Norfolk Wildlife Trust: visitor centre purpose
Norfolk Wildlife Trust has five visitor centres supporting its visitor engagement across the county - Cley Marshes, Hickling Broad, Ranworth, Holme Dunes and Weeting Heath. With a backdrop of declining visitor numbers post-Covid and a slow recovery due to the financial crisis, NWT asked me to review the purpose of its centres in relation to its new organisational strategy.
Each of these sites has a different habitat, a varying audience profile and a range of factors that create opportunities and challenges for the teams that manage them. What NWT needed to explore was the purpose of the portfolio, as well as the role for individual centres that set them up for the future.
Delivered through internal research and explored with the team through workshops, the project outlined the purpose of the visitor centres, explored the current visitor experience, considered how they need to adapt for the future, and challenged current thinking and support NWT in making long-term decisions.
A full report of findings and recommendations was delivered in September 2023.