Your Quality of Life project shortlisted for Digital Impact award

The Your Quality of Life project, which we delivered for Harlow & Gilston Garden Town (HGGT), has been selected as a finalist for the 2023 Essex Housing Awards. The large-scale community engagement project has been nominated in the Digital Impact category.

With PropTech funding from the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, HGGT commissioned the Quality of Life Foundation to deliver this social value mapping and monitoring project via digital and in-person engagement across the Garden Town. It is an example of our Quality of Life Mapping service.

We worked with expert partners to build a clear picture of what people currently value, need and dislike in their local area, alongside socio-economic and environmental data, to establish a quality of life baseline for the garden town area.

The baseline will be used to support master planning and stewardship arrangements for the Garden Town, and to shape strategies and delivery of development. It’ll also enable monitoring of any changes to quality of life and social value in relation to the growth in the area.

The methodology for this project came out of the UKRI-funded research project, Community Consultation for Quality of Life (CCQOL). We’re collaborating on that major project with the universities of Reading, Cardiff, Ulster and Edinburgh.

The success of this project would not have been possible without the efforts and support of Rainbow Services Harlow, Stantec, and, most importantly, the residents of Harlow.