Sweco provides Integrated Impact Assessment innovation for Accessible Ayr
Fast facts
- Client
- Ayrshire Roads Alliance
- Partners
- Sustrans, Streets UK, ITS Leeds, TGP Landscape Architects
- Sweco Services
- Impact assessment
Accessible Ayr aims to provide significant investment in Ayr town centre to create a more vibrant and attractive place for people to live, work and visit. This is set to be achieved through a series of measures which ultimately aim to make Ayr easier to access by pedestrians and cyclists, irrespective of mobility.
To support Ayrshire Roads Alliance decision-making for significant investment across Ayr town centre, Sweco’s Business Case Consultancy team identified a clear gap within the appraisal industry with respect to the established guidance available around understanding and demonstrating the direct and indirect impacts of potential urban realm schemes.
In collaboration with ITS Leeds, who upon completion endorsed the work, our team consulted a diverse range of literature and case studies to evaluate and produce what would be the most pertinent and comprehensive methodology for identifying the underlying impacts of enhanced urban realm and active mode connectivity given the tools available.
The IIA team at Sweco were both diligent and adaptable in their approach, ensuring that their bespoke methodology encompassed our requirements throughout the development of the impact assessment. This led to the delivery of a high-quality report which has been used as a primary source of evidence for various elements of public consultation.”
Mark Greaves Coordinator of Local Places – South Ayrshire Council
Economic Appraisal:
- Develop a baseline/existing transport, demographic, and economic situation for Ayr.
- Build a holistic evidence base considering key social groups, and businesses.
- Provide clear, and unbiased recommendations accounting for uncertainties in the economic climate.
- Capture a broad range of benefits arising from improved quality of movement and urban realm through the use of a bespoke methodology.
- The IIA produced was cognisant of all design elements produced by the Active Travel Team, feeding into the analysis, results, and findings within the final report. The IIA report serves as a critical piece of evidence required to aid the project and design transition to the next stage of work.
Independent Review:
- Independent academic review of methodology and findings from industry experts/sub-consultants at Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds.
Multi-Disciplinary Involvement:
- The overall project had been design-led via Sweco’s Active Travel Team in Scotland
The breadth of evidence reviewed by our team clearly illustrated a substantial vacancy in terms of established guidance and methods for comprehensively appraising urban realm schemes. With no established or industry-recognised approach outlined for evaluating the impacts of urban realm schemes, the IIA sought to utilise a combination of the most pertinent appraisal tools available, taking a nuanced approach to providing the most robust appraisal of the improvement to both links and places given the resources available and the scope of the assessment.
The bespoke appraisal methods packaged and carried out within the IIA act as a notable effort to close the existing gaps within the economic appraisal of urban realm. With this advancement, the diverse range of direct and indirect impacts can be better captured and quantified in order to more effectively demonstrate the benefits associated with sustainable urban realm schemes and the overall impact they have on local communities.
The more thorough and robust the appraisal of urban realm schemes becomes, the more confidence this will provide to funding bodies to support similarly innovative and sustainable urban realm schemes. The outcomes and clarity provided by the IIA have allowed the project to transition though a key decision point which means work can now progress into detailed design and delivery. This serves as a significant step towards achieving the goal of improving accessibility for all while making Ayr an attractive and vibrant place to live, work and visit.
At Sweco our focus is all about accelerating regeneration through enhanced place-making that brings together a number of teams, ultimately seeking to create a vibrant and more attractive place, where everyone has a sense of belonging. Our work on this IIA does exactly this but with the ability to put a monetary impact on that change. Working collaboratively, we were able to provide our client with a strong evidence base for investment.
Martin Sellman Technical Manager
With better recognition of the impacts of enhanced public movement and urban realm provided by the IIA, the client is better able to ascertain the merits of the scheme and also be able to demonstrate them to key stakeholders such as local residents/constituents as well as funding bodies to gain further support for what aims to be a pivotal scheme for the local area. The findings of the IIA therefore help to paint a picture of the future impacts by demonstrating the likely consequences of the planned investment.
Existing transport guidance is currently biased towards road investment in the sense of road investment schemes are often perceived to generate more benefits due to the greater historical evidence base around their impacts. However, the development of this bespoke tool provides authorities with the evidence to better compare urban realm schemes against the likes of traditional road investments.
By demonstrating the benefits of encouraging modal shift towards sustainable travel modes and the subsequent reduction in carbon emissions and improvement of air quality, the IIA provides evidence of the welfare benefits that can be induced by making progress towards net-zero within the context of South Ayrshire.
Furthermore, a considerable proportion of the benefits captured within the IIA are attributed to health improvements through the appraisal of absenteeism and reduced risk of premature death. In doing so, the IIA demonstrates how the Accessible Ayr scheme provides improvements in terms of the quality of life for residents and transport users alike.
Supporting the development of transformational projects like Accessible Ayr is at the core of our commitments within the Economic Advisory and Business Case Team at Sweco. The outcomes of the IIA have reinforced the innovative design work put forward by the Active Travel Team by providing a nuanced and robust account of the ways in which this investment is capable of revitalising Ayr Town Centre while acting as a catalyst for future growth within the region.
Cameron Masters Transport Economist at Sweco
The IIA produced serves to demonstrate and quantify the enhanced viability and connectivity of sustainable active modes generated by the Accessible Ayr scheme, with a view to reducing the reliance upon single-occupant motorised modes of travel within Ayr Town Centre. As a result of this, the IIA report provides clear evidence of the benefits produced by a shift to more sustainable modes within the context of the Accessible Ayr scheme.
The subsequent design of the scheme sets out to restore and regenerate significant portions of the town centre in order to create a more attractive environment in which people will be more willing to live, work and visit. Consequently, the scheme will have various indirect impacts in the way of aspects such as job creation and demand for property in the area. Therefore, as Ayr becomes an increasingly more desirable place to reside and work, this is likely to attract additional investment and thus further economic growth within the region.