Two Alsager businessmen have come together and are working on a project involving the Manchester School of Architecture to help shape the future of an area of Milton Park. 

Architect, Alex Melhuish founder of founder and owner of Home Coffee Alsager & Home Studio Architects and Alex Hough, who owns the building at Two door Studio, have formed a new local arts enterprise - Studiolab. 

Studiolab has tasked a group of students from the Manchester School of Architecture to reinvent the current skatepark and design a place for entertainment. 

And on Monday (May 13th) the students are having a pop-up stall at Alsager Civic at 10 am to speak to the U3A and get feedback on possible ideas. 

"We came together to try to spark some local interest/happenings around Alsager and within the arts and technology fields," said Alex Melhuish. 

"This is our first project which we're excited about. The students are tasked with designing (or reimagining) the area of Milton Park where the skate ramps are and the area used as a car park at the entrance from Bank Corner.  

"We are hoping to engage with local people to see how they might see the spaces enhanced to improve the access to the park to make it more attractive and safer, upgrade the skate ramps to create a destination place in the town and create a more flexible space which could suit other uses such as being part of a stage for the Music Festival or perhaps a pop-up market space." 

The students are tasked with designing (or reimagining) the area of Milton Park where the skate ramps are and the area used as a car park at the entrance from Bank Corner. 

Studiolab is an emerging organisation which builds on Alex Hough's interests as an "Alsager-trained artist" - he studied contemporary art at the college on Hassall Road and his involvement with research into the future of the high street with the Insitute of Place Management. 

"When I first saw Alex Melhuish's cafe had a studio room it struck me that we should collaborate on a creative high street project with him at one end and me at the other," said Alex Hough. 

"It's a case of right person and the right time and the right place. This project with the Manchester School of Architecture seems similarly timely to me. 

"It's an opportunity to focus our collective attention on Alsager with the help of a first-class international team of trainee architects." 

Meanwhile the students have set up their own blog page here for the project here and are equally excited about the project. 

"Our project aims to initiate beneficial change for the community of Alsager through a real design project - on a real site," they say. 

"The brief asks for reinventing the current skatepark and designing a place for entertainment, where people can meet on a daily basis and events can be held. 

"The main aspects of our work will focus on urbanism and designing a proposal, informed by the conducted urban research. 

"Alsager is the hometown of our collaborators from StudioLab, so they are deeply invested in bringing about positive change ... "

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