What is user engagement and how does it create social value?

Involving people in shaping the places that they live, work, socialise, shop, go to school, and spend time delivers better results, builds community, and is a more inclusive approach to delivering projects across the built environment.

A common challenge when integrating people into processes of change is ensuring the diversity of voices, especially those who are often overlooked, as there are barriers for them to participate.

At Motionspot, stakeholder engagement is at the heart of everything we do. Inclusive engagement means involving people who have lived experience of a diverse range of human characteristics, such as disability, neurodiversity, faith, and people of all cultures, ages, and backgrounds to explore challenges and opportunities within the built environment.

Legislation is evolving and increasingly built environment best practice guidance (such as the RIBA Inclusive Design Overlay) involves community engagement, social value, and ESG criteria. In this article, we explore what the professionals responsible for shaping the built environment need to know about stakeholder engagement.

What does stakeholder engagement mean?

Stakeholder engagement covers a broad range of activities that seek to put people at the heart of the design and decision-making process. This could include reviewing plans for a public space, a product or even a policy to ensure that inclusion and accessibility have been considered in the process.

The degree to which groups are engaged is outlined in theories of citizen participation, such as Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation (1961), which describes different levels of power and decision making. This ranges from just informing or consulting, increasing to co-production and collective decision making.

The earlier community members and stakeholders can be involved, the more opportunity they will have to influence proposals. Being specific about the degree of influence and areas of impact stakeholders might expect to have, the current phase or status of the project, and how the feedback will be used are all key to ensure inclusive and equitable engagement. (AIA Equitable Communities).

Key terms:

User engagement – Activities that involve end users of the space or product, the engagement seeks to provide input to influence outcomes.

Stakeholder engagement – Broader engagement than end users, including groups or individuals that might be impacted or have an interest. Activities that involve stakeholders, the engagement seeks to provide input to influence outcomes. In larger businesses these may be Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or Business Resource Groups (BRGs).

Community engagement - Community engagement or consultation for built environment projects is when the general public and community based organisations are invited to participate in reviewing proposals or designs and providing feedback.

Co-production - in practice, co-production involves people who use services being consulted, included and working together from the start to the end of any project that affects them. When co-production works best, people who use services and carers are valued by organisations as equal partners, can share power and have influence over decisions made.

Co-design is a design approach that actively involves users and stakeholders from the beginning of a project, right through to roll-out.

What is the value of stakeholder engagement?

Inclusive design and user engagement isn’t about identifying problems, it’s about finding solutions.

We’re a melting pot of an organisation and have this opportunity to really celebrate people’s differences and make sure they are not something that are looked at as a disadvantage, but as a superpower. Tucker Dupree, Colleague Experience Lead, bp

Time and again our clients tell us the benefits of investing in inclusive design and stakeholder engagement. Done well, community engagement can reveal and catch potential issues early. It can also unlock solutions that create more enjoyable spaces and places for all.

Small things matter in design. For example, a unilateral choice of material by a designer (without any user engagement) for purely aesthetic or cost reasons can create implications on neuro-inclusion that can make a space untenable for people with cognitive or sensory processing differences. Community engagement provides a constructive and cost-efficient mechanism to examine ideas with the people who may be affected by those decisions. Often, these insights can provide great positive impact, but are relatively easy to implement at little or no extra cost when actioned at the appropriate stage.

For example, in one recent user engagement session, we received feedback on sensor lighting - an energy efficient solution that is very common in new builds. However, this often raises concerns of safety for people who may be working on a less populated floor, who can be left in darkness when there is not enough movement for the sensors to detect. Insights like these have a major part to play in the shift from minimum access considerations to going above and beyond and creating truly inclusive spaces.

There is plenty of evidence to reveal that this translates into financial benefits too. As an example, for every £1 spent on inclusive design saved Barclays £100.

Every £1 we spent on inclusive design saved us £100 in retrofits later. Plus our inclusively designed offices have enabled Barclays to employ more disabled employees including autistic staff into technical roles. And our employees are reporting a greater sense of wellbeing, belonging and improved concentration in the workplace. Ron Coghill, Former Director, Major Projects Delivery Lead, Barclays.

