Client:

Meath County Council, Ireland

Project Summary:

The Navan Town Scheme (Navan 2030) sought to provide recommendations for improvements and enhancements to the appearance of Navan town, its public areas, and access in and out of the town center. Meath County Council asked Connect the Dots to engage local business owners in Navan town in order to respond to their input and co-create the implementation process of the Navan2030 town scheme – particularly in relation to a complete reconstruction and revision of the transportation corridors in the town center. By the time we were engaged, the topic was already contentious and contained all the potential for disruption of the business in the area, so it was particularly important to meaningfully communicate with and listen to the community that would be most affected – the business owners.

Methods:

Connect the Dots applied their insight-led process to the challenge – first designing and delivering a focus group of key business leaders in the community, transitioning the results of that feedback into a survey to gather further thoughts from the business community at large, and finally leveraging the combined insights collected to design and deliver a large-scale stakeholder engagement workshop. The workshop was tailored to address the business owners’ hopes and concerns while managing expectations in an effort to co-create an agreeable solution. The workshop created an inclusive, open space for diverse attendees to share challenges and concerns, and jointly develop potential solutions to feed into the next steps regarding communications, design and implementation of the Council’s town scheme.

Results:

• Core to the success of this process was Connect the Dots’ strong communications, outreach, and visual materials that were designed to be as accessible, informational, and engaging as possible.
• People were able to much more clearly understand what was happening in their town – and provide their insights and feedback – due to the strength of the communications and visual materials.
• A feeling of ownership for the project between residents, business owners, and government
• A strong example of a co-created and data-informed workshop
• Findings and actions report

Testimonial:

“Connect the Dots provided comprehensive stakeholder engagement and event management services for the Navan 2030 Project through their clearly defined and comprehensive participation process. I would have no hesitation in recommending them for similar project-related services.” -Client: Cormac Ross, Project Manager for Navan Town Scheme and Transport Specialists

Duration:

Sept 2018 – January 2019