January 2025
Limehurst is a residential estate in Oldham — a community facing multiple layers of deprivation including high unemployment, poor health outcomes and limited access to opportunity. When Regenda Homes approached Upturn to design a community-based employment and enterprise programme, the ambition was significant but the path was far from clear.
The community was sceptical of outside organisations promising change. Trust had to be earned before any programme could begin.
Upturn’s first step was to listen — genuinely and without pre-conceived ideas. The team held a series of community listening events, knocking on doors, sitting in community spaces and speaking with residents about what they wanted, not what the programme specification assumed they needed.
What emerged was a picture of a community with enormous latent entrepreneurial energy — people who had been running informal services, creative businesses and community enterprises for years without support or recognition. The barrier was not ambition. It was access to knowledge, networks and credibility.
Upturn designed a bespoke programme that combined enterprise education, one-to-one business coaching, access to start-up funding guidance, and connections to Hive Oldham — all delivered in community settings that residents trusted. Crucially, the programme was co-designed with residents throughout, not imposed on them.
Over the course of the programme, 30 new businesses were started by residents of Limehurst Village — ranging from childcare and cleaning services to creative arts, catering and community enterprises. Employment outcomes improved across the estate, and the programme won regional recognition as a model of place-based delivery.
“Upturn created a bespoke approach to helping our residents with employment, skills, training and enterprise support. The outputs have been numerous — the impacts significant. Individuals, families and the whole community have benefited enormously from their work. — Regional Director, Regenda Homes”