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- 13 - Architecture, Built Environment and Planning
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- Queen's University of Belfast
- Unit of assessment
- 13 - Architecture, Built Environment and Planning
- Summary impact type
- Cultural
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- No
1. Summary of the impact
Infra-Éireann Venice 2014 Making Ireland Modern Dublin 2016. Making Ireland Modern Galway 2016.
Making Ireland Modern ( MIM) was a research and design project that established and communicated the overlooked significance of modern architecture and infrastructure in the realisation of the new Irish State to a global, national and local audience. Developed after winning an open competition for Ireland’s pavilion for the 2014 Venice Biennale, the exhibition was selected and expanded for Art: 2016, the Irish State’s national centennial celebrations. In 2018, it was further recognised in a Getty Foundation Keeping it Modern grant (the first and, to date, only awarded in Ireland) to conduct further research into conserving St. Brendan’s School (1978), one of the buildings showcased in the project’s exhibitions/publications.
2. Underpinning research
Originating in 2013 and designed, curated and led by Boyd and John McLaughlin (of John McLaughlin Architects and University College Cork), Making Ireland Modern ( MIM) was a cross-disciplinary, inter-institutional, inter-media design and research project. Combining research about architecture with research through architecture it conveyed to a variety of public and professional audiences a hitherto underexplored spatial, cultural and historic narrative. This was realised through a series of manifestations: a physical pavilion and exhibition with four place-specific iterations [R1]; a book [R2]; an academic paper [R3]; a series of public events; and sundry ephemera, including a website.
Critical to the dissemination of this message was the research design and curation of the pavilion itself and its exhibited contents. Boyd and McLaughlin commissioned a group of ten researchers (one per infrastructural episode from across the island of Ireland and North America) to retrieve, examine and analyse archival material and generate an evolving narrative for both the pavilion and subsequent publications. Simultaneously, following research into a series of 20th-century architectural precedents, the pavilion was conceived and designed as a synecdoche of infrastructural architecture: an extendable and demountable, open matrix, frame construction made from timber and measuring 12.5 x 5 x 6 metres for its initial international Venice iteration ( Infra-Éireann) (and made larger at 12.5 x 7.5 x 6 metres for the subsequent MIM national tour). Presenting ten infrastructural episodes spanning a period of one hundred years from 1916-2016 within its structural bays, the design of the pavilion embedded research within a number of different ways: within its form, structure, and organisation as well as the curation of the drawings, photographs, scale models and other assembled artefacts which explored a range of infrastructural scales from the detail design of objects to that of entire landscapes and territories [R1].
The book “ Infrastructure and the Architectures of Modernity in Ireland” (edited by Boyd and McLaughlin) was published by Ashgate in 2015 and then again by Routledge (in paperback) in 2017. Each of the researchers cited above authored a chapter on the infrastructural episode identified by Boyd and McLaughlin: negation/postal service; electricity; health; transport; aviation; television, education, telecommunications, motorways and data. Each chapter sought to examine the episode and its attendant architectures within broader, historic, cultural, political and economic contexts that it both influenced and was influenced by [R2]. Boyd and McLaughlin’s introductory chapter offered an overview of the process of modernity in Ireland and its historic relationships globally [R3]. Their individual, sole-authored chapters (1 and 10 respectively) also considered the continuing importance of the steel frame in the production of modernity which in turn contributed to the design of the pavilion[s]. Boyd’s chapter foregrounded the relationship between space, time and modern institutions that underpinned many of the aspects contained throughout the rest of the book [R4].
In 2018, Boyd and McLaughlin published a peer-reviewed, open-access journal article, "'no fixed form': The Infra-Eireann - Making Ireland Modern Pavilion and the Sites of Modernity". Counterpointing the social histories contained in Infrastructure and the Architectures of Modernity in Ireland, it reflected on the research through design aspects of the pavilion, exploring the metaphorical meaning and physical use of the frame, the design’s demountable and expandable modularity, and specific aspects of technology (including the Sherpa fixing which allowed rapid and flexible assembly and disassembly) deployed to achieve this [R5].
3. References to the research
[R1] Boyd, G. A. and McLaughlin J. (designers, curators, commissioners) Infra-Éireann/Making Ireland Modern; pavilions and exhibitions: Venice; Galway, Cork and Dublin. Research output: design object/exhibition. See http://makingirelandmodern.ie.
[R2] Boyd, G. A. and McLaughlin J. (editors), Infrastructure and the Architectures of Modernity in Ireland (Ashgate, 2015; Routledge 2017). (ISBN: 9781472446862 Hardback; 9781138572362 Paperback; 9781315252254 Ebook). Research output: book. See: https://www.routledge.com/Infrastructure-and-the-Architectures-of-Modernity-in-Ireland-1916-2016/Boyd-McLaughlin/p/book/9781138572362
[R3] Boyd, G. A. and McLaughlin, J. (authors) ‘The Telephone and the Parthenon’ in Infrastructure and the Architectures of Modernity in Ireland (Ashgate, 2015; Routledge 2017) pp 1-7. Research output: book chapter.
