How You Can Help Create Step Change in Your World

Once upon a time many did not see the old walled city in Derry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland, as an asset.

Symbolic of a colonial past it was heavily targeted during the 1970s IRA car bombing campaign.

By the ‘80s, ‘90s and Noughties (long after the car bombs had ended) old buildings of all ages - listed and unlisted - were being bulldozed with alarming regularity, this time in the name of ‘progress’.

Returning to architectural practice after a 1992 SPAB Scholarship, I got involved in numerous conversations with people concerned about saving Derry’s old buildings.

Our extraordinary conversations proved effective intervention and conduit for setting a new intention: a city whose people love their old buildings.

Paying careful attention to that generated and sustained a range of actions by all kinds of people, over years.

The unpredictable results:

✅ Today heritage is the buzzword in numerous local authority strategies here. 

✅ Today the old walled city is Derry’s #1 international tourism destination.

Over 35 years people working together effectively created a U-turn in attitudes to Derry's old buildings.

We achieve step change faster – even against the odds - when we:

1️⃣ Pay attention

2️⃣ Are effective in our intervention

3️⃣ Set a new intention

Want to dig deeper on how you can increase your effectiveness in helping achieve the step-change you need in your work, place, industry, or community?

DM me here.