A POP-UP ‘perch’ in Romerils’ car park in Hue Street is the latest public space for Islanders to ‘hang out with no agenda’ in the heart of St Helier.
The initiative, a partnership between the company and Public Voice: Common Ground, reclaims five parking spaces, turning them into flexible seating for around 30 people.
The founder of the Public Voice: Common Ground project, Sasha Gibb, said that the new space was already proving popular.
‘Although it has only opened this week, it is already drawing quite a crowd and provides a natural square on a different scale from the Weighbridge project,’ she said, referring to another of the converted public spaces at the heart of the initiative.
Creating temporary spaces for those who live and work in town is one of the objectives of Mrs Gibb’s project, part-sponsored by the government’s Economy Department last year, as it seeks to redefine the public realm.
‘The pop-up perch is a temporary intervention showing what’s possible and offering a place to come together, read a book or just take a break in the heart of old St Helier,’ Mrs Gibb explained.
The project is driven by what Mrs Gibb describes as ‘the needs of Islanders’, expressed through a public survey already completed by almost 2,000 people and still available using QR codes at the project sites or online at: linktr.ee/publicvoice utm_source=linktree_profile_share.
The latest pop-up perch, based on designs by Heather Lamy at Antony Gibb Ltd and Bruce Labey from the government’s Parks and Gardens department, is open daily to all Islanders.
It is designed for wheelchair users and uses existing planters, structural planting by partners Ransoms Garden Centre and recycled vegetable planters by Acorn Industries.
A number of free events have been scheduled in the space, including a film night of short films made by local makers on 21 September between 8.30pm and 9.30pm and a soup kitchen made from locally grown vegetables by Grow.
Romerils’ chair Mark Syvret said: ‘As a business in St Helier, we recognise that we must challenge our thinking of how we do this. Building the pop-up perch and working with Public Voice: Common Ground is the first step in considering these important issues for our society.’
