Snook are working on an exciting project that re-imagines the High Street of Stirling. We are holding events and workshops between the 31st August and the 3rd of September at 35 Stirling Arcade, King Street, Stirling.

This short video explains the thinking behind ‘Start Up Street’, what’s involved and how you can become part of it.

The High Street is the central space of villages, towns and cities and has been challenged by changes in the pattern of retail, of leisure, and living. In many High Streets in many settlements, there are vacant and underutilised assets. In some cases, the High Street is under pressure. It is an issue of concern for many, from businesses, to citizens, to investors. 

Meeting the challenge of how to re-think the High Street as a central place requires creative thinking about how we make the best of what we already have.

The communities in Stirling City Centre recently participated in a co-design exercise to re-think the centre of the City. The Urban Ideas Bakery brought together citizens, officers of the Council, businesses and other stakeholders to look at how the people resources of the city and the spatial resources might be managed differently. Out of this thinking emerged an idea to re-consider King Street as a ‘start up street’, which enables business start ups, scaling of small business and curating events and activities in the public space.

The proposal is to explore how people with ideas, talents and capabilities in the city can be matched with the available spaces in the city, supported by a community of interest. This idea is being tested in a prototype phase to engage a wide range of interests in exploring how the idea works, what is feasible, what is not. The objective is to use this practical method of testing the idea to develop a live project, to start small and build up a sustainable, self supporting enterprise. 

The project is open to anyone with an interest in High Streets, how they work, and how they can be enhanced.

Details of the events to test the Start Up Street Prototype are available, where to register and how to participate are available at this link: http://startupstreetstirling.eventbrite.com/