Today HRH, The Prince of Wales unveiled our new brand as the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community. The announcement came shortly after a visit to Lower marsh, Waterloo. Here, Prince Charles saw first-hand the results of innovative community engagement, an approach which has become the charity’s trademark approach to sustainable development. Our ambassador Kirstie Allsopp accompanied Prince Charles on the visit, highlighting her belief in the importance of community regeneration, based upon the work she does all across the country. A strong advocate of the Foundation’s work, Kirstie has incorporated her own belief in importance of “location, location, location” in her support for the work we do. 

Prince Charles saw the result of our work with Waterloo Quarter Business Improvement District (BID), a relationship which has sought to develop proposals for key sites in the district. 

Referring to his walk around the area, Prince Charles noted the progress of his Foundation over more than a quarter of a century:  “As I walked around Waterloo, it astounds me to think that it was over twenty-five years ago that I started on the rather rough road towards My Foundation. It seemed to me then, as it does still, that the nature of our built environment has a crucial impact on our quality of life.”

Speaking to a large audience of new and old faces at St James’ Palace later in the day, Prince Charles reflected on the history of the charity and celebrated our work both domestically and abroad.

Other speakers included Anne Hope, Director of Hope Homes, who spoke about the work we have done in Knockroon. 

“The strong working partnership that has been established between the Prince’s Foundation, East Ayrshire Council, the local community and ourselves is paying dividends and many more benefits will manifest themselves as the project progresses. Local lives and livelihoods and already being enhanced….effective engagement lies at the heart of this success.”

Kirstie Allsopp, also present at St James’ Palace,  said she was “thrilled” with her first year as an ambassador for the Foundation, and expressed her support for the upcoming work of the charity.

“As the Prince’s Foundation moves into the vanguard of this new crafts revolution and seeks to empower the public with these ideas, It’s so important that we promote sustainable design in our neighbourhoods and our homes; and that we think about the idea of community and the people that live and work at the heart of these places.”

As part of our rebranding, we have emphasised that we are focussed on creating sustainably planned, built and maintained communities to improve the quality of life of everyone who’s part of them. We are determined to show that they help us both live better at a local level and start dealing with the broader global challenges of urbanisation and climate change. 

The new face of the Foundation designed to connect with everyone whether it be through engagement, education or empowerment, allowing for our work and message to have the maximum impact in the communities we aim to improve.

One of the best examples of our work seeking to connect with an array of people has been The Prince’s House, an Eco Home which attracted over 250,000 visitors last spring and people are still continuing to come and see it. A new version of a Prince’s House will be exhibited for a second year running at this year’s Ideal Home Show, both in England and in Scotland later this year. 

The popularity of The Prince’s House at the Ideal Home Show is a clear example of the fact that the work we have advocated for decades is now the centre of debate, receiving more and more attention. Our new image designed to give that message a wider appeal. 

We have always focussed on putting local people at the heart of our work in a wide range of global projects from Africa, Asia, Europe to America. This is equally true of the Building Skill education programme. Hundreds of students from apprentices to MA students have gone through our doors, and all have emerged with a unique perspective. 

As Prince Chares unveiled the new brand, this sentiment was supported by Ben Collyns, a thatching building craft apprentice currently enrolled with the prince’s Foundation. Speaking eloquently about heritage skills he suggested that our programmes filled a gap that weren’t to be found anywhere else.

During the conference, Prince Charles was awarded a prestigious patronage prize by Richard Driehaus and the university of Notre Dame. The Prince announced that the prize money would be given to us to help launch our building skills diploma strengthening our education offering. Prince Charles joined past winners including Leon Krier, Allan Greenberg and Andres Duany in being awarded the The Driehaus Prize, awarded to those who recognise the importance of cultural and environmental conservation.  

Besides our brand and revamped identity, we also launched our new “corporate community” project. This nework of enlightened businesses aims to provide a platform where they can take a leading role in the community. BP, Gleeds and AkzoNobel were one of the first businesses to join our network as corporate pioneers. 

Why not join us as we embark upon that new journey and become a member, so that you can not only enjoy the benefits of becoming a member of the Foundation, but also become part of the process of engaging, educating and empowering people. 

HRH The Prince of Wales visits Waterloo

HRH The Prince of Wales visited Lower Marsh, Waterloo, on Friday 27 January to see our ongoing projects in the area, focussing on engaging local residents and empowering them to make positive changes in their community.