowd was its engagement with the local community. The project achieved a model of sustainable growth through embedding itself in the community, and is a model for future projects.”
Download the full media release about My Place Award winner Catherine Street Inclusive Park.
Entries to the 2024 My Place Awards are now open! The My Place Awards are free to enter and open to buildings, public realm schemes and designed landscapes in Scotland.
My Place Photography
The My Place Photography Competition encourages young people aged 4-18 to use photography to explore the buildings, architecture and archaeology in the places they live. The theme of the 2022 competition was My Place, My Space, My Story.
Imogen Campbell from Canal View Primary School, Edinburgh won the Primary-age category for their photograph ‘Outside the Shopping Centre’.
Grace Flynn from Kilsyth Academy, North Lanarkshire won the Secondary-age category for their photograph ‘Life Through a Puddle’.
