In May 2023, Genecon – alongside partners Beispiel and Things Made Public CIC – were commissioned to produce a Cultural Infrastructure Strategy for Greater Cambridge, as Stage 1 of a three Stage process aimed at harnessing the opportunities offered by the exponential growth in the Greater Cambridge region, and ensuring that future infrastructure will meet the demands of residents, businesses, and visitors alike.  

Home of the world-renowned University of Cambridge, the City of Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire which surrounds it are steeped in history, with over 8.1 million visitors per year. However, this institutional focus has a number of implications for local people, businesses, transport and environment – with significant disparity between the city and the rural areas surrounding it, a lack of opportunity and affordable space for local creative and cultural uses, and consequently, a cultural offer which does not currently translate into increased visit length or conversion of day visits to overnight stays.  

Genecon was delighted to be appointed to support South Cambridgeshire District Council and their partners to understand existing cultural infrastructure provision and associated activity within the region, and bring together a wide range of stakeholders – each with their own agenda and aspirations – to create a shared vision for the future of cultural infrastructure within Greater Cambridge.  

Genecon’s approach began with in-depth stakeholder engagement, alongside rapid evidence assessment – building a thorough understanding of the strategic and policy context, local and regional aspirations, opportunities, planned and future development, transport and connectivity, and pervasive issues requiring innovative solutions. As lead partner within the consortium, we effectively managed information gathering, inputs and insight through use of a dynamic process, resulting in the production of a robust Cultural Infrastructure Strategy which promotes continuation of the partnership approach established throughout the stakeholder engagement process; also aligning with the emerging Cultural Strategy for the region, the Community Wealth Building agenda, and the plans announced by the Government for 150,000 new homes in the Greater Cambridge area in the coming years.   

Key to success of the Cultural Infrastructure Strategy was our ability to bring together a diverse range of stakeholders with differing needs, wants and priorities. Our iterative approach to stakeholder engagement, delivered alongside rapid evidence assessment and dynamic strategy development has allowed individual stakeholders to develop a shared vision, building an understanding of each other’s perspectives and forging new collaborative ways of working. The success of this approach directly underpins our proposal for the Liverpool project, highlighting the importance of an engaging and purposeful strategy for stakeholder management with the aim of creating alignment in an interdisciplinary environment.