Post-occupancy evaluation: Great Kneighton

Client: Countryside

Project type: Post-occupancy evaluation

Location: Trumpington, South Cambridge

Timeline: May – November 2022

What was the project?

Countryside wanted to understand residents’ lived experience in their development in South Cambridge. They wanted to use resident feedback to identify key strengths and weaknesses of the project to inform their future developments. 

Building on the previous pilot of our post-occupancy evaluation service, which we ran in Beaulieu (another Countryside development), Great Kneighton is the first commercial project that we carried out with the developer. 

The project aimed to: 

  • Build on the Resident Review methodology from the pilot
  • Gain insights into what residents thought and felt about their neighbourhoods
  • Deliver a post-occupancy evaluation review of life for residents in Great Kneighton
  • Provide insights and recommendations to build on the success of the Great Kneighton development for future Countryside projects

What did we do?

In the autumn of 2022, the Quality of Life Foundation conducted Resident Review surveys in Great Kneighton, Cambridge. 

Great Kneighton is a 269-acre development on the southern edge of Cambridge, in the Trumpington ward. The development includes 2550 new homes, 49 hectares of public open space, 3050 square metres of retail space, two new schools, a community building, a health centre, as well as sports pitches and play areas that cater to people of all ages.

Our methodology consisted of a combination of desk research, site visits and both digital and face-to-face engagement.

Desk research and scoping visit: We mapped social and transport infrastructure, identifying the key assets and landmarks in the area, to understand the social and geographical context of Great Kneighton. We then visited the site in June 2022 to conduct a scoping visit and spoke to a Countryside representative, and a resident who was leading the maintenance of the community allotment.

Face-to-face and digital engagement: In both August and October of 2022, we conducted community engagements via a pop-up event, door knocking and an estate walkabout to find and interview people of a wider demographic. This included a detailed, sit-down interview with two residents, several conversations while completing the survey with residents at a local food-truck, and with young people at the Trumpington skatepar. They all shared their views and experiences of the area.

We used the Commonplace digital platform to collect responses submitted through an online questionnaire, via a QR code, which was circulated via local community Facebook and WhatsApp groups, pamphlets, and posters pinned up in and around community areas. 

We co-created the key questions for the questionnaire using a set of standard Quality of Life survey questions and feedback from Countryside on focus themes for the area. 

What was the impact?

Our report to Countryside synthesised key findings and analysis from the Resident Review survey data in Great Kneighton and provided evidence-based recommendations to improve residents’ health, wellbeing and quality of life. 

We found that Great Kneighton is a place where residents can enjoy an abundance of green space and nature, easy access to schools and other public buildings within the development, and close proximity to Cambridge city centre making it easy to access other amenities such as restaurants and pubs. 

There was a sense of community, thanks to a range of events and projects put on by residents, and 80.3% of surveyed residents felt either Satisfied or Very Satisfied with great Kneighton as a place to live. 

Residents also provided valuable insights around the potential for social infrastructure and community cohesion within the development. These learnings will inform future Countryside projects.