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Project showcase

Let's Go Circular, Cambridge – Grand Arcade Shopping Centre Management Team owned by Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited with Grand Arcade Shopping Centre Management Team

“Let’s Go Circular” showcased some of the best circular economy initiatives from across Cambridgeshire through different types of activations inside the Grand Arcade, from a Repair Café to sewing lessons, including recipes to cook a meal out of food that would have gone to waste, tips about how to recycle in Cambridgeshire and science activities about the importance of regenerating our wildlife.

 

 

Who is on the project team? 

 

Grand Arcade Shopping Centre / Julie Kervadec.

 

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and people?

 

“Let’s Go Circular” project showcased some of the best circular economy initiatives from across Cambridgeshire through different types of activations inside Grand Arcade, focusing on the three pillars of the Circular Economy: 

 

- Design out waste and pollution 

 

- Keep products and materials in use

 

- Regenerate natural systems

 

Grand Arcade is the most central shopping centre of Cambridge, visited by 40% of people who come to the city. We wanted to use our privileged platform of communication to amplify the voice and impact from the community.

 

That’s why we invited twenty local organisations to present their initiatives and practical tools with a wider audience, offering a space to learn and experience:

 

- What truly means “circular”? A word becoming mainstream but not always understood.

- How to transition towards a circular lifestyle or business model?

 

We transformed three shops to offer a free programme of fifteen interactive workshops, and imagined an exhibition space across the entire customer journey.

 

From a Repair Café to sewing lessons, recipes to cook a meal out of food that would have gone to waste, tips about how to recycle in Cambridgeshire, and science activities about the importance of regenerating our wildlife, the objective was to address each of the Circular Economy pillars.

 

Our retailers, such as John Lewis & Partners, Vans, Primo Cycles, and Polarn O. Pyret also took part into the event with relevant business initiatives.

 

What started as a nine-day event, has now become an on-going initiative we are proud of!

 

How did you enliven the place? 

 

The event enlivened the entire shopping centre over nine days, with multiple installations:

 

- three empty units repurposed into pop-ups (surface: 6,814 sq ft), out of which two remained in activity post-event.

 

- series of interactive exhibitions and stands in the walkways – e.g. cooking lesson by a famous chef to learn how to avoid food waste.

 

- innovative upcycled pieces of equipment, in collaboration with our retailers – e.g. abandoned bike upcycled into a device-charging bike, displays to collect beauty products’ packaging.

 

We created the brand “Let’s Go Circular” and designed a unique campaign explaining the Circular Economy principles, online and on-site.

 

We renamed a unit “Let’s Go Circular” and painted the Reuse–Refill–Repair concept in the window. This place became a hub to learn, collaborate, and connect with people around various circular initiatives:

 

- repair café

 

- sewing classes to upcycle or repair clothes

 

- library to donate and reuse sheet music

 

- activities to recycle old books

 

- superhero-hub to imagine disguises out of waste

 

- packs to cook a meal out of ingredients being sent to waste

 

Another unit was occupied by Cambridge Science Centre with exhibits, shows and activities, focusing on biodiversity, our living world and its ecosystems.

 

A third unit was offered to the environmentalist Cindy Forde. We transformed the shopfront into a page of her book “Bright New World: Building A Better Planet”. Cindy invited families to imagine a better future covering the walls with powerful drawings and messages (which brought us to tears!).

 

How did you engage the community? 

 

The centre footfall for the week was 325,060 with +5% of footfall year on year on the opening day. Following big shops’ closures (e.g.Topshop), our first floor has a current occupancy rate of 50% and lower footfall. Thanks to the pop-ups, we saw a footfall increase of up to +19% year on year.

 

Our event was featured 17 times in the press, including BBC National News, BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra and Asian Network, The I Paper, and all the local/regional publications.

 

Most of the workshops got fully booked through our website. Both attendees and organisations involved asked for more, which was the best recognition and symbol of success we could expect.

 

Cambridge Science Centre’s space was so successful (13,074 visitors to date) that they remain with us until April minimum (which also represents £33,516 of savings in rates). 96.2% of people said it improved their visit. 84.6% said they’d be more likely to visit us again if they knew this pop-up was there.

 

Let’s Go Circular unit also remained in use, with these upcoming activities:

 

- Circular Fashion weekend with art students

 

- ‘Reuse Materials to Save the Planet’ workshop with Cambridge University engineering students

 

- Workshops about how to repair and transform your wardrobe

 

- Repair Cafes series with Cambridge Carbon Footprint

 

- More ‘Reuse your old books’ workshops with Cambridge Libraries

 

By running activities throughout the year, we want to ensure constant activation and engagement around this crucial topic.

 

Additionally, we will repeat the event in October!

 

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? 

 

It is the very first time a shopping centre organises an event focused on the Circular Economy concept, raising awareness among 325,060 visitors.

 

We gave practical examples of what individuals and businesses can do to lessen their lifestyle impact on the world – for example:

 

• 47 items were brought to our Repair Cafe. Buying these items new would have released approximately 700kg of CO2, equivalent to driving 2,900 miles.

 

• Stands to calculate your carbon footprint.

 

• 15 items were repurposed or repaired during our sewing workshops, keeping them away from landfill!

 

• Celebrity chef Tristan Welch (3 million likes on TikTok) cooked live in front of 12,519 visitors, explaining that 24 million pumpkins were bought for Halloween in Britain, and 60% were uneaten. He raised awareness about food waste, demonstrating what to do with your pumpkin flesh.

 

• Impington College students invented a choreography representing ‘why we need a circular economy’ performing in front of 4,531 visitors.

 

• Renowned environmentalist Cindy Forde asked families “what if a world of solar-powered vehicles, regenerated rainforests, recovering coral reefs and wave-powered electricity was possible?” making them reflect on what they would like to see/do to help the planet…

 

All installations used recycled, recyclable or reusable materials. Finding recyclable vinyl’s was a challenge, which required a lot of research. This made us more aware of the further steps we must take, in our industry.

 

In addition to the public campaign, we communicated internally to reinforce our good practices with our tenants.

Thank you to Vestre and Wates Group for generously supporting The Pineapples 2025

 

 

Final entry deadline

28 November 2024

 

Festival of Pineapples

25-27 February

 

Pineapples prize giving night

March

 

Pineapples at Festival of Place

2 July

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