About the project

Sudbury Gasworks is a Grade II listed gasworks in Derbyshire, designed in 1874 by the architect George Devey to supply coal gas to Sudbury Hall and the village. Rescued from the at-risk register with National Lottery Heritage Fund support, it reopened to the public in April 2023 as a community hub with a drop-in heritage space and a multi-use hall.

The consultancy's role

Alix Slater Consultancy & Training was commissioned to help the Trust understand its market following the capital restoration project. Harrison Kandler delivered the work, researching and identifying catchment areas using ArcGIS, and writing a costed marketing strategy and implementation plan to promote the Trust's current offer.

The research examined the competitive landscape for events in detail, using platforms such as Eventbrite to identify the Trust's key competitors, analyse their ticket pricing and gauge how saturated the local market already was. GIS software turned that into catchment area maps illustrating the geographical reach of Sudbury against its competitors, and those insights fed into the Trust's Business Plan as well as the marketing strategy.

The Trust had expected to move into the wedding market. The research found that market locally was saturated, and the plan changed as a result.