National Trust

Client: National Trust at Dyrham Park

Visitor experience design

Dyrham Park was experiencing a huge increase in visitor numbers. The capacity of the estate needed to be expanded to cope with this greater demand whilst also delivering a great customer experience and balancing the need to provide conservation and for the original design and style of the architecture. These requirements seldom sit side by side in harmony, and finding the appropriate balance is tricky, but can be achieved through an integrated and considered design process.

Active Thinking were asked to work in tandem with the lead architect to undertake a complete review of the visitor experience at Dyrham Park to understand what visitors wanted from the experience and how this could be delivered in the future capital plan.

We did this by building a cross-functional team to establish an agreed understanding of how the site currently worked and then how it could work in the future – a new concept of operations. We ensured there was alignment across the different functional teams to obtain a common understanding and clear decision-making.

Benefits

• A blueprint to expand capacity, improve the visitor experience and consider the future operating model for the site that also integrated with the conservation plan.

• A refined brief that enables the design team to understand value for customers and investment.