Project Overview
NorthConnex is a new road and tunnel that is being built to connect the M1 and the M2. It will take c.4 years to build and c.24,000 residents will be disrupted to some degree during this time.
The first stage of building the tunnel is building the shafts down into the ground. A method called controlled blasting was selected for the shaft excavation, and The White Agency was engaged to create a digital tool that NorthConnex staff could take to door to door consultations for people who lived within a certain radius of the shafts, to help explain what was going to happen and calm any fears, resulting in no negative publicity
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
James Keeler - Strategy & Client Partner
Dom Watson, Izzy Matias - Design
Nick Makhija - Developemnt
James Wright - Project Mnagement
Project Brief
Create a digital tool that NorthConnex staff could take to door to door consultations for people who lived within a certain radius of the shafts, to help explain what was going to happen and calm any fears, resulting in no negative publicity. The tool also needed to be able to be used by residents themselves, without any NorthConnex staff member to walk them through it.
Key objective = to educate the community about the controlled blasting method of shaft building, gain their buy-in, and avoid any unnecessary panic within the community.
Project Need
The core challenge was to overcome people’s fear that explosions were going to happen close to their homes. Many people's natural reaction to this would be to think that the explosions may weaken the foundations of their homes, damage their possessions, or make their family or pets sick.
NorthConnex needed the communications to go smoothly to avoid unnecessary panic within the community and negative publicity.
User Experience
Our strategy was based of putting ourselves in the shoes of an affected resident, and delivering what they would want to know. To ensure we understood the concerns of affected residents, we interviewed some outspoken residents who had complained at different levels about the project. By understand their concerns, we were able to ensure that we could meet their informational needs with the digital tool we developed.
The entire tool is focused around this, in particular how the shaft building will impact you personally, based on your location (relative to the shafts being built).
The tool itself is a simple 4 page digital tool, that covers:
- Background to the project and to shaft building, including communicating the benefits of both the end product and the methodology chosen
- Information on how the shaft building will impact each household based on their exact location, including the benefits of shaft building compared to jack hammering (the alternative methodology), and
- A detailed explanation of the controlled blasting process using simple, everyday language that the average resident (many of whom were not native English speakers) could understand
Project Marketing
The tool was used by NorthConnex staff while going door to door to all houses that lived within a certain radius of any of the controlled blasting sites. They used it to explain the process and benefits to the approach, and talked each person through exactly how they personally would be impacted. Where residents weren't home, a card was left with details of where to find the digital tool.
The end result was the community consultation around shaft building was extremely successful, and there was no negative publicity around this aspect of the project. Residents felt informed and understood that there was nothing to be worried about; and the NorthConnex community consultants felt empowered by the digital tool.
NorthConnex also received extremely positive feedback from the NSW Government regarding the shaft building tool.
Project Privacy
Everything is now in the public domain
Digital - Government Services
The provision of timely government services has been transformed as applications and sites are developed and implemented to either replace or complement previous methods. Be it the delivery of current and up to date critical information, compliance, community support and engagement, notification and registration or providing greater accessibility to government resources.
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