Pop-up Perch

The pop-up perch was based on community engagement (Gibb, 2022). This showed a need for more public seating in St Helier. Public Voice: Common Ground partnered with Romerils to deliver a pop-up perch to show what’s possible, gather feedback and offering a place to come together, read a book or just take a break in the heart of St Helier.

The design brief was to transform 4 company car parking spaces into safe, flexible and accessible seating for 35. It used existing Romerils pallet boards and echoed the pallet of the buildings making the square. Acorn Industries made planters growing tomatoes and Ransoms Garden Centre provided planting to support existing Romerils planters.

Mark Syvret, Romerils Chairman: ‘Romerils are 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.’

What happened

·       98% of chalk board responses said they’d like to see more spaces like this in St Helier.

·       ‘Film at the Perch’ brought an audience of 60 together for an open-air screening. It championed the work of 11 local film makers and the 13th Parish Film Festival. Many brought blankets, food and drink to share.

·       A site with no people became a safe and desirable place to meet, read and eat lunch.

·       The perch was a case study for trials of more public seating in parking spaces in Jersey.

·       Planning permission has been approved to implement a permanent public realm based on the pop-up perch community data.