We have worked with a number of community groups wanting a base for meeting, training, social events.

In each case our role has begun with helping people to decide what they want to be able to do; what activities and what groups they want to accommodate. We then work with them to explore what spaces might provide for their needs, and will then work towards sketch design ideas.

Initial meetings might use anything from games to listmaking and brainstorming. Corrugated cardboard is a favourite ingredient of design workshops to look at possible layouts, along with simple "jigsaws" of building spaces which people can experiment with.

Once we start to give form to people's ideas, we tend to use 3D CAD software so we can quickly produce visualisations which show - with remarkable realism - what it would be like to walk through the building and to use it.

The same tools make discussions with other professionals - planners and cost consultants - easier. We try to make the design process accessible and fun.

Following the closure of Oaken Grove school, part of the building was identified for conversion into a community centre. We have worked with the local Community Association to design alterations to the building which suit it to its proposed uses.

We have worked with the management group, with youthwork staff, with young people and with potential users of the building, and have developed ideas using techniques from rough sketches to walk-through computer models.