CABE gives £1.8m to inspire local demand for great architecture

The funds will help architecture centres deliver inspiring projects that encourage communities to get actively involved in the changes occurring in the built environment.

Twenty-one architecture and the built environment centres from around the country will receive funding from CABE over the next two years. The funds will help them deliver inspiring projects that encourage communities to get actively involved in the changes occurring in the built environment around them.

The activities of the architecture centres are specially geared to their regions - from the south-west to the north-east, from London to Liverpool - and reflect local issues such as housing market renewal, sustainability and school design.

CABE's regional funding programme has made awards since 2002 to help support and strengthen architecture and built environment centres.

There will be public debates, support for local councillors, roadshow design projects, and opportunities for pupils, teachers and the wider community to have their say about the schools being built or refurbished under the government's Building Schools for the Future programme.

In East London schools will be involved in learning about architecture around the 2012 London Olympics. In North Staffordshire there will be a green housing demonstration and a large-scale model of Southampton will alert the public to the developments planned for their city. The Architecture Centre in Bristol will explore issues around placemaking and sustainable design through a 'Shaping Neighbourhoods' programme.

Centres receiving funding include:

• Northern Architecture
• Kent Architecture Centre
• Architecture Centre Devon and Cornwall
• Shape East
• Urban Vision North Staffordshire
• beam
• Fundamental Architectural Inclusion
• Nationwide