[R4] Boyd, G. A. (author) Chapter 1, ‘The General Post Office and a collapsing of time’ in Infrastructure and the Architectures of Modernity in Ireland (Ashgate, 2015; Routledge 2017) pp 9-29. Research output: book chapter.
[R5] Boyd, G. A. and McLaughlin, J. ‘no fixed form: The Infra-Éireann – Making Ireland Modern Pavilion and the Sites of Modernity’ (2018). Output: peer-reviewed journal. AJAR – Arena Journal of Architectural Research. 3, 1. P.1-19. https://ajar.arena-architecture.eu/articles/10.5334/ajar.60/ Research output: peer-reviewed paper. Last accessed 5th January 2021.
4. Details of the impact
MIM exposed to new international, national and local audiences, the hitherto under-acknowledged importance of architecture’s role in developing the physical and cultural identity of the new Irish State. The project’s significance and impact are firstly corroborated by the wide range of funding it enjoyed from a diverse group of supporters from both the public and private sectors. As well as Culture Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland – both outward facing arts organisations (collectively funding the Venice pavilion for EUR320,000) – other key funders and supporters of the research included international and national cultural institutions and industrial and professional agencies: Royal Institute of Irish Architects (RIAI) (EUR10,000); the Government Policy on Architecture (EUR20,000); the Irish Architectural Foundation (IAF); the Architecture Association of Ireland (AAI); ESB Ireland (EUR20,000); the Office of Public Works (OPW); Siemens-Schuckert (Germany); Sherpa Connectors (Austria); Cement Manufacturers Ireland (CMI); Galway International Arts Festival (GIAF); Culture Night Cork; Open House Dublin; and the ARUP’s Trust (EUR5,000). The innovation and originality of the project allowed two of its principal governmental funders, Culture Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland, to select MIM for highly prestigious public international and national events:
‘La Biennale di Venezia [is] … the world’s most important international showcase for contemporary arts and architecture … Selecting which projects and individuals [solely] represent Ireland, therefore, requires a highly rigorous process in the pursuit of the highest quality in concept and execution. The project Infra-Éireann [MIM] was chosen after a highly competitive open competition by a prestigious international expert panel of architects and curators because of its innovative and creative response’ (Director, Culture Ireland). [S1]
The Venice Biennale is the biggest architectural exhibition globally. The 2014 event was visited by over 350,000 individuals. MIM, the Irish nation’s pavilion, was widely covered in the global architectural press and media, featuring in publications such as Abitare (Italy), The Cairo Observer (Egypt), ArchDaily (international), Fumiemve (Japan), and had four pages in The Architect’s Journal (the UK’s leading architecture periodical) [S2]. Writing in the Architecture Record (USA), renowned American architecture writer and critic Sarah Williams Goldhagen described it as ‘beautifully conceived [showcasing] ten major infrastructural episodes that advanced the country’s development’. The Cairo Observer noted:
‘[it] wastes no words, space or time to deliver a direct … view of the country’s history of modernism that is somewhat on the margins of the canonical histories of modern architecture. There are no polemics here, just good research.’ [S3]
Nationally, Frank McDonald, Ireland’s foremost architectural critic wrote in the Irish Times:
‘Housed in an elegant framework … the projects featured here go beyond engineering or architecture to assume cultural, social and political significance’. [S4]
‘Following the success and reputation of the Infra-Éireann [MIM] pavilion in Venice in 2014’, the Arts Council – whose remit is to promote public ‘knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts’ – invited the project to be developed for a national audience within Ireland (touring three cities: Galway, Cork, Dublin). The pavilion was physically extended to display more artefactual material, and a series of public engagement events organised to form one of the major strands of ART: 2016, the Irish State’s cultural celebration of the 1916-2016 centenary. The funding awarded was EUR150,000, one of the most significant made by the Arts Council of Ireland to what it describes as the ‘artform’ of architecture. [S5]
As part of ART: 2016, the pavilion and exhibition featured in both local and national media, including a special edition of RTÉ Radio 1’s Inside Culture (22 August 2016). Throughout its tour, it engaged with specific groups within local communities through workshops, talks, site visits and other public events. These engagement programmes were embedded within larger events and organisations, the attraction of the message of the pavilion to a wider audience is made clear by its inclusion in the Galway International Arts Festival (GIAF), Culture Night (Cork), and Open House (Dublin) programmes. Overall visitor numbers for Galway International Arts Festival, 11-24th July 2016 were 200,000. Over 200 people attended specific scheduled public events at the pavilion; 6,048 people visited the pavilion in St. Peter’s Arts Centre Cork, between 8th September and 1st October 2016; with 807 attending the 5 scheduled (pre-booked) public events. 100 attended the oversubscribed Concrete Logic symposium in Dublin November 2016. Boyd and McLaughlin also gave a public lecture to the Architectural Association of Ireland (consisting mainly of practitioners + members of the general public, estimated attendees 150) on 17th November 2016. For the architecture profession, ‘The MIM research and projects and their later outputs (the Keeping Ireland Modern symposium and the Birr at 40 exhibition) have been of significant interest and benefit to our members as part of our core mission in promoting architecture within the public realm’ (CEO, Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI)). [S6]
