Dezeen Wire: architecture graduates Lee Wilshire and Nick Varey have launched an initiative called Riot Rebuild to help repair homes and businesses in areas of the UK affected by riots in the past week. 

The pair are calling on architects and building experts to donate their time for free to help communities and businesses repair themselves in the wake of four nights of violence and looting in UK cities.

Get involved on Twitter, Facebook or the project website.

Here are some more details from Wilshire and Varey:

Riot Rebuild aims to kick start rebuilding process

A new initiative has been launched to help those devastated by the recent riots rebuild their homes, businesses and communities.

Riot Rebuild: post-riot urban interventions, Riot Rebuild has brought together people with the ability, skills and know-how to get the rebuilding process underway and completed as soon as possible in all affected towns and cities across England.

They are all prepared to give up their time to help their local communities – and beyond.

“We have a list of professionals and tradespeople willing to provide their expertise and give real help free of charge to help rebuilding projects move swiftly in the right direction,” said Nick Varey. “This could be anything from getting a handyman to repair a bench outside a shop to giving advice on planning issues.”

The initiative is being launched via social networking sites twitter and Facebook. It follows the inspiring community driven twitter clean-up operation @Riotcleanup which saw hundreds of people help clean up London, Birmingham, Manchester, Salford and Liverpool the mornings after the riots of the night before.

“Following the clean-up comes the rebuild”, said Lee Wilshire. “This will be a longer, slower, more painful process and far harder for businesses and residents to get back on their feet as they struggle amongst other things with slow insurance pay-outs or the lack thereof.”

“I want this initiative to be a place to start the rebuild, linking destruction with repair and reconstruction, linking problems with the people who can solve them.”

Riot Rebuild aims to help people with either a business or residential property (owner or leaseholder) who need help either with immediate rebuilding work or down the line with architecture or planning services, and parts of the public realm, however small, that need attention and love.

For more information about how to post your project visit www.riot-rebuild.posterous.com/, follow @riot_rebuild on Twitter, or check out www.facebook.com/pages/Riot-Rebuild/

Back to Dezeen Wire »
Back to Dezeen »