Project
Peacock Lane wasn’t just a ‘rat-run’ between Bracknell and Wokingham, it was the busiest commuter route between the two towns. Located next to the site of a major housing, commercial and recreational development, the road required major improvements before housing could commence. The road works included the building of three new roundabouts with the use of temporary traffic lights and a three-month road closure.
Client
Persimmon Special Projects and Redrow Homes (Southern) Ltd are working together to deliver a landmark 1250+ home development, with associated commercial and recreational facilities, in the heart of Royal Berkshire.
Our role
The purpose of the communications strategy was to isolate the road works as a short term issue without damaging the long-term reputation of the brand of the development. Proteus devised a communications strategy that would demonstrate to existing road users, and a wider audience that included potential purchasers, that the developers were acting in a responsible manner, implementing a communications programme above and beyond what would normally be expected for road works.
The strategy included identifying those who would be most affected by the closure, namely local businesses and a small number of local residents as well as the wider media.
Achievements
- Developing a separate brand identity for the road works
- A dedicated website www.peacocklane.co.uk, which received approximately 19,000 visitors
- Provision of a weekly email update on the road works, to which 264 motorists have subscribed to
- Production and distribution of a leaflet and poster to publicise the road works to local businesses, libraries and amenities
- Individual contact with those closest to the road works
- Provision of a freephone number providing the weekly update
- Ongoing response service to enquiries via the website and freephone number
- Coverage in the local press
A survey of recipients of the weekly updates was carried out following the final one. 96% of respondents said that they found the service excellent, very useful or useful. Positive comments received included:
- “Brilliant. I wish this was the normal way of communicating the likely impact of roadworks.”
- “A very informative service – wish all contractors would do the same.”
- “It has been really interesting to have updates and know what is going on, and see the actual work progressing from day to day, particularly for the more obscure underground works, where it wasn’t obvious what the workmen were doing.”