The appreciation by the staff of the architectural history of Merlin Park Hospital (a former TB sanatorium showcased in the exhibition) was substantively altered due to the research and they subsequently developed their own exhibition:
‘Since your visit to Merlin our architecture and social history is much more important to us. In recent weeks we received an award as winner of the Galway City Tidy Towns and Garden Competition – Public and Commercial Building, Civic Buildings section. Thank you and John and Gary for giving us an awareness of our architecture. Their speech here in Merlin on 12th July was so unusual not like anything we ever had before on site. I have since showed the recorded version to Catering Staff etc. who were working on the day’ (Letter from the Medical Directorate of Merlin Park Hospital). [S7]
On the 13th December 2016, along with a delegation from the hospital, Boyd was invited to present Michael D. Higgins the President of Ireland with a copy of Infrastructure and the Architectures of Modernity in Ireland 1916-2016. The book was reviewed in the general and professional press nationally and internationally. The Irish Times:
‘… important addition to the historiography of twentieth-century Ireland … an invaluable resource to anyone interested in the architecture of that period … vivid and compelling stories of nation building, it deserves to find a wide readership … looks set to become integral to any future study in the field: a new piece of intellectual infrastructure’. [S8]
MIM’s international success in exposing the significance and pivotal role of Ireland’s modernist architecture has been further evidenced by the award of a John Paul Getty Foundation Keeping it Modern (KIM) grant (EUR124,000) to research the conservation of a previously overlooked building which featured in Infra-Éireann/MIM – St Brendan’s School, Birr (1978). One of only ten recipients of a KIM award in 2018 globally and the first and only to be awarded in Ireland [S9], this follow-on project (2018-21 project-leader Boyd) directly owes its existence to the research cited above. It is being carried out in collaboration with an award-winning Irish architectural practice, the Irish governmental Department of Education and Skills and the school’s board of management to produce a Conservation Management Plan ( CMP). This evaluates aspects of the building’s cultural and architectural significance as a modernist educational paradigm and their tolerance for change, to form a series of strategies and policies to manage its future as a working school and improve its environmental conditions and energy use for the twenty-first century.
From relative obscurity, the building is now globally recognised, a recognition which, through the execution of the Getty award, will positively influence its future and the educational experience of its future students, as well as forming a potential model for other conservation programmes for schools of the same epoch both in Ireland and internationally. An idea of the reach and impact of the research from international to local is given by the fact that the news of the Getty was broken almost simultaneously in the Los Angeles (LA) Times, the Sunday Times (Ireland), the Midland Tribune (Birr) and the Irish Times. The title of the last of these, ‘Tractor Shed or Landmark of Irish Modernism?’ is significant in demonstrating the change in public perception of St. Brendan’s School since before the research was undertaken [S10]. When completed, the St. Brendan’s CMP will become part of the Getty Foundation’s Keeping it Modern report library, a global resource on the conservation of modernist architecture.
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
[S1] Testimonial: Director Culture Ireland, 6th December 2019. Culture Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland jointly funded the Venice pavilion at EUR320,000. Involvement with delivery of impact: director of the funding agency and on the selection panel.
[S2] Architect’s Journal 6th June 2014, 46-49. https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/first-peek-inside-the-irish-pavilion-at-the-venice-biennale/8663668.fullarticle.
[S3] Sarah Williams Goldhagen, Architectural Record (USA), print edition, June 18th, 2014; Cairobserver, print issue, 12 July 2014.
[S4] Frank McDonald, Irish Times, print issue, 14 June 2014.
[S5] Testimonial: Director of the Arts Council of Ireland 3rd December 2019. Involvement with delivery of impact: director of the funding agency and on the selection panel.
[S6] Testimonial: CEO, Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI). Involvement with delivery of impact: minority funder of the Infra-Éireann/MIM projects
[S7] Testimonial: Medical Directorate, Merlin Park, Galway (correspondence with Tara Kennedy ( Making Ireland Modern team-member)). Their exhibition was publicised within the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) internal newspaper Health Matters and also in the local newspaper Galway Tribune on (03/02/2017) (see supporting evidence). Involvement with delivery of impact: observer.
