Client: Lovell / Birmingham City Council
Sectors: Built Environment, Housing,
Services: PR & Communications, Video Production,
Lovell is a partnership housing expert and provider of residential construction and regeneration developments in the UK, the company specialises in delivering affordable housing, social housing, and mixed-use developments, often in collaboration with local authorities, housing associations, and private sector partners. Birmingham City Council is one of the largest local authorities in the UK and is responsible for providing a wide range of services to the residents of Birmingham.
With 80% of surveyed young people feeling that their city doesn’t work for them; 100% having no understanding about the wealth of careers in housing, and communities strongly feeling that regeneration and the industry doesn’t represent them… something had to change.
We were asked to create an integrated campaign that brought people together in Birmingham; that informed both young people and communities on the scale of investment happening in the city and the vast amount of opportunities on offer to them; invited them to get involved in the conversation and have a voice, and inspired them to join the Birmingham Housing Week movement.
Using the three I’s of engagement (Inform, Involve, Inspire) as its foundation, we created Birmingham Housing Week, a private-sector funded, week-long series of interventions that brought the next generation and wider communities together in the heart of the city. We were clear that engagement couldn’t end at the culmination of housing week, it had to be the start of something special that continued on, and created tangible actions to benefit everyone.
From the 5th to the 9th of February, we organised a launch event for 160 industry leaders, community members and young people at Birmingham Central Library; a series of school events aimed at young people aged 14 to 16 (Y9 to Y11) to highlight the investment happening in the city and over 100 career paths to choose from in the housing sector; a community conversation, which enabled people with a lived experience of development in their respective areas to air their views and be truly listened to. The aim of this session was to understand residents’ concerns and how the industry needs to deliver proper engagement that brings communities along the journey. Birmingham Housing Week ended with a housing industry roundtable that brought 26 senior decision makers together to discuss how to tackle what had been learned throughout the week, create tangible actions and pledges to take forward throughout 2024 and beyond.
We used the full skillset of the agency, including brand development (with associated marketing collateral), planning and co-ordination of over 15 organisations, logistics, budget management, storyboarding, script writing, filming and editing, web design, public relations and wider communications, as well as designing posters to amplify the campaign.
We also signed up a range of corporate sponsors, including Shakespeare Martineau, Marrons, Platform Housing Group, STEAMhouse, Howells and Birmingham Social Housing Partnership.
