Visitor Attraction Consultants
Planning Solutions Consulting brings deep expertise to visitor attraction and visitor centre projects. Our portfolio spans historic properties, farm parks, museums, heritage centres, castles, steam railways, science discovery centres, nature reserves and forests — working with both established attractions and new developments.
Our clients include Pembrokeshire County Council, Natural Resources Wales, Forestry England, the South Downs National Park Authority, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Eden Project North, Sunderland City Council, Tenby Museum and Art Gallery, East Lothian Council and Historic Environment Scotland.
What We Do
For existing attractions, we specialise in operational reviews and collaborative work with client teams to identify opportunities for enhancing the visitor experience, increasing visitor numbers, increasing dwell time and developing income streams.
For proposed new attractions and visitor centres, our work encompass options appraisals, market assessments, feasibility studies, governance advice and business planning. We also conduct primary research. One of our directors spent 13 years leading the marketing and supporting the development of the visitor experience at CONKERS, bringing hands-on commercial insight to every project.
Find out more about our visitor centre and visitor attraction projects here.
Real Operational Experience
What sets us apart is that our sister company, Planning Solutions Limited, doesn’t just consult — it invests in and operates visitor experiences directly. These include CONKERS, a 120-acre woodland experience with two visitor centres in the National Forest; Kent Life, a heritage farm park in Maidstone; and Cotswold Beach and Country Park, complete with a hotel and the Burton Bridge Brerwery. From 2010 to 2022, the company also managed the National Brewery Centre (formerly the Bass Museum) in Burton upon Trent.
This means our team has lived experience of running visitor attractions, event spaces, activity experiences, cafés, gift shops, volunteer programmes, membership schemes, education services and tourist accommodation. We understand the real challenges operators face — and how to build projects that are financially sustainable, visitor-focused and community-minded, while contributing to education, learning, volunteering, placemaking and the local economy.
We combine that operational grounding with rigorous critical analysis and genuinely independent advice.
Our clients have been appreciative of our work: “Planning Solutions Consulting Limited were contracted by Natural Resources Wales to undertake a short exercise examining the potential, opportunities and risks around running visitor centres. We found Planning Solutions Consulting to be efficient and thorough, applying their expertise in a professional manner throughout. They were able to add value for us to the contract, by suggesting new elements. The draft and final reports were of an excellent standard and addressed all aspects of our brief well. Communications throughout – and since – the contract have been great – the team were approachable, reachable and able to answer queries and address new points well.” Roz Owen, Recreation and Access Manager, Natural Resources Wales
Contact us
If you have any questions or would like to discuss our work within the visitor centre and visitor attractions sectors please don’t hesitate to call Richard Linington on 07866 742628 or email richard@pslplan.co.uk
This page and front page Eden Project Morecambe image credit: Eden Project and Grimshaw Architects.