[S8] Hugh Campbell, Irish Times, on-line edition, December 2015. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/infra-eireann-infrastructure-and-the-architectures-of-modernity-in-ireland-1916-2016-1.2487027.
[S9] https://www.getty.edu/foundation/initiatives/current/keeping_it_modern/grants_awarded_2018.html Last accessed 5th January 2021.
[S10] LA Times, ‘Getty Announces 2018 grants funding architectural conservation worldwide including projects in Cuba and Lebanon’. 11 October 2018; the Sunday Times, Offaly pretty school wows Getty judges. 21 October 2018; Midland Tribune (22 November 2018) Environmental & Conservation research plan to be developed for St Brendan’s School, Birr, p.48. Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/tractor-shed-or-landmark-of-irish-modernism-1.3661583 .
- Submitting institution
- Queen's University of Belfast
- Unit of assessment
- 13 - Architecture, Built Environment and Planning
- Summary impact type
- Societal
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- Yes
1. Summary of the impact
Our relationship with energy infrastructure is changing as different technologies are deployed in new locations. This can lead to community concerns around environmental impacts, community involvement and distribution of costs/benefits of development, which has a significant influence on the pace and nature of energy transition. Ellis’ research on this had impacts including: i) Influencing Ireland’s Energy White Paper and Renewable Support Scheme, which has already secured c.1,300MW renewable capacity ii) Advising international institutions’ (EU/ IEA) on social engagement around renewables; and iii) Guiding energy companies’ approach to community relations, including the Community Benefit Fund for Ireland’s largest windfarm (SSE) and engagement processes for Coillte’s €1 billion wind energy programme.
2. Underpinning research
This case study is based on research that began in 2003 with an ESRC-funded investigation (RES-000- 22-1095, PI: Ellis) of community concerns around a windfarm proposal, and evolved through six further research projects, funded by UKRI, EU, Irish Environmental Protection Agency, Danish Council for Strategic Research and Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council, and ongoing with the MISTRAL EU-Innovative Training Network.
This research has focussed on social engagement with renewable energy projects. A particular focus has been wind energy in Ireland, which has rapidly expanded from providing 4% of the country’s electricity in 2005 to 30% today and is now critical to the country’s climate targets, energy security and economic benefits for rural communities. However, in many countries, including Ireland, concerns of host communities has emerged as a limiting factor to the overall potential of wind energy. This was initially understood primarily in term of ‘NIMBYism’, which led to responses of dismissal and marginalisation. However, Ellis’ research has contributed to a better understanding of these concerns and shown that they reflect deeper anxieties linked to environmental impacts, place-attachment, community involvement and distribution of costs and benefits. This has helped shape new approaches to energy policy in many countries, and particularly in Ireland, which has now adopted a strong community focus in its approach.
Ellis’ research has developed new methodological and theoretical approaches to social engagement in a large and varied body of work. This includes an edited book, 14 peer-reviewed papers, 6 book chapters and 5 advisory reports, which has attracted 1640+ citations and 18,000+ downloads. 11 of these peer reviewed papers are in the top 25% of all Altimetric scores, and 5 in the top 5%. This work has been presented more than 40 times, including keynote presentations at major EU events, prestigious international academic conferences in India, China and across Europe, and policy/practitioner events, including European Wind Developer Congress. The work has influenced other projects (e.g. GPWind, WisePower and WinWind, while Ellis’ membership on advisory boards of other international projects (e.g. Crowdthermal, Windplan, COM-RES, Cowind) extends this contribution. Ellis was also invited as the Independent Expert Witness for the Northern Ireland Assembly Enquiry into Planning for Wind Energy http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/committees/2011-2016/environment/reports/report-on-the-committees-inquiry-into-wind-energy/ Six specific outputs have been selected here to highlight some of the impacts generated from this research.
REF1-6 (below) demonstrate the evolution of this research. REF1** provided innovative perspectives of local windfarm disputes using a new approach (Q-Methodology), finding that project opponents were not generally the deviant ‘NIMBYs’ as often portrayed, but expressing rational reactions to locally disruptive developments. REF2 analysed dominant discourses around wind energy to produce what were then novel insights; that energy transition relied not only on the viability of competing technologies, but also their social acceptability. The research also highlighted the potential of deliberative processes in overcoming many issues in windfarm disputes. REF3 elaborated this by drawing on the political tradition of civic republicanism to highlight how spatial planning processes could be utilised to catalyse windfarm conflicts into wider discussions about energy choices, and suggested that those expressing concerns around local renewables projects should be welcomed for their engagement with the civic arena, rather than vilified as NIMBYs. REFS 1-3 created a theoretical and empirical basis that had implications for practice and policy, highlighted the potential for new institutional designs and the need for constructive engagement around windfarm disputes.
