Priory Park, Dudley
The Client
Dudley Council
The Background
Dudley Council were awarded a stage 1 pass from the Heritage Lottery Fund Parks for People Programme in September 2008 to take forward the restoration of this regionally if not nationally important site. The authority had originally planned to appoint a project manager internally but decided to include the role alongside the consultation, revenue planning and design elements and put the package out to consultants.
CFP teamed up with Walshe Associates (architects and landscape architects) and won the commission and made the stage 2 submission early in 2010.
The park includes not only a Mawson design landscape but also the remains of a Cluniac Priory dating back to mediaeval times.
The Objective
CFP took on the role of overall project manager as well as designing and delivering all aspects of public consultation. This included some very innovative elements including a community arts project leading to designs that were built into the master plan. We also lead on audience development planning, management and maintenance planning as well as undertaking a visitor observation study to assist in the development of a visitor profile.
Just add CFP
Our visitor observation work helped not only to better understand exactly who uses the park but also informed the thinking on the creation of a hierarchy of entrances and the location of public art features.
We also helped to set up and run the Priory Park Forum, a new vehicle for stakeholder consultation that brought new organisations on board.
Also our experience of project management meant we were able to coordinate a wide range of disciplines from archaeologists to arborists and from engineers to ecologists.
The Result
The Stage 2 submission was well received by HLF and a decision is due in the summer of 2010. We are hopeful that CFP will be retained by the authority to take forward the delivery stage of this exciting project.