Harlow Consulting Experience and Case Studies

Case Studies

Our Experience

Harlow Consulting is a full-service agency specialising in research, evaluation, qualifications and standards development. We are a Market Research Society (MRS) Accredited Company Partner. Our Directors have over 30 years’ combined experience of undertaking research in a wide variety of sectors.

Project examples below show our experience and expertise, and the impact our work has had through innovative research outputs.

We worked with the Home Building Skills Partnership, part of the Home Builders Federation (HBF) - to evaluate the impact of a brickwork masterclass programme delivered in conjunction with the National House Building Council (NHBC) and part-funded by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).

The evaluation of the masterclass delivered in Further Education (FE) colleges was informed by an online survey of delegates, supplemented with telephone depth interviews and an observation of the training delivery on-site at one of the colleges.

Our report enabled the Home Building Skills Partnership to understand the impact and effectiveness of the masterclass, focusing specifically on quality of curriculum content and effect on knowledge and confidence of FE tutors and assessors. Our recommendations provided valuable information to enhance the impact and value of the masterclasses moving forward.

"Harlow Consulting conducted an evaluation of our HBF CPD Brickwork Masterclass programme for Further Education tutors with depth and context aligned to our objectives. Their approach was structured with regular communication throughout, they were always responsive to feedback and produced a good quality concise report that presented clear findings and concise, achievable recommendations – would recommend."

Tracey Hill, Project & Contract Manager,

Home Building Skills Partnership

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We worked in collaboration with Simpson & Brown Architects to conduct research into the challenges and competing pressures faced by museums in maintaining their listed estate, the value and nature of recent and planned maintenance, and the scale of the backlog. This project was commissioned by a partnership between Historic England, Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

A mixed method comprising an online survey and depth telephone interviews was used to collect information from a sample of accredited museums in England with a listed estate. Detailed quantitative analysis was undertaken on the survey data, to estimate a total value of the backlog in the region of £337.5m.

As a result of our report and recommendations, DCMS announced funding of £18.8m for museums to undertake vital infrastructure and urgent maintenance backlogs.

"Working with the team at Harlow Consulting was a pleasure. We worked closely together to formulate an initial questionnaire and subsequent structured interviews to really get to the heart of the research questions. Reporting was in depth, well organised and timely. We achieved all the project milestones, and the client was so happy that an additional tranche of work was added to the project. Harlow Consulting’s work all round was carefully considered, of high quality and showed their in-depth knowledge of the historic built environment sector well."

Nicholas Uglow, Head of Heritage Consultancy - Simpson & Brown

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We have worked on multiple commissions for Cast Consultancy in the construction sector, predominantly in relation to offsite construction research / Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). Our work has included desk-based research and market analysis, qualitative and quantitative research to inform strategy development, depth stakeholder interviews, analysis of secondary datasets, online survey design and delivery, and workshop facilitation.

With Cast Consultancy, we undertook a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) for the National Housing Federation, drawing upon existing secondary sources of evidence, academic papers, industry journals and published datasets from major Government departments and the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Our report provided valuable evidence around the likely impacts of long-term funding for affordable housing.

"Cast have worked extensively with Harlow Consulting on a range of strategic research and advisory commissions in the construction sector. These have spanned a diverse range of tasks including business enterprise strategy development, modern methods of construction market analysis, future skills and training strategies and mapping the emerging construction regulatory environment, both in the UK and internationally. It has always been a pleasure to work with the Harlow team and I am always reassured by the professional and diligent manner in which they work alongside my team answering the complex questions we get asked by leading businesses and organisations."

Mark Farmer, CEO of Cast Consultancy and UK Government Champion for Modern Methods of Construction in Housebuilding

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Working with Innovate UK, we completed a process evaluation of approaches used to design and deliver multiple competitions that formed Innovate UK’s Covid-19 funding response. The work involved extensive consultation with employees, stakeholders and three online surveys of applicants, monitoring officers and assessors. Quantitative survey data analysis included statistical testing, comparison of the three different respondent types and extensive cross-tabulation of data.

The process evaluation is being used as part of the evidence base that is being built up to support Innovate UK’s lessons learnt during the pandemic. The pandemic showed Innovate UK’s agility to adjust processes to meet customer needs, and this evidence is helping to fine tune processes in the longer term.

"The economics and insights team found working with Harlow Consulting an effective partnership. Harlow Consulting was able to challenge us when necessary and ensure we were asking the right questions and also ensure a robust approach to the process evaluation. Harlow Consulting delivered the programme of work in a timely manner and were flexible as the programme was being delivered in the type of outputs/reports produced. Jennifer was excellent in presenting the results to our executive team."

Geeta Nathan, Head of Economics & Insights – Innovate UK

Historic England

We completed construction research for Historic England into heritage construction skills gaps and capacity to provide work-based training for the North of England’s construction sector (historic environment). A mixed-method approach spanned stakeholder interviews, an online survey and depth interviews with heritage employers.

The findings have been used by Historic England to inform the design and roll out of a major new comprehensive training programme for historic building crafts.