REF4/REF5 developed this research for Ireland’s National Economic and Social Council (NESC). REF4 makes the case for conceptualising energy as a socio-technological phenomena and provided international examples of progressive practice, leading to recommendations focused on reducing place-based impacts and enhancing procedural and distributive justice. REF5 analysed the Irish context and developed an extended list of recommendations for Irish energy transition, many of which were articulated in NESC’s own report to the Taoiseach (Prime Minister). REF6 synthesises Ellis’ expertise in a major report for the EU’s Joint Research Centre, and, as such, is being used as the evidence base for EU policy and research programmes.
3. References to the research
REF1: Ellis, G., Barry, J. and Robinson, C. (2007) ‘Many Ways to Say “No” – Different Ways To Say “Yes”: Applying Q-Methodology to Understand Public Acceptance of Wind Farm Proposals’, Journal of Planning and Environmental Management, 50 (4), 517-551. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640560701402075
REF2:** Barry, J., Ellis, G., and Robinson, C. (2008) ‘Cool Rationalities and Hot Air: A Rhetorical Approach to Understanding Debates on Renewable Energy’ Global Environmental Politics, 8 (2), 67- 98. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep.2008.8.2.67
REF3:** Barry, J., and Ellis, G. (2010) ‘Beyond consensus? Agonism, contestation, republicanism and a low carbon future’, in Devine-Wright, P. (ed.) Renewable Energy and the Public, Earthscan. https://pdf-drive.com/pdf/Patrick20Devine-Wright20-20Renewable20Energy20and20the20Public20From20NIMBY20to20Participation-Earthscan20Publications20Ltd.2028201029.pdf#page=62
REF4:** SLR, Ellis, G. and Devine-Wright, P. (2014) Wind Energy: International Practices to Support Community Engagement and Acceptance, National Economic and Social Council, Ireland http://files.nesc.ie/nesc_reports/en/139_additional2_SLR_International_Report.pdf
REF5: SLR, Ellis, G. and Devine-Wright, P. (2014) Wind Energy: The Challenge of Community Engagement and Social Acceptance in Ireland, National Economic and Social Council, Ireland: http://files.nesc.ie/nesc_reports/en/ 139_additional1_SLR_National_Report.pdf
REF6: Ellis, G. and Ferraro, G. (2017) Social Acceptance of Wind Energy: Where We Stand and the Path Ahead, Joint research Centre, European Commission, Brussels. https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/social-acceptance-wind-energy-where-we-stand-and-path-ahead
4. Details of the impact
Three major areas of impact are claimed for this research:
- Shaping national energy policies and instruments of the Republic of Ireland. It is possible to establish a clear link with Ellis’ work and a change in policy direction expressed in Ireland’s 2015 Energy White Paper ( Source1), which shifted emphasis away from focussing on the role of Government and infrastructure providers, for which community concerns were a frustrating factor, to the one expressed here:
‘s87.The transition will see the energy system change from one that is almost exclusively Government and utility led, to one where citizens and communities will increasingly be participants in renewable energy generation, distribution and energy efficiency.
s.88. Improved community engagement will be essential to renewable energy policy making and implementation.’ (Source1)
In support of this, the White Paper ( Source1,* p44-45) committed to an extensive list of actions that are now being implemented, many of which were expressly recommended in Ellis’s work ( REF 4, REF5). This includes measures to increase transparency in development decisions, the use of intermediaries, introduction of co-ownership schemes and encouraging community energy. The new procurement programme that emerged from the White Paper, the Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS) includes innovative community provisions recommended in REF 4, REF5 (community ownership, community dividends and community participation) and has already secured 1,276MW of new renewable capacity. Ellis was part of an advisory group for this Scheme, and as confirmed by the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) *( Source2, Letter from the Wind Energy Programme Manager ) his work was considered ‘ very valuable’ for the implementing Government Department.
Evidence for Ellis’ influence on this policy change is found in both Source2 (letter from SEAI) and in Source3 (Letter from the Project Leader and the Director of National Economic and Social Council, NESC). Source3* explains how the impact was a result of Ellis two advisory reports ( REF 4, REF5) for Ireland’s NESC, which directly advises the Taoiseach. These reports were the basis of NESC’s report on building social support for wind energy in Ireland ( Source4), extensively discussed in the national media and Irish Parliament ( Source3). The NESC report then informed the change in policy that emerged in the Energy White Paper ( Source1).* Source3 explains the influence of Ellis’ research on NESC’s approach and understanding of social acceptance, and clarifies the chain of impact that led to shaping the White Paper, RESS and that it is also referenced in new climate legislation. Source3 also includes a commendation from the current Political Advisor to Ireland’s Minister for Climate Action, Energy and Communication which notes the important policy improvements secured as part of this work, stating that it ‘ resulted in better consultation with communities and in addition some major policy improvements …’.
