The Archbishop of York’s Palace Project, Project Evaluation

Client: Dean & Chapter, Southwell Minster

Dates: 2013/18

Budget: £1.9 million

Project: The Archbishop of York’s Palace Project – Project Evaluation

The Archbishop of York’s Palace Project restored the Great Chamber, Ruins and created an Education Garden in a previously unused part of the site, installed interpretation and delivered a five year Activity Plan. Activities included new history workshops, storytelling,  conferences and drama workshops for schools, family activities including a themed family fun day, half term Roman workshop and more and different activities for adults. Restoration of the garden also enabled the introduction of live theatre during the summer.

I worked with staff and volunteers throughout the delivery of the Activity Plan capturing data through visitor and volunteer surveys, feedback forms, Epos and financial data. We had quarterly meetings and I produced quarterly reports to ensure we continually reflected on the findings and used the data in forward planning, adapting and refining activities.

When it came to preparing the summative report for The National Lottery Heritage Fund we had a photographic record and full set of data. I conducted interviews with the consultant team, staff and volunteers at this point to add a layer of qualitative data and reflect on what had gone particularly well, less well, lessons learnt for future projects and if there had been any unexpected outcomes. One of those highlighted was the success of the Education Garden which is used by visiting groups and the community. The report was well received by the Heritage Fund and one of the aspects staff had enjoyed most was the feedback meetings, reflecting on their progress each quarter.