Nottingham Castle

Business Planning

In a nutshell

Over the next four years and re-opening in 2020, Nottingham Castle will be transformed into a world-class heritage destination. A total of £29.4 million will be invested to redevelop the whole site with £13.9m coming from NLHF. This is the most significant heritage regeneration project in the UK today.

A Different View was brought in during the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s stage two development phase to develop a sustainable long-term business plan, robust operational model and the foundation for a charitable trust to operate the site. Catering and retail planning and design work was also incorporated into our work.

A bit about Nottingham Castle

Nottingham Castle will be transformed into a world-class heritage destination re-opening in 2020. A total of £29.4 million is being invested to redevelop the whole site, including the Ducal Palace and Grounds, Brewhouse Yard and the sprawling cave network hidden within the Castle Rock. The plans for this transformation are both ambitious and sympathetic. A beacon of power, protest and rebellion throughout the centuries, Nottingham Castle will be revitalised to reflect the wealth of its history, the depth of its collections and the lives of the people of Nottingham. This is the most significant heritage regeneration project in the UK today.

How We Got Involved

Working with Nottingham City Council for around 10 months, we began by running workshops and consultations with the client and chief stakeholders. This together with an assessment of the project and environment helped us move on to a full market appraisal. Meanwhile our colleagues at Turpin Smile and Heritage Retailing made an assessment of the F&B provision and began planning for the future.

We then moved on to visitor forecasts and market positioning and from there developed the revenue and trading potential. Operational requirements and management models were developed in detail.

Strategic development to create the foundation for a charitable trust completed our work.

Outcomes

As part of a wider consultant team our work secured a £13.9m bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and gave the City Council the confidence of a robust, well considered business plan and operating model.

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What we did -

Planning & Strategy , Heritage Fund Projects

Sector -

Museums and heritage , Visitor attractions

Tags -

; business planning; catering; heritage; market appraisal; museum; retail;