Source2** states that Ellis’ work ‘ provided the evidence for developing Government policies on community engagement for renewable energy’ and Source3 summarises the overall impact of the research as having ‘ a positive impact on the development of energy policy towards the involvement and engagement with communities.’
In addition to this influence, Ellis’ work is regularly quoted in NESC reports, which are made to the Office of the Taoiseach, including its work on ‘Just Transitions’ (e.g. Source5). As a result of the advice provided on energy issues, Ellis was appointed by the Taoiseach as an independent member of NESC and thus now provides direct advice to the Council and has contributed to its ongoing programmes on climate change and transition. He has also had an influence on Northern Ireland in terms of shifting energy debates around renewable energy ( Source6, Letter from the Head of RenewableNI*).
- Influencing major international institutions, including the European Commission on citizen participation in energy. REF1 is quoted in the European Wind Energy Associations Wind Energy – The Facts, supported by the EU, which claims to be ‘ widely considered to be the most important wind energy reference in the world’ and Ellis was a keynote speaker at the launch of the EU’s work on civic society dialogue on energy issues and Energy-Transparency Centre of Knowledge (E-Track). The EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) commissioned Ellis to conduct a knowledge review of social acceptance ( REF6). JRC Reports are a primary knowledge source for EU policy-makers and this report has been quoted in The Brookings Institute report on local opposition to renewables in the USA and by The World Bank in their report on improving the investment climate for renewables.
The research has also been taken up by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and REN21 (a global NGO for promoting renewables). Ellis has been the National Expert for Ireland on IEA Task 28, a group recognised as one of the key sources of expertise in the field (e.g. by the trade body Wind Europe), under the auspices of the IEA, the global energy body. Ellis co-authored IEA recommended practice for social acceptance, which has been implemented by many national governments ( Source7, Letter from the Joint Operating Agents), including Ireland ( Source2). As noted in Source7 : ‘…It is clear that Prof Ellis has played a very important role in ensuring the works of the Task [28] has been of relevance of our international membership and has continued to reflect cutting edge research in the field …. [he] has had an important and enduring influence on the outcomes and impact of IEA Task 28’.
Ellis was also invited as lead author of the Features Chapter for REN21s’s 2020 Renewables Global Status Report *(‘the world’s most comprehensive crowdsourced report on renewables’, Source8, Letter from the Executive Director of REN21*), which has been viewed by nearly 30,000 energy professions across the world and discussed at 12 regional and international events in the four months since publication ( Source8), helping shaping the understanding of social acceptance amongst organisations such as the EU, IEA, World Bank, UNDP and World Wind Energy Association.
- The expertise developed from this research has also directly shaped development practice through advice provided to two of Ireland’s largest wind energy companies ( SSE and Coillte). Following an approach by SSE to Ellis, he aided the design of the community benefit fund of the Galway Bay Wind Park, Ireland’s largest windfarm. Source9 (Letter from SSE’s The Head of Sustainability, Ireland) notes that his expertise ‘… has been very useful and valuable for understanding where adjustments need to be made in the final Galway Wind Park Community Fund design’. Similarly, Ellis has advised Coillte on community relations for its €1 billion renewable energy programme and was an expert member of their Community Engagement Panel, which has overseen their community consultation process. Source10 **(*Letter from the Community Engagement Manager with Coillte) notes that Ellis’ involvement ‘… has confirmed the need for us to adopt a proactive approach to managing social risks of our projects, helped inform the development of our innovative Inclusive Project Development Team model, and provided us with greater confidence and credibility in how we best manage the community relationships of our community development programme’.
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
Source1: Ireland 2015 Energy White Paper: Dept of Communication, Energy and Natural Resources (2015) Ireland’s Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Future 2015-2030 (see pages 40-45: https://static.rasset.ie/documents/news/energy-white-paper-dec-2015.pdf )
Source2:** Letter verifying impact from Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (8/12/20) from their Wind Energy Programme Manager, and the letter reports the impact of Ellis’ research on renewables policy in the Republic of Ireland.
Source3: Letter verifying advisory role and impact via NESC (18/11/20). NESC commissioned REF4 and REF5 and this letter reports the impact of that research, from a Policy Analyst and Director of NESC.
