Events archive (2006-2012)

London Women’s Design Groups project meeting and meal - Thursday 4th August 4.00-8.00pm (meeting at City Hall 4.00-6.00pm, followed by a meal 6.30-8.00pm)

All of you who have been involved in our Women’s Design Groups in London are invited to attend this culmination event at City Hall to celebrate the successes of the project and to explore opportunities for the future, including an opportunity for women involved to join the London Access Forum, continuing to enable women’s voices to be heard in planning for the City.

As a thank-you for your input we would also like to take you out for a meal at a restaurant close to City Hall on the South Bank.

FREE Voluntary & Community Sector Building Management Training FULLY BOOKED Thurs 11th August 2011, 9.30am - 3.00pm at Voluntary Action Islington, 200a Pentonville Road, London N1 9JP (within the NIDO complex)

For anyone involved in or responsible for managing a community building. This training session will enable participants to reduce maintenance and development costs of buildings currently occupied or which participants propose to manage, lease or purchase

Training will be delivered by a chartered surveyor for WDS. We have more than 20 years of experience in delivering technical aid and advice to VCS organisations in London. For more information on WDS please visit our website www.wds.org.uk

This training is being offered as part of the London Premises Project, funded by the Big Lottery’s BASIS programme. Our partners on the project are the Development Trust Association, Community Action Network, Ethical Property Foundation, Community Matters, Ealing Community Resource Centre and Aston Mansfield

Toilet Talk: Women’s Needs

WDS seminar looking at why the needs of women aren’t met when it comes to public toilets Monday 25th July 2011, 2.30pm - 6.00pm at the Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT

When it comes to public toilets, women’s needs just aren’t being met; WDS believes that this undermines the creation of towns and cities that are accessible for all.

Bringing together experts in the field to discuss the issues affecting women as a result of the provision, accessibility and safety of public conveniences. We’ll look at the British Standard on public toilets and talk about how women can influence the relevant decision-makers for improvements to their local facilities.

There will also be a chance to see excerpts from WDS and Marie Lenclos’ short film in-progress on this subject.

Join us for an afternoon of presentations and discussion followed by a reception with drinks and light refreshments.

Speakers include:

-Prof. Clara Greed, Professor of Inclusive Urban Planning, University of the West of England

-Michelle Barkley, Committee Member, Code of Practice for the Provision of Public Toilets and Technical Director, Chapman Taylor Architects

-Jo-Anne Bichard, Research Fellow, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art

AN INTRODUCTION TO URBAN DESIGN: Thursday 14th April 2011, 18.30 - 20.30 at Tindlemanor, 52-54 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8RT Map

This three hour workshop is an interactive session where you will be taken through the basic principles of urban design and masterplanning, including how to read maps and masterplans to re-designing a famous part of our city into your vision for the future and a chance to get creative!

FREE to members of Women’s Design Service and to Women’s Design Group Members (details on how to join here) For non-members £20 (waged) £10 (unwaged)

Discussion: ‘Going Public’, at Women of the World Festival, Saturday 12th March , 12.00 – 13.00, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX Map

From pushchair access to security and lighting, from toilets to lad mags in supermarkets, women’s relationship with public space is a challenging one. What role should women play in redesigning our world?

WDS Director Dr Barbra Wallace and WDS Associate Prof Clara Greed will be speaking at this panel discussion organised by the London Feminist Network as part of the Southbank Women of the World Festival. More about the Women of the World Festival here

WOMEN AND WORSHIP: NEW APPROACHES TO SACRED SPACE Wednesday 16th March, 1.30pm - 5.30pm at Queen Mary, University of London City Centre Seminar Room, Francis Bancroft Building

This half-day seminar forms the final element of ‘Women, Worship and Space’, a Women’s Design Service project funded by the Faiths in Action strand of the Department of Communities & Local Government. Religious practices are often replicated in social and domestic rituals, but how acceptable space for women is determined by their faith is poorly understood in the wider community. This project brings women from different communities together to create shared space for dialogue, by exploring sacred spaces and how they are used.

Drawing on previous visits to sacred spaces and narrative work with women of faith in east London, we shall ask:

SPEAKERS:

Patrick Anderson - Planning Advisor, Planning Aid for London

Dr Amanda Claremont - Chair, Women’s Design Service / LWPF

Dr Ann David - Principal Lecturer, Department of Dance, Roehampton University

Dr HaeRan Shin - Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Planning / LWPF

Dr Barbra Wallace - Director, Women’s Design Service

To be followed by group discussion and a drinks reception.

