Next time you stroll along London’s South Bank, on the south side of the river Thames, sipping a café latte or browsing the book stalls before catching a film at the National Film Theatre, take a moment to reflect on the area’s extraordinary revival in fortunes.

Just 30 years ago the South Bank was derelict. Factories and wharves were closing down, and people were moving away. The Greater London Council wanted to fill the space with office blocks, but the remaining residents clubbed together to save and revive their community. They drew up plans for housing, parks and leisure facilities.

And in 1984, the Coin Street Community Builders – a development trust and social enterprise set up by the residents – bought the whole site. Gradually, the area was redeveloped back into a thriving community where people live, work and play.

That’s regeneration in action.

Various niches

Regeneration is a fairly new career field, and a pretty broad one too. It can mean redeveloping derelict urban areas, or encouraging economic growth in small rural economies. You could be giving life skills to excluded teenagers, or doing graphic design for a landscaping project. You can work in the private, public or voluntary sectors. But whatever the niche, you’ll be working on something with tangible results for communities.

Patsy Laverty works on the frontline in regeneration. She trained in community development and education, and now works as a youth development worker for Groundwork Northern Ireland. Groundwork is a group of UK charities working to improve the environment, communities and businesses. Laverty’s job is to bridge the divides between Protestant and Catholic teenagers, and to improve their access to services.

Frontline work

“We work at the interface,” said Laverty. “The interface is the term for an area between Catholics and Protestants in east Belfast, and it’s about changing the environment and trying to bring the violence to an end. There isn’t much violence now the teenagers have a youth forum, and they’re working quite well together. But now we’re going to be doing a programme around racism towards the groups that are coming into Northern Ireland, like the Chinese or Asian communities.”

For that project, Laverty is taking groups of teenagers to meet people in other communities, and then going with them to Burnley, the scene of race riots in 2001. In Burnley, she will organise workshops with different groups of teenagers to help them see the violence from different points of view.

Regenerating people

“I find it very satisfying when you see you have changed just one person’s views,” she said. “Our work isn’t just about regenerating areas, but about regenerating people as well, and their views on the whole area they live in.”

Move a step back from the frontline, and there’s a whole layer of other regeneration jobs, many of them in local authorities. Practically every local authority has a regeneration department with a remit and funding to improve the physical and social health of the area, through town planning or community projects.

“Regeneration means different things to different people,” said Chris Clarke, regeneration manager at South Tyneside Council. “For some, it’s very much a physical process - rebuilding places like London’s Canary Wharf, making old areas more iconic and modern.

Social regeneration

“But a lot of practitioners are right at the other end, working in social regeneration. That might be organising projects to help people access work through training and advice, or addressing issues of crime and drugs in disadvantaged areas.”

He finds the work satisfying because he can see the difference his work makes to a community. But Clarke also warns of frustrations, like having to find funding. Working in regeneration can include a lot of scrabbling around for grants, and the satisfaction of your dream scheme will soon wane if you can’t actually finish it.

“A lot of projects get money in the short-term and then are forever running around trying to remain sustainable in the long-term,” he said. “It can be a challenge making sure that regeneration is truly sustainable.”

Central regeneration bodies

You might be able to wield more influence even further from the frontline, working in one of the central regeneration bodies like the British Urban Regeneration Association, the Government’s Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, or for an umbrella organisation like the Development Trusts Association.

That’s where many of the big decisions are made, but many have only limited opportunities for graduates. English Partnerships is a notable exception. It’s a national regeneration agency that works directly with the Government on regeneration policies. In November 2004 it launched a two-year graduate training scheme, taking on 12 people a year at a starting salary of £21,000.

Graduate programme

Pamela Lewis, head of people development at English Partnerships, said: “The graduate development programme will appeal to the ‘specialist-generalist’ - those who have the potential to combine their specific expertise with the business acumen demanded of contractual negotiations, the immense pressures of complex project management, or the communication skills required for community consultation.”

Some specific qualifications in regeneration do exist, such as the MA in urban regeneration at the University of Westminster, but regeneration also encompasses many traditional areas like marketing, design and accountancy. It’s possible that the skills you already have can be applied to a job in regeneration. Rather than counting beans for a bank, you could do it for a development trust and feel like you’re making a difference.

Pay and benefits

The negatives? None of these jobs are going to make you rich. The English Partnerships training scheme promises a salary in the high 20s after two years, but you’ll be starting on a lot less in most organisations. Dudley Borough Council recently advertised for a regeneration funding officer in the £28,173 - £33,750 band, but that’s a fairly senior job.

You’ll also need to be realistic about how much change you can really bring about. The closer you are to the front line, the more you’ll see the difference a regeneration project can make.


English Partnerships
www.englishpartnerships.co.uk

Development Trusts Association
www.dta.org.uk

Neighbourhood Renewal Unit
www.neighbourhood.gov.uk