Source4: NESC (2014) Wind Energy in Ireland: Building Community Engagement and Social Support https://www.nesc.ie/publications/wind-energy-in-ireland-building-community-engagement-and-social-support/
Source5: NESC (2020) Four Case Studies on Just Transition: Lessons for Ireland, http://files.nesc.ie/nesc_research_series/Research_Series_Paper_15_TTCaseStudies.pdf
Source6:* Letter from Renewable NI verifying contribution to policy debates in Northern Ireland (22/12/20) from the Head of RNI, the Renewables Trade organisation for Northern Ireland the letter reports the local impact of Ellis’ research.
Source7: Letter verifying contribution to International Energy Agency’s Task 28 (23/11/20), from the Operating Agent for Task 28, who acts as a Secretariat for the work undertaken by its remit, and therefore involved in the delivery of its impact.
Source8: Letter verifying contribution to the activities of REN21 (20/11/20) from their Executive Director and the letter describes the impact of Ellis’ work with the organisation, particularly the authorship of a chapter in their Renewables Global Status Report.
Source9: Letter from the Head of Sustainability with SSE (Ireland) and the letter reports the impact of Ellis’ advice to the company on Wind Park Community Fund, verifying contribution to Ireland’s largest wind development (11/08/17).
Source10: Letter from the Community Engagement Manager with Coillte, who are a major renewables developer in Ireland, verifying contribution to its wind energy development programme (19/11/20). The letter reports the impact of Ellis’s research through engagement with Coillte.
- Submitting institution
- Queen's University of Belfast
- Unit of assessment
- 13 - Architecture, Built Environment and Planning
- Summary impact type
- Societal
- Is this case study continued from a case study submitted in 2014?
- No
1. Summary of the impact
Our research on the SSE leveraged capital investment, improved the supply of social finance, supported the growth of community businesses and helped to develop new policies and investment programmes. This has in turn, strengthened area-based strategies (inner-city), sectors (ageing), practice (skills) and infrastructure (finance) to sustain more inclusive forms of urban regeneration and local development. These effects include leveraging GBP12,500,000 in investment; supporting the start-up or growth of 62 social enterprises; and creating 165 FTE jobs. This was taken forward via a KTP with Ashton Community Development Limited (ACDL), which has added GBP1,100,000 in commercial income to this social enterprise.
2. Underpinning research
As poverty, exclusion and segregation become a more significant feature of the urban age, this programme of research explores the potential of the SSE as an alternative site of community mobilisation and inclusive economics. The impacts are primarily within Northern Ireland but draw on empirical work in north and south America, Europe and Africa. The SSE is, like the private economy, an assemblage of firms (social enterprises and cooperatives); social entrepreneurs; intermediaries (business support, research, capacity building); social finance; and advocacy networks operating at a national and global level. The value of the case study is that it addresses these elements, their limitations and how they work together to create a distinctive approach to urban regeneration and community-based planning (R1).
Asset based development
Murtagh (PI) was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) to lead a review of Community Asset Transfer (CAT, 2011-12) (R2), which showed the social, economic and environmental impact of schemes in NI, but also stressed the need for a stronger regulatory environment (asset transfer legislation, capital investment and skills) to sustain and scale these outcomes. Research for the Housing Executive on Asset Transfer and Social Housing: Building on Delivery (NIHE, 2011-12, Murtagh PI) evaluated the importance of land, commercial property and housing transfers in tenant-led regeneration using secondary data, Geographic Information systems (GIS) analysis and case studies. This showed how asset-based development and community anchor organisations have turned estates around, created jobs and new services and produced significant cross-community outcomes, especially in (religiously) segregated areas (R3). Alternative Economics and Social Inclusion (The Executive Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers for NI), TEO, 2011-14, Murtagh PI) was commissioned by TEO and used a quantitative survey of social enterprises; secondary data on the structure of the sector; and case studies to set out policy recommendations to the NI government to strengthen the ‘social economy ecosystem’ (especially preferential debt finance) for asset holding community businesses (R4).
Alternative ageing
Ageing is a significant economic, community and spatial challenge and this research explored the role of the social economy as an alternative way to address poverty and strengthen NGOs to deliver services to the most excluded old. The Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) is a USD6,000,000,000 US donor with a concern for social justice and The Age Sector in NI (AP, 2004-09) critically reviewed the nature of political and policy advocacy and how social economics might support a more independent sector, better able to provide services to an ageing population. Murtagh (PI) led a three-stage research project. Phase 1 examined global best practice, the needs of older people and existing social economic activity across the age sector. This emphasised the need for an integrated programme to strengthen the enabling environment including social finance, technical skills, intermediary labour markets and new community businesses. The second phase involved the design, implementation monitoring and evaluation of a programme of six projects to be funded with a GBP2,240,000 investment by AP. This included projects in capacity building, Time Banks, social enterprise start-ups and new social finance products. Learning and impact was developed in the third phase via a grant on Sustaining Models of Practice (AP, 2014-18, Murtagh PI), which used participatory research with 11 projects across the AP portfolio to show the various ways in which they had sustained their work after grant aid had ended. This centred on social enterprise models, how Social Return On Investment (SROI) metrics can present a more effective case to ‘impact investors’ and how blended funding models (grant/debt/social investment) are needed to strengthen organisational viability (R5). We later developed and evaluated some of these models in a dedicated Work Package to look at ‘innovative actions’ including social enterprises (GEMS ILM), to support communities as they age in Healthy Urban Living and Ageing in Place (HULAP), which was a joint project between Belfast and Curitiba, Brazil (ESRC-Newton Fund, 2016-19).
