Our Approach:

Taking a lessons learnt approach from previous projects, the engagement strategy provisioned for a well-programmed, staged approach to seeking community input, beginning with an initial consultation ahead of business case development. From the outset, it was vital to fully understand the values that the community placed on the town centre, as well as how the centre’s current and proposed facilities were used, and to ensure that these were considered and reflected in the project design. 

Social Atlas commenced the pre-planning work stage with a significant phase of awareness raising, and consultation involving community members, local businesses, future users of the site (including bus drivers, CIT trainers, assessors and students) plus other key stakeholders to capture critical feedback on values, attitudes and priorities for the design of the new education and transport facilities. 

An online survey was developed (with hard copies made available to stakeholders based on channel preference) to capture wide-ranging community views, with bespoke questions developed to ensure targeted end-user input. The survey included questions on design elements such as building height and layout, green space ratios, connectivity to local facilities, public transport integration and sustainability features. It also addressed the key benefits and opportunities the community perceived for the project in both the short and longer term.

Alongside survey development, we facilitated face-to-face engagements with a number of key stakeholders to seek their feedback and a Design and Values Survey Snapshot was developed as a record of the feedback received, which significantly shaped the business case that was ultimately submitted for approval.

Social Atlas also supported the launch of the project including the delivery of all media and public communications, key messaging development and the production of associated assets such as design fly-throughs and renders. 

Moving from pre-planning into the development of the project’s ongoing engagement strategy involved a further significant stage of work to address the risks and associated engagement processes and messaging for distinct user groups including CIT, Transport Canberra and the community as a whole. Sub action plans were produced for each stakeholder group ahead of key project announcements, with Social Atlas leading the coordinated engagement approach on behalf of Major Projects Canberra, Transport Canberra and Canberra Institute of Technology. 

Building the right level of engagement and ensuring the timely publication of information to each user group was key, with pre-alerts released to stakeholders ahead of public media announcements. Equally, ensuring that messaging was regularly refreshed and updated countered communication fatigue. 

We also managed engagement during early-construction works, developing business partnership plans and communicating with the most impacted stakeholders on a range of construction impacts, conducting one-on-one meetings to seek satisfactory mitigation approaches.  This included supporting contractor onboarding and delivering ongoing opportunities for community input. A What We Heard Report was produced consolidating feedback on a range of key issues and this document and the detailed consultation findings were shared with the design and construction contractor to progress with the design concepts, moving to final design stage.