Creating positive impact is at the heart of what we do, and our ongoing work to create a new primary school for Glyn-coch is a prime example of this commitment. As part of the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Schools Challenge, Glyn-coch is envisioned as a catalyst for community wellbeing, designed to enhance quality of life beyond the school walls.
But if wellbeing is the primary goal, how can we understand local people’s experiences in a meaningful way?
Introducing Impact Analysis
Local people know their lives and surroundings best, and Impact Analysis is our bespoke framework to help us understand those insights. It combines engagement, research, analysis, and learning, helping us work closely with the community and embed their insights back into the design process.
The framework considers the unique factors that shape a place’s character, from local economics to culture, politics, and history. Recognising that every community has its own needs and experiences, we use Impact Analysis to focus our efforts on what’s most relevant to that specific place. In Glyn-coch, for instance, it’s helping us identify how the new school can enhance physical and mental health, safety, and social cohesion for both students and the wider community.
How Impact Analysis Works: The Methodology
1. Engagement: The first step is to understand the local context through community engagement and stakeholder mapping. Critically, this helps answer the question of who we mean by “local community”.
At Glyn-coch, we identified two key groups: the school community (students, parents, teachers) and the wider town encompassing those who could also benefit from the school through co-located services (retirees, new parents, ex pupils).
2. Research: The next step is to understand people’s lived experiences to gain a sense of what life is like in the area, through a series of group and individual semi-structured interviews.
To align with the Welsh Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015, we’re focusing on three key themes: A Healthier Wales, A More Equal Wales, and A Wales of Cohesive Communities. By cross-referencing these indicators with insights gathered from the community, we ensure the questions we ask are directly relevant to local concerns.
3. Analysis: Once we’ve gathered the data, we map the relationships between the key themes using social science methodologies, helping us understand the dynamics between the different indicators in the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. This provides valuable insights into which design interventions could be the most effective.
4. Learning: Finally, we share these findings with project partners to refine our approach, ensuring the design remains rooted in lived experiences and addresses people’s actual needs. This iterative process also allows us to adapt and enhance the design to maximise its impact—alongside contributing to broader conversations with other project teams and industry partners around wellbeing beyond traditional economic measures.
While the research at Glyn-coch is still ongoing, the goal is clear: to create a school that fosters connections, helps the community feel safer, and supports local wellbeing. By listening to the people who will use the school, Impact Analysis helps us create spaces that meet real needs in a tangible, transformative way.
As we dive deeper into this work, we look forward to sharing more insights into how this approach can lead to lasting positive impact. If you’re interested to learn more, reach out to Milly Warner, ESG Research Consultant.