We bring knowledge & insights into current trends & latest research. 

We see our work as a shared journey that builds all participants’ capacity to think creatively & find powerful new solutions in a collaborative way, resulting in projects that really sing.

Experience.

As we are a small group of collaborators, we devote ourselves to a select number of projects that we really care about. Senior staff work on all projects to ensure the benefits of our broad experience and knowledge is realised for all our clients.

Insight.

We look at places from a variety of perspectives including: retail mix, the housing market, migration, innovation, positioning, changing demographics, reputation and inward investment, as well as quality of architecture, identity, microculture, community cohesion and local networks. We look at local character, values, activities, relationships, connections, economies, assets, spaces and buildings. We focus on the lived experience of places.

Ideas.

We specialise in ideas. From team ideas generation workshops, public Ideas-a-thons, ideas hacking activities and targeted stakeholder Ideas Labs, ideas are at the heart of what we do. Together with the teams we work with, we research, generate, refine and shape ideas into workable strategy.

Collaboration.

We work in a highly collaborative way. Our approach is to form a team with our clients and work together to make the project happen, exchanging knowledge, learning from each other, working it out together.

Due to the breadth of our work, we have built up a great network of collaborators across multiple fields including culture, fine art, food and hospitality, events, digital engagement and communications. We often look for ways to deliver our services in a collaborative way with other consultants or in partnership with creatives.

Strategy.

What motivates us above all is seeing positive change come about as a result of our work – to places and to people. This means we always go beyond visioning and get into the nitty-gritty of what should happen, how it should happen and who should be involved in making it happen.

Our strategies are designed to find the sweet spot between impact and deliverability and build a sense of momentum through the process.

Creative Engagement.

We use a range of traditional and creative engagement activities to reach the broadest range of people and invite them to be part of the conversation. Our engagement process generates excitement and a sense of possibility about the project, and our outputs are translated for participants and project leaders  in a way that allows them  to really see their fingerprints on the outcomes.

Our techniques include street-based vox pops, scavenger hunts, interactive workshops, art projects for schoolchildren and online surveys and collaborative working sessions. Our engagement activities include elements such as gamification, participatory artworks, pop ups, live music and photography activities, that create a sense of vibrancy, momentum and positive energy.

Strategic stakeholders are always a strong focus for us in engagement processes – those who can enable, fund, drive, champion or own the projects that are being developed, as well as those with key insights into what will work and how.