Projects

We worked with Access and SIB to evaluate their multi-year Enterprise Development Programme, supporting 325+ charities and social enterprises - across six sectors - to strengthen governance, leadership, enterprise resilience, and social impact.

Through our evaluation of Energise Manchester, a pilot action research project funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, we have seen how working with trusted community networks empowers residents, builds trust, and makes energy-saving advice and practical improvements accessible to all.

Shortwork partnered with Camden Council to improve community engagement for street upgrades. Over 170 Camden residents engaged in community research sessions to co-design practical recommendations to build trust, improve accessibility, and boost participation.

Discover how our multi-year evaluation of the Heritage Lottery-funded Beverley Road THS captured the impact of an ambitious £1.6 million project to restore buildings, enhance public spaces, and celebrate community heritage in Hull.

Shortwork worked with Petworth House and the National Trust to engage 676 local participants through participatory action research, providing insights to shape more inclusive and meaningful audience engagement and programming.

Through our evaluation of Singing Mamas at Home, we’ve seen how singing on prescription can boost mothers’ confidence, wellbeing, and sense of connection, while providing an accessible tool for healthcare staff and women in the early weeks and months of motherhood.

Discover how a pioneering Participatory Action Research project, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, empowered community researchers to collaborate with Dulwich Picture Gallery. Together, they explored innovative ways to reinterpret Old Master paintings, making them resonate with South London’s diverse communities.

We worked with the Design Council, DLUHC and the Office for Place to evaluate the Design Code Pathfinder Programme, producing a detailed evaluation report, practical roadmap and case studies to guide others through setting up, developing and implementing local design codes.

Through our work with the Memory Mapper team, we supported academics at UCL to make plans for the platform to become both economically self-sustaining and more open, accessible, and relevant to everyone who wants to tell stories of place

Shortwork collaborated with the Design Council to design an overarching impact framework and toolkit, consolidating monitoring and evaluation across the organisation. The framework supports reflection, learning, and evidence-based decision-making while enabling flexibility for project-specific evaluation.

Through our work with the Design Council and Network Rail, we’ve seen how reflection, collaboration, and design-led learning can equip engineers and project managers to create a more inclusive, sustainable, and passenger-focused railway.

We evaluated ExploreStation, Network Rail’s largest-ever public engagement and co-design programme. Led by the Design Council with partners Commonplace, Digital Urban, and The Glass-House, it engaged over 29,000 people across Britain to shape the new HUB Station design. Our evaluation captured the impact, learning, and legacy of this groundbreaking approach to national infrastructure engagement.

We worked with the British Council and the Internationalism Alliance to explore how international learning and exchange can expand opportunities, skills, and cultural awareness for young people and communities across the UK.

We worked with the British Red Cross and a group of refugee women across the UK to explore barriers to accessing information, rights and services. Trained as peer researchers, they engaged 48 participants from 23 countries, revealing the challenges of navigating complex systems — and co-designing solutions to build more inclusive, accessible support for refugee women nationwide.

In summer 2019, Holistic Harmonies ran a six-week pilot in a Liverpool nursing home, bringing together residents, pre-school children, and their parents in inclusive music and movement sessions. Our evaluation highlighted benefits for all ages, from increased movement and confidence to joy, togetherness, and community connection.

We worked with the NHS in North Central London to put women and families at the heart of maternity service improvement. Training 15 local mothers as community researchers, we used participatory action research to gather the experiences of 179 parents across five boroughs. The findings informed key recommendations on access, continuity, and choice - and led to the co-creation of a people-centred training module for staff and new research addressing poor outcomes for Black women.

Our evaluation of Sheffield’s disability sport programme, funded by Sport England and delivered by Within Reach and Sheffield City Council, explored the benefits for participants, families, and volunteers, identified barriers to inclusion, and offered recommendations to sustain and grow opportunities across the city.

Discover how Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) improves building design, wellbeing, and sustainability. Produced with RIBA, University of Reading, and Flora Samuel, this guide showcases case studies, practical tools, and insights for architects to measure and communicate the value of their work.

Discover how participatory research in Tower Hamlets captured older residents’ experiences of loneliness, highlighting key challenges, community assets, and solutions to improve wellbeing.

Discover how local residents in Aberfeldy, Tower Hamlets, helped identify barriers to preventing Type 2 Diabetes and proposed solutions through participatory action research.

The Public Health team at Tower Hamlets Council commissioned this PAR project to gain a deeper understanding of the barriers that prevent eligible residents from accessing bowel, cervical, and breast cancer screening services, and to identify solutions that local communities themselves believe could effectively address these challenges.

Shortwork worked with Poplar HARCA to explore staff health and wellbeing through participatory research, identifying practical solutions to enhance frontline workforce wellbeing.

A RIBA guide detailing principles, methods, and case studies for effective community engagement in architectural projects, helping architects involve local communities meaningfully in design and planning.