About the Awards for Community Inspired Regeneration

Since 1994 the BURA Awards for Community Inspired Regeneration have focused on the practices of successful community-based charities and social enterprise organisations throughout the UK taking ownership of regeneration in their local areas to address unmet needs. The emphasis is on community inspiration and empowerment, where local communities identify the issues they face and work together with a range of partners to find and implement solutions, taking a greater control over the environment in which they live.

The Awards recognise projects that have been operating for a number of years and can demonstrate a track record of success, ensuring that only exceptional schemes that have brought significant improvements and long-term benefits to their local communities are selected as examples of Best Practice.

Over the past 14 years, more than 100 awards have been made. They include projects that are hugely diverse in terms of age, issues and location and range from community-based arts or planning initiatives to projects addressing poor quality of housing, acute health and social inequality as well as physical regeneration schemes such as multi-use community centres. All award winners receive recognition at a prestigious ceremony, traditionally held at the House of Lords.

All winners were inspired by the desire of local people to shape and influence their own futures.