Woodland Trust: Heartwood Forest
Heartwood Forest is nestled in the countryside close to St Albans. Once agricultural fields, the Woodland Trust bought it in 2008, planted the first trees in 2009 and have now transformed it into a 347 hectare site.
From ancient woodlands and 600,000 newly planted trees, to wildflower meadows, a native arboretum and a community orchard, the site attracts an estimated 200,000 visits a year with many regular audiences.
The Trust needed to improve the information and infrastructure for visitors, ensuring key messages were told well, while delivering an improved experience.
I worked with them to develop a plan that turned ideas into workable delivery, thinking about how to promote key messages, manage audience segment clash and ensure the experience on site is the best it can be.
I ran a series of workshops to develop a realistic and deliverable plan to make change happen and to make key decisions so work could start on site as soon as possible. The output was a new spirit of place statement to help shape the proposition, a zoning plan to balance visitor movement with conservation challenges, and a work plan for the new project manager.
This work completed in April 2023.