Background

Middlehaven is a 250 acre post-industrial site in the heart of Middlesbrough.

Urban regeneration company Tees Valley Regeneration and developer BioRegional Quintain set about transforming the site into a landscape comprising of housing, educational space, innovative offices, cultural points of interest and leisure outlets in a scheme representing a combined public and private investment of £500m.

Strategy

Our strategy was to win the hearts and minds of the local community and to gain widespread positive acceptance of the development pre, during and post launch.

In the run up to the launch, we embarked on a series of key stakeholder briefings and community roadshows to develop deeper understanding of the scheme and a sense of positive anticipation around its unveiling.

We also ensured that all regional and national media were updated with latest information pre launch, whilst retaining a close control over all images of the masterplan until the media launch event took place.

Result

The launch of Middlehaven’s highly creative masterplan was well received by the local community as well as the regional and national media. Coverage of over £1.3m was achieved from the launch event alone, creating 11million opportunities to see and hear about the scheme.

A series of questionnaires and polls were conducted amongst the local community to gain an insight into their views of the scheme post-launch with the vast majority of responses being positive.