Visitor gateway and visitor welcome hub feasibility study

Planning Solutions Consulting Limited specialises in working in the tourism and wider visitor experience sectors. On the projects we work on often there is a careful balance to be achieved between impacts on the environment, host communities and commercial drivers.

Much of our current work involves collaborative working with clients to help them create practical, strategic development plans and more tactical visitor management plans. We are experienced in carrying out detailed market reviews, preparing income generation plans and financial analysis – forecasting visitor numbers, identifying spend levels and cost centres to test the financial viability of development proposals. We also produce detailed business plans to support capital funding projects.

We have worked on a number of visitor gateway and welcome hub projects, including:

-Epping Forest Heritage Trust: Feasibility study to assess opportunities to enhance the financial resilience and public engagement of Epping Forest Visitor Centre at High Beach, a gateway to the 6,000 acre Epping Forest
-Forestry England: Carried out a feasibility study to create a secondary visitor hub to help enhance the visitor experience at Dalby Forest hub
-Newark and Sherwood District Council: Advising on opportunities linked to enhancing the visitor experience at Forest Corner, a key gateway to Sherwood Forest
-Shropshire Wildlife Trust: Feasibility study to develop a visitor gateway hub to the Marches Mosses
-RSPB: Carried out review of the proposals developed by architects for the Welcome Building at RSPB St Aidan’s, this included advising on future visitor numbers
-Swansea Council: Carried out a feasibility study to assess the opportunity to create a dual-purpose “gateway hub” in rural Gower with a focus on visitor and community/business uses

With existing gateway experiences, our work is often focussed on helping clients to develop a more resilient business or operating model. For proposed or new gateway sites or welcome hubs, we often work with the client to help shape the proposal and then to test its viability. This would involve a number of different tasks:
1. A location and site assessment
2. Consultation and engagement with key stakeholders including members of the local community
3. Review of the strategic context to help build the case for investment
4. Review of the planning policy context
5. A market assessment – to identify demand
6. Analysis of case examples – learning from best practice in the sector
7. An options appraisal to identify the form and scale of the ‘gateway experience’ or ‘welcome hub’, including supporting infrastructure such as car parking
8. Preparing a future management / governance and staffing model
9. Developing a trading profile (identifying income and cost centres)
10. Carrying out a risk assessment
11. Providing funding advice

For complex projects we can bring together a team of landscape architects, architects and cost consultants.

Operational experience
Alongside our consultancy work, our sister company, Planning Solutions Limited operates a number of visitor sites, including:

• CONKERS – a 120 acre forest experience
• Kent Life – a heritage farm park
• Cotswold Country Park and Beach – an activity destination

We understand the financial drivers, and costs, that affect the ability to deliver long term sustainable solutions for complex visitor sites. We have also found that this practical operational experience helps to create a significant positive impact when working on projects and brings a strong commercial realism to our work.

How can we help?
If have any questions about developing a visitor gateway or welcome hub, please don’t hesitate to call Richard Linington on 07866 742628 or email richard@pslplan.co.uk