In contrast, involving people too late, or not at all, can often incur most cost down the line with costly retrofits and adaptations.

The process of engaging stakeholders itself also brings important social value and benefits to local community. When people feel genuinely involved and able to influence plans, there is increased positivity towards a development.

What is the legislation and best practice guidance around user engagement?

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. Increasingly it is acknowledged that change and the built environment can disproportionately affect different people due to the nine protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act. As such, there is a growing bank of policy and best practice on user engagement, which is embedding inclusive engagement processes throughout the built environment lifecycle to understand this impact on people and seek to redress it.

User engagement is recommended at all stages across the Inclusive Design Overlay and the Engagement Overlay – the latest best practice guidelines from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

If we are going to build a world where everyone feels welcome, safe, and valued it is vital that inclusion and accessibility are at the heart of all stages of design. This Inclusive Design Overlay provides a consensus across built environment professions for how we accelerate inclusion and value diversity. Robbie Turner, Director of Inclusion and Diversity, RIBA

Increasingly progressive property and landowners and businesses are creating their own inclusive design technical standards, which includes stakeholder engagement, to ensure improved access and inclusion in their environments. For example, the Inclusive Spaces and Places Initiative led by The Crown Estate and Grosvenor was a first-of-its-kind initiative to go above and beyond minimum access regulations in their commercial portfolio. Already businesses such as Heathrow and British Land have also signed up to these commitments.

This is an important step in delivering on our commitments to support community wellbeing and business growth, which will help our buildings and spaces become more welcoming and successful long term. Amelia Bright, Executive Director of London Estate, Grosvenor

Similarly, individual authorities such as the Greater London Authority have created their own planning guidance, which includes policies that promote the development of an inclusive environment:

The Mayor will require all new development in London to achieve the highest standards of accessible and inclusive design and supports the principles of inclusive design. Policy 7.2 An Inclusive Environment, The London Plan, Greater London Authority

Social Impact and Social value criteria are now widely included in tenders and procurement frameworks and tenders. The Public Services (Social Value) Act (2013) requires public sector organisations to consider the social, economic, and environmental impact of their contracts. User engagement also fits within the growing Environmental, Social and Governance agendas for businesses, to ensure their businesses are contributing to sustainable development.

Clients are also increasingly turning to their Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to ensure that their plans for refurbishments and new locations meet the needs of their teams. For example, bp recently engaged with Motionspot to activate their disability and neurodiversity ERGs in the creation of their new inclusive design playbook.

Our Inclusive Design Standards didn’t come about because the law told us to, but because we want the brilliant minds in our business to be successful. Tucker Dupree, Colleague Experience Lead, bp

Different formats of stakeholder engagement

There are many ways to engage people, from more traditional focus groups in person to online, interactive workshops. The format depends on the desired outcome and the participants. Formats include:

Focus groups or roundtable discussions – Ideal for more structured conversations with stakeholders who have decisive power over inclusive design processes, or with people who are regular users of the space being discussed.

Workshops – Interactive activities which challenge design thinking of participants an actively involve them in creating design solutions to create inclusive environments. Ideal for end users of the space, or participants with lived experience who may be unfamiliar with the space being discussed.

On-site explorations - Participants who are unfamiliar with a building or space, interact with the environment in-person and record their experience whilst on site, with a debriefing session to gather insights.

Design / access review groups - Larger projects may benefit from setting up an inclusive design/access group. These panels exist across the country to advise across multiple developments and locations over a longer period. The setting and method will depend on the project.

For major schemes … it can be appropriate for the developer to set up a specific group for the duration of the project to consider access issues during the planning, design, construction and operation of the development. These forums are often referred to as strategic access forums and have proved to be very effective in ensuring that inclusive design principles are embedded into the scheme from the outset.’  The London Plan Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) states the role of a strategic access forum

Motionspot's diversity and inclusion engagement experts have developed a five-stage user engagement approach.