FREE VOLUNTARY & COMMUNITY SECTOR BUILDING MANAGEMENT TRAINING Thurs 10th March 2011, 9.30am - 3.00pm at Voluntary Action Islington, 200a Pentonville Road, London N1 9JP (within the NIDO complex)

For anyone involved in or responsible for managing a community building. This training session will enable participants to reduce maintenance and development costs of buildings currently occupied or which participants propose to manage, lease or purchase

How to book: Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Training will be delivered by a chartered surveyor for WDS. We have more than 20 years of experience in delivering technical aid and advice to VCS organisations in London. For more information on WDS please visit our website www.wds.org.uk

This training is being offered as part of the London Premises Project, funded by the Big Lottery’s BASIS programme. Our partners on the project are the Development Trust Association, Community Action Network, Ethical Property Foundation, Community Matters, Ealing Community Resource Centre and Aston Mansfield

AN INTRODUCTION TO URBAN DESIGN: training for women

Weds 19th January 2011, 6pm - 9pm

At Tindlemanor, 52-54 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8RT Map

This three hour workshop is an interactive session where you will be taken through the basic principles of urban design and masterplanning, including how to read maps and masterplans to re-designing a famous part of our city into your vision for the future and a chance to get creative!

FREE to members of Women’s Design Service and to Women’s Design Group Members (details on how to join here) £40 non-members

Join us and kick-start the new year with some new skills.

Booking form Word document (500kb)

Booking form PDF (500kb)

London Women’s Design Groups Open Evening: Weds 27th October, 4.00 - 6.30pm

Open to existing group members, and women interested in joining, or becoming volunteers. Join us for drinks and nibbles and meet Amy Kennedy, our new Project Manager, on this exciting London Councils-funded project which aims to get more women involved in planning. @ Tindlemanor, 52-54 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8RT. Map

FREE VOLUNTARY & COMMUNITY SECTOR BUILDING MANAGEMENT TRAINING Friday 16th July 2010 at Voluntary Action Islington, 200a Pentonville Road, London N1 9JP (within the NIDO complex)

For anyone involved in or responsible for managing a community building. This training session will enable participants to reduce maintenance and development costs of buildings currently occupied or which participants propose to manage, lease or purchase

Training will be delivered by a chartered surveyor for WDS. We have more than 20 years of experience in delivering technical aid and advice to VCS organisations in London. For more information on WDS please visit our website www.wds.org.uk This training is being offered as part of the London Premises Project, funded by the Big Lottery’s BASIS programme. Our partners on the project are the Development Trust Association, Community Action Network, Ethical Property Foundation, Community Matters, Ealing Community Resource Centre and Aston Mansfield

FREE TRAINING for Women!

Introduction to Planning - Wednesday 7th July, 5.00-7.00pm at Tindlemanor, 52-54 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8RT. Learn how to engage with the planning system more effectively and find out about and respond to planning documents, understand drawings and influence decision making processes. In partnership with Planning Aid for London. Download flyer here (pdf 370kb)

Manchester Women’s Design Group presents: The Changing Shape of Gender and Architectural Space. A lecture and workshop with Dr Jos Boys & Katie Lloyd Thomas on Friday 28th March 2008, 5-8pm, University of Manchester.

In the last 40 years, as architectural approaches have evolved, so have the ways we think about gender and the built environment. The speakers will compare and contrast some of the ideas and work of Matrix feminist architects’ practice (1979-1995) of which Jos Boys was a co-founder, with the current work of ‘taking place’, of which both women are members. They will explore how changes in women’s lives over this period link to changing feminist and architectural approaches. The workshop will focus on how, as practitioners, residents and activists, we can keep up the momentum for creative and constructive developments in spatial design, to benefit the different women who inhabit Britain’s cities in the 21st century.

Dr Jos Boys is an artist and design tutor with a background in architecture and a particular interest in disability and social exclusion and co-author of the key 1984 text ‘Making Space: women and the man-made environment’.

Katie Lloyd Thomas is lecturer and architectural researcher concerned with drawing, text, materials and feminism, and memebr of ‘ taking place ’ www.takingplace.org.uk

Report will be available soon

Islington Women’s Design Group Safety on Our Streets Event 26th February at Tindlemanor

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, (responsible for crime reduction and security) has admitted that she does not feel safe walking the streets of London late at night….. And she has a bodyguard!

A discussion on what can be done to improve safety on our streets, from 10.15am - 1.30pm. Speakers from London Borough of Islington & FinFuture and practical demonstration from Sites UK.

Premises Issues for the Voluntary Sector- Information Day: 18th November 2006, 10.30am-3pm

Women’s Design Service recently completed a piece of work for Islington Voluntary Action Council and also for Kensington and Chelsea Social Council on premises issues for the voluntary sector in those boroughs. We are also aware through the Women’s Resource Centre’s “Why Women” campaign of the serious issues facing the women’s sector in terms of core funding which of course affects the affordability of premises.

At the same time there seem to be a number of initiatives seeking to address these issues; the Change-up programme, the Government’s commitment to transfer assets from local authorities to the voluntary sector, the Big Lottery’s Community Buildings programme etc

We therefore held an information day on Saturday 18th November, 10.30- 3.00pm, with speakers from IVAC, WRC, Community Matters, Ethical Property Foundation and London Rebuilding Society. There was also opportunity for discussion around organisations wanting to put in joint bids to the Lottery or look at other ways of improving their premises situations.

Alternatives: Gender, Community & Regeneration - 11th November 2006

A Liquid Culture day forum with workshops for those working or interested in gender & urban regeneration. Included a workshop run by Women’s Design Service and Women’s Environmental Network on gender & the environment. Organised by Liquid Culture: http://liquidculture.eu