The link between improved lives for residents and businesses, and the role of a partner.

The Place and Connectivity Programme (PCP) is a package of projects to create safe, direct and attractive walking and cycling routes and high-quality public spaces for year-round use by all users and positively encourages people to choose active travel modes and to use public transport.

The project creates the sustainable transport infrastructure for the Burgess Hill Growth Programme, the largest growth programme in the Southeast of England, delivering over 3,500 homes and 5,000 new jobs.

CJ Founds Associates

Where it all began

The ambition of the Burgess Hill Growth Programme is to transform the local economy, creating thousands of new high value jobs and making Burgess Hill one of the most attractive places in the region to live and to do business.

Whilst the Growth Programme was designed to positively transform the local economy, it would also increase travel demand. Without intervention, it risked an unacceptable increase in congestion and carbon emissions and the deterioration of road safety and air quality, ultimately impacting the ambition of delivering sustainable communities.

The Place and Connectivity Programme fundamentally supports the sustainable delivery of the Growth Programme and provides certainty and assurance in the delivery of project and programme management. It embodies Mid Sussex District Council’s (MSDC) aspiration to promote sustainable economic growth by creating sustainable local employment opportunities, alongside residential development and community facilities.

CJ Founds Associates

Putting it into action

The principal objective was to create the right conditions for growth by integrating development and delivering a 15% modal shift. The schemes developed and prioritised for Phase One of the Programme were therefore selected to support the delivery of sustainable communities. Funding was achieved through a share of the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Local Growth Fund of £10.9m, fully match funded through developer contributions to a total of £21.8m.

Phase One was achieved by multiple partners working together to deliver a a joined-up approach in the design and delivery of infrastructure, including MSDC, West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and development partner Homes England. This facilitated a coordinated response to challenges and the capacity to pool assets, coordinate large scale projects and bring momentum for economic improvements.

Trusted People, Expert Delivery

CJ Founds Associates are proud to play a key role as a trusted partner to the local authority in the delivery of the Phase One MSDC-led schemes.

Because our expert project managers are known for their diligence and quality in delivery, bringing confidence to any support requirement alongside our expert PMO tools and approach, we were brought on board to help deliver the project.

  • Fully Supportive

    CJ Founds Associates provided a full package of support throughout the design and delivery process, including Project and Programme Management, Technical Advisory, Stakeholder Liaison and Site Supervision, shaping project controls, developing systems and installing best practice.

  • Offering expertise

    Our Technical Advisory team worked closely with the design team, MSDC and delivery partners to review the proposed routes offering expertise to the design and build process including adding value where possible whilst saving costs that enabled additional work to be realised through the project.

  • Appraisal of options

    The team also completed an ‘options appraisal’ for assessing 16 potential routes to create a walking and cycling link between Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath. This appraisal provided expert analysis, highlighting issues around access, topography, flood risk and road safety issues. The upgrades also had to be sensitive to the environment and full advice was provided on how best to manage ecological issues around the improvements.

  • Ensuring Sustainability

    We also worked with our delivery partners to ensure sustainability and social value was fully implemented into the design and build process. This included the use of recycled materials and minimising and reusing excavation where possible and utilising local supply chains and employment including apprenticeship opportunities.

Working in collaboration

We worked closely with all the development partners, including MSDC, WSCC Highways and Public Rights of Way, Network Rail and East Sussex County Council to ensure the routes were properly managed during construction and the work met the highest standards. This included providing stakeholder management and site supervision to ensure the public were kept safe and fully informed while the works were completed.

Delivering social value

Working with delivery partners we also facilitated social value that included engaging with over 400 school children, providing 100 hours of local volunteering and wellbeing initiatives, the creation of 50 bird and animal boxes by local community groups using recycled materials and a summer geocache trail for local children.

CJ Founds Associate Ltd

Impact to date

Award-nomiated, the successful completion of this project has been truly remarkable; delivering an effective response to a complex set up within 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a total of 14km of new active travel opportunities provided to date.

Otherwise inaccessible paths have now been linked, including those connecting to public transport hubs and employment areas. Of real importance has been the removal of barriers to provide the right conditions for all users, regardless of mobility, to choose active travel and promote physical and mental health and supporting the delivery of sustainable, inclusive communities.

In addition, it has given vital insights for future programmes, demonstrating the power of collaboration between partners to progress shared goals while providing essential support through project management tools, expert advice and stakeholder engagement.

Can we do the same for you?

Contact the CJ Founds Associates team and see how we can help with your project.