When should stakeholder engagement happen in a built environment project?

The RIBA Inclusive Design Overlay recommends that user engagement is undertaken at all stages of the RIBA Plan of Work, from concept to post-occupancy.

Embedding it from the start of a project offers the greatest benefits and seamless incorporation. However, the most important message is that user engagement is always valuable no matter what stage a project is at.

We’re building our new campus from the ground up so it’s a great opportunity for us to think differently about inclusive design from the start. It has been a delight to work with a business partner that shares the same values of inclusivity as Barclays. Being involved in the early stages of the renovation opened exciting opportunities to push the boundaries of what was possible. Kathryn Townsend, Former Head of Customer and Client Accessibility at Barclays UK

Within fast-paced construction projects there are always tight time constraints and conflicting priorities to be managed. There are many misconceptions of how long user engagement takes, what it involves, and what and how feedback should be acted upon. This is why the Inclusive Design Overlay is so useful. It offers a simple framework and practical actions relevant to all roles and tasks across the built environment profession, which are easy to embed into existing processes from design to construction. Motionspot Inclusive Design Consultants are also skilled at translating stakeholder feedback into meaningful and manageable design recommendations.

If you are running on your own you run faster, if you are running as a group, you run further. Motionspot client

Who should attend user engagement sessions?

When undertaking user engagement it is vital to ensure diversity of perspectives. Ensuring there is lived experience of a wide variety of protected characteristics is essential.

Something I found special about Motionspot’s approach was that we weren’t just handed guidelines off the shelf. Instead they set up community focus groups so that we could hear their challenges to make sure we weren’t designing in a vacuum.

When we talk about inclusive design, minority groups and designing for all, I think these communities now having a seat at the table at the beginning of projects rather that it being at the finish line is a huge, huge step forward.  Tucker Dupree, Colleague Experience Lead, bp

Terms such as ‘seldom-heard’, ‘hard-to-reach’, or ‘overlooked’ groups are often used with relation to user engagement. This is because as well as barriers in the built environment, there are frequently barriers to participation in user engagement activities. The Engagement Overlay to the RIBA Plan of works highlights that user engagement must be fair.

Fair − by giving people who may face additional barriers to getting involved an inclusive, accessible, empathic, and hospitable engagement approach; an equal opportunity to participate from an early stage of a project. Engagement Overlay to RIBA Plan of Work

Motionspot uses creative inclusive methods to reach and engage diverse stakeholders and make sure people feel represented, understood, and empowered in the process. We are experienced at creating the right conditions for people with different needs to participate in the process equitably, from pre-event communication, to the accessibility of the events, and inclusive feedback mechanisms. Feedback we receive from user group participants include:

"Thanks for the opportunity to contribute yesterday; a great consultation".

"Enjoyable and worthwhile".

"Everyone was friendly and the discussions open and respectful".

Motionspot user group participants

Why involve an Inclusive Design Consultant like Motionspot to support on user engagement?

We often hear that businesses are worried that user engagement takes too much time, will cost too much, or worry about getting it wrong. Having an Inclusive Design Consultant on board helps to embed user engagement into the process meaningfully, efficiently, and economically. Motionspot’s team are experienced at slotting into fast-paced construction projects and understand the constraints that businesses work within. We can support clients to engage with people at all RIBA stages to bring about important design insights and set projects up for success. 

I wanted to reiterate our thanks to you for organising the session today. Your presentation and chairing drew out invaluable insights from a fantastic group of individuals who have absolutely enhanced our understanding and added value to our proposals. Sarah, Development Manager, Grosvenor

Read more about Motionspot’s approach to user engagement in our article by Motionspot user engagement lead and Inclusive Design Consultant, Vivian Wall, in her article ‘A building is just a shell until you put people in it’.

What's next?

If you would like to understand more about stakeholder and user engagement and how it could benefit your project, get in touch with our team to discuss how it could work and how Motionspot can support.

Our most important message is that it is always the right time to start. User engagement is always valuable.