A collaborative workshop has been held to generate and shape the community initiatives that will come out of the new Velindre Cancer Centre (nVCC) development.
Nearly 50 stakeholders, people either involved in the build from the Acorn Consortium, Sacyr UK, a partner from an organisation connected with the new facility, or local community leaders, gathered at Cardiff and Vale College to come up with a strategy on how the cancer centre could benefit the local community.
Facilitated by Cwmpas, formerly known as the Wales Co-operative Centre, the stakeholders were split into seven groups and were tasked with coming up with ideas on issues such as mental health, digital inclusion, economic stability, health and wellbeing, food sustainability, and community engagement.
Ideas generated by the workshops included potential initiatives such as a Velindre Walking Trail to connect local charities and voluntary organisations in joint community engagement, to a Community Enterprise Hub, which would create a co-operative to look at local procurement opportunities for local businesses.
nVCC project director David Powell explained that the workshop – officially called a Hackathon – was designed to bring people together to examine the resources available to solve the challenge of engaging the local community in the project.
“It was such a constructive day, where likeminded people came together to offer different perspectives on community engagement, what the local community needs, what can be achieved and who it will benefit.
“Collaboration was key and what came out of it were some really innovative ideas that were all devised with people at the heart of them, which was great to see.”
Ongoing discussions with the wider community are continually taking place and will continue to happen over the next three years of the project. Community benefit and engagement initiatives connected with the centre will be decided upon and discussed in various forums over the coming months and years, with continuing opportunities for people to get involved, all of which will be advertised locally.
As part of the new Velindre Cancer Centre build, Acorn, the consortium that has financially backed the project, is required to fulfil a certain number of Community Benefit Initiatives to benefit the local area, including 100 volunteering days from project staff by the end of the build in 2027. To ensure all applications for support are assessed and judged independently, a governance board has been set up.
David Powell added: “The new Velindre Cancer Centre will be a vital and invaluable facility for Wales that will provide world-class cancer care for generations to come, and we also want any community benefit initiatives that come out of it to also be vital and important to the centre’s neighbours and friends. We want the centre to integrate properly within its community and offer benefits to those who live nearby.
“The next steps will be to take these ideas, and those that have been generated in other forums and meetings, to the nVCC’s Community Governance Board to see which initiatives we’d like to take forward or examine further, with a view to making them a reality, which is a really exciting prospect.”
If you’d like to attend the next workshop at 10am on October 30th, book your place at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/acornsacyr-uk-new-velindre-cancer-centre-hackathon-update-tickets-1042054321527?aff=erelexpmlt
For more information about the new Velindre Cancer Centre project and the social value work that is going on there, visit: www.newvelindre.info/home.