Leisa Prowse Consulting designed and delivered community and stakeholder engagement to support the introduction of managed parking at Brisbane Powerhouse
Situation Explained
Brisbane Powerhouse engaged Leisa Prowse Consulting to deliver a community and stakeholder engagement process to support the introduction of managed parking for their 148 space, on-site carpark. The managed parking system was introduced to manage car park congestion and generate a diversified income stream to support the operation and maintenance of the iconic Brisbane arts venue.
Leisa Prowse Consulting led the planning and delivery of the community and stakeholder engagement action plan. The process was designed to build community and stakeholder understanding about the need for, and benefits of, managed parking at Brisbane Powerhouse, and to capture community feedback. Due to local context, community dynamics and perceived development pressure in the area, considered approaches to the engagement process were essential.
Change within the New Farm Park precinct is a sensitive issue for the local community. As a result, diverse community views were expressed during the project. To enable these views to be expressed and discussed, we provided opportunities for robust, yet sensitive and respectful, conversations with community members, community groups and stakeholders.
This approach allowed us to get to the heart of issues as they emerged. It also required the team to listen with empathy to community members during drop-in sessions and pop-up events.
Our Approach
Our team developed the Community and Stakeholder Engagement Action Plan following an initial meeting with key members of the Brisbane Powerhouse team. This Action Plan complemented and supported the overarching Communication Plan developed by the Brisbane Powerhouse team.
The Community and Stakeholder Engagement Action Plan outlined a blend of face-to-face, online and print engagement activities, and associated timeframes, to be delivered during the process.
Our team also worked with the Brisbane Powerhouse team to identify key community groups and stakeholders. These key stakeholders were invited to individual face-to-face meetings and the dedicated drop-in sessions.
Leisa Prowse Consulting led and delivered a range of engagement activities including:
- a community newsletter, which was signed by the Chief Executive Officer and distributed to local residents as well as a project mailing list
- four face-to-face stakeholder meetings with key stakeholder groups
- two unadvertised pop-up market stands at the Jan Powers Farmers Markets
- two advertised drop-in sessions, attended by New Farm residents.
We also worked closely with the Brisbane Powerhouse team to prepare content for the project webpage and the Powermail newsletter.
Results
The Leisa Prowse Consulting team, in collaboration with the Brisbane Powerhouse team, navigated multiple complexities in the early stages of engagement planning, successfully managing emerging issues.
Throughout the engagement process we engaged with:
- three community stakeholder groups
- 194 community members, having detailed conversations with 77 of them.
Feedback captured during the engagement activities provided deep insight into historic and ongoing parking and traffic concerns, perceived impacts to parking in New Farm Park, and existing travel patterns and expectations. The community was also able to discuss a range of broader issues with the project team, and provide insights that enabled recommendations for continued proactive community engagement with Brisbane Powerhouse.
Managed parking at Brisbane Powerhouse went ‘live’ in late June 2021.