Additionally, alongside their consultancy work our sister company Planning Solutions Limited has been investing, developing and managing visitor experiences and other leisure businesses for 15 years.

National Brewery Centre
The National Brewery Centre (formerly the Bass Museum) was re-opened last year. The heritage experience has been developed over a large site incorporating several buildings, including a Grade 2 listed property. The heritage experience also includes a nationally important archive of brewing related materials and as part of the work we are examining ways to increase access to this important resource (for the academic community, local residents and special interest groups including real ale enthusiasts).

 

Since then we have been working to enhance the visitor experience, increase visitor numbers and engage with new audiences, particularly education (including lifelong learning and skills training), tourists and tour groups to generate additional revenue.

CONKERS
Conkers an environmental and education based attraction in the National Forest, which generates some 220,000 visits per annum (including over education and community visits) has been managed by Planning Solutions Limited since 1999.

The range of tasks involves the direct operation of the interactive attraction, three lakeside restaurants, specialist shops, the events and educational programmes and the marketing and corporate strategy. Benefits of Conkers include:

• Creating a tourist destination in an area not known for its tourism product
• Creating significant number of jobs
• Developing a new (and positive) branded identity for the area
• Attracting significant inward investment to the area
• Extending the tourist season

One of our team Richard Linington is responsible for carrying out marketing and the visitor research which helps identify needs and motivations and experience of visiting these visitor experiences. This research is used to identify and plan for future investment and development opportunities.

We work closely with our sister company and this ensures that our consultancy advice is not only based on research but more than 15 years of running tourism businesses. We have found that this practical experience can help to create a significant positive impact when working on heritage projects. We understand the challenges faced by operators of heritage and environmental visitor experiences.