Shaping Places for health and wellbeing Supporting local action on the building blocks of health

Thriving communities need all the right building blocks in place: from safe surroundings and clean air, to decent homes and good jobs, and access to affordable healthy food. Local government has a key role to play in constructing healthy places, by ensuring these building blocks are in place, and repairing or replacing those that are missing or eroded.

Our Health Foundation Shaping Places award programmes are supporting local places across the UK to act on the building blocks of health, to help create places that support the health and wellbeing of all their residents and reduce inequalities in health.

Two programmes are currently running across the UK: in England and Scotland. Each has been co-designed with local systems to ensure that the awards can most effectively help build healthy places in the context of each nation.

Shaping Places for Healthier Lives (England)

Shaping Places for Healthier Lives is a joint grant programme with the Local Government Association where councils work with partners from their local area to improve health and address health inequalities. It is a 3-year programme, running until October 2024.

Five local government-led partnerships have been selected to address food security, mental health, and fear of violence and crime in their communities. The projects will all develop co-ordinated approaches across local systems, to create the conditions that we know lead to better health for communities.

Shaping Places for Wellbeing (Scotland)

Shaping Places for Wellbeing is being delivered in partnership by the Improvement Service and Public Health Scotland, funded and supported by The Health Foundation and Scottish Government, with support from COSLA. It is a 3-year programme, running until March 2024.

The programme supports local authorities, health boards, and their partners to consider the wellbeing of people and the planet in a comprehensive and consistent way across all key decisions about a place.

Shaping Places for Wellbeing (Wales)

Shaping Places for Wellbeing is being delivered by Public Health Wales in collaboration with Health Board Executive Directors of Public Health and their teams, funded and supported by the Health Foundation. It is a 3-year programme running until March 2027.

The programme will work with public service boards on three themes with commonality across Wellbeing Plans: climate and nature emergency, poverty and inequalities and neighbourhood wellbeing. Read more about the programme here in English or Welsh.