The initiative, a partnership between the company and Public Voice: Common Ground, reclaims five parking spaces at Romerils carpark in Hue Street, turning them into flexible seating for around 30 people.

Founder of the ‘Public Voice: Common Ground’ project, which previously saw a ‘mini park’ installed at the Weighbridge, Sasha Gibb said that the new space was already proving popular.

“Although it has only opened this week, it is already drawing quite a crowd and provides a natural square on a different scale from the Weighbridge project,” she said, referring to another of the converted public spaces at the heart of the initiative.

Creating temporary spaces for those who live and work in St. Helier is one of the objectives of Mrs Gibb’s project, part-sponsored by the Government’s Economy Department last year, as it seeks to re-define the public realm.

“The pop-up perch is a temporary intervention showing what’s possible and offering a place to come together, read a book or just take a break in the heart of old St. Helier,” Mrs Gibb explained.

Listen: Sasha Gibb previously spoke about the project on the Bailiwick Podcast – listen above or via your favourite podcast provider.

The project is driven by what Mrs Gibb describes as “the needs of islanders”, expressed through a public survey already completed by almost 2,000 people and still available using QR codes at the project sites or online.

The latest pop-up perch, based on designs by Heather Lamy at Antony Gibb Ltd and Bruce Labey from the government’s Parks and Gardens department, is open daily to all islanders.

It is designed for wheelchair users and uses existing planters, structural planting by partners Ransoms Garden Centre and recycled vegetable planters by Acorn Industries.

A number of free events have been scheduled in the space, including a film night of short films made by local makers on 21 September between 8.30 and 9.30pm and a soup kitchen made from locally grown vegetables by Grow.

Romerils’ Chair Mark Syvret said they were delighted to be involved in the discussion about the future of our land and how we live and work together.

“As a business in St. Helier, we recognise that we must challenge our thinking of how we do this. Building the pop-up perch and working with Public Voice: Common Ground is the first step in considering these important issues for our society,” he said.

READ MORE…

Ms Gibb spoke in-depth about the ‘Public Voice: Common Ground’ projectin the July edition of Connect Magazine, which you can read in full below…