Barbryn manage to combine the highest standards of professionalism with a friendly and creative approach. The quality of Barbryn's work is first class and working with the Barbryn team is a pleasure. Not only is it obvious that Barbryn care about their work, but the team has a very impressive capacity to absorb complex information and the dynamics of operating in the public sector, while providing clear concise and engaging copy that faithfully represents our programme.
: background Greets Green Partnership is delivering a £56 million, 10 year regeneration programme under the Government’s New Deal for Communities (NDC) initiative. One of its key areas of investment is housing. An ambitious Housing Plan is starting to make a big difference to the whole area, with clearance projects underway and new initiatives beginning to tackle crime and community safety, and improve the local environment. With negative press surrounding clearance threatening to overshadow the much broader Housing Plan, the Partnership wanted residents to understand the wide-ranging improvements the Plan will bring, as well as keep them fully updated about the clearance work.
: solution
Barbryn helped the Partnership set up a communications panel which brought together all the partners involved in the Housing Plan. Working closely with the panel, Barbryn devised a Housing Fact Sheet specifically for residents living in the two clearance areas and a more general Housing Update newsletter to be distributed to all Greets Green residents. The fact sheets were designed to be short, clear and concise so that residents would see that they were being brought the bare facts, not being influenced by subjective narrative.
A series of fact sheets has been produced which took residents through each stage of the clearance process. Regular Housing Update newsletters have also been produced which explain the different projects underway as part of the Housing Plan and highlight individual residents benefiting from them.
:achievements
Negative media stories surrounding clearance have been few and far between since the introduction of the housing fact sheets and newsletters. More and more Greets Green residents are getting involved in the Housing Plan’s improvement projects, which shows a much greater awareness of the new initiatives starting up in the area.
