The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

Autumn 2016

The challenge

Hammersmith and Fulham Council wanted to enter a new dialogue around future priorities. We were commissioned to delivery qualitative research with residents, so as to better understand feelings about their local area and experiences of present and future change. The council also wanted to understand how residents interact with and relate to the Council, as well as their concerns and priorities for the future.

How we approached it

We held thirteen, 75-minute focus groups at six separate locations across the borough. All were conducted during the month of October. We spoke to almost 70 people overall, and used the qualitative research tool to map responses and build a picture of the consensus. Delivering such a large number of sessions over such a short period was a real achievement, and helped us to delve into many of the deeper themes and undercurrents of what was going on in the borough.

What happened

The final picture was of a borough with a strong and positive sense of place, and with a feeling that things were getting broadly better. But at the same time there were a number of concerns, many of which related to Hammersmith & Fulham’s situation as a densely packed inner-city borough. In particular, congestion, residential overcrowding and transport were raised, alongside questions around open spaces and air quality. The findings fed back into the council’s strategy and development of priorities.