Integrated urban regeneration
Murtagh was PI on Social Economics and Ethical Development (Social Investment Fund; 2015-19), which delivered the North Belfast Ethical Investment (NBEI) programme to support asset-based local economic development (R6). This is a partnership between the university and the social enterprise LEDCOM to use a range of research methods (market analysis, global best practice, social value measures and impact evaluation) to scale the social economy in the inner-city. The research informed a three-stage investment programme with small, medium and large grants, together with technical support to develop particular sectors. This prioritised, for example, community heritage including a significant support for a tourism initiative by the Belfast Charitable Society. Using research to help create viable community businesses with a strong social impact is being taken forward by Murtagh (PI) via a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with ACDL (Innovate UK, 2019-21). Diversifying Social Enterprises aims to commercialise services; develop procurement capacity; strengthen social value measurement; and create an open-source toolkit with technical resources to help social enterprises access the competitive tender market.
3. References to the research
R1 Murtagh, B. (2019) Social Economics and the Solidarity City, London, Routledge. ISBN 9781138122215. (This book was the focus of an Author Versus Critics debate at the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers Conference 2019 that is reported in a special edition of the journal Space and Polity, 24(3), 2020 https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cspp20/current\).
R2 Murtagh, B. (2015) Community asset transfer in Northern Ireland, Policy and Politics, 43(2), 221–237. https://doi.org/10.1332/030557312X655837.
R3 Murtagh, B. and McFerran, K. (2015) Adaptive utilitarianism, social enterprises and urban regeneration, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 33(6), 1585-1599. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0263774X15614151.
R4 Murtagh, B. and Boland, P. (2019) Community asset transfer and strategies of local accumulation, Social and Cultural Geography, 20(1), 4-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2017.1347270.
R5 Murtagh, B. (2017) Ageing and the social economy, Social Enterprise Journal, 13(3), 216-233. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ\-02\-2017\-0009.
R6 Murtagh, B., Grounds, A., Boland, P. and Fox-Rogers, L. (2020) Social economics, poverty and violence after peace, Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 4(2-3), 220-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/23802014.2019.1674184.
4. Details of the impact
Impact on leveraged investment
The research had direct effects on investment decisions of charities, donors and government agencies. The AP Social Economy Ageing Programme led to an investment of GBP2,240,000 that created Tier 1 capital investment of GBP500,000 in Charity Bank (NI); an Investment-readiness programme for NGOs (delivered by Ulster University and Charity Bank); Intermediary Labour Market for Older People (GEMS); a social enterprise Handy-Van project for older people living at home (Bryson Charitable Group); Time Bank volunteering for older people (Volunteer Now); and a social enterprise start-up programme (UnLtd). SROI methods showed that the investment produced a mean impact of GBP1 of grant aid to GBP2.68 (of social value benefit) across the 6 projects. For example, UnLtd created 20 jobs, 40 new start micro-social enterprises and a SROI of GBP1:GBP1.79 [SOURCE 1]; while GEMS placed 94 people into employment, generated GBP6,100,000 in waged income, reduced welfare payments by GBP1,100,000 and generated a SROI of GBP1:GBP2.75 (both over 5 years) [SOURCE 2 CEO GEMS] (R5). Developing this theme, we explored a range of innovative social enterprise models such as intermediary labour markets, loneliness initiatives and recycling (drawing on experiences of the Brazilian partner in Curitiba) to target the most excluded and isolated old as part of our HULAP grant. Based on our case study of GEMS, we argued for a stronger emphasis on practical approaches to poverty and more recently, labour market integration for older people has become a priority for a range of policies and programmes such as Age-Friendly Belfast as well as specific access to work schemes [SOURCE 2 CEO GEMS]. The NBEI project also provided development capital to Belfast Charitable Society (BCS) to support heritage services in its iconic, Grade-A listed building and related ancient graveyard. This detailed sectoral research deployed user surveys, best practice in the management of community heritage museums and an analysis of revenue potential to help inform a GBP500,000 investment in heritage-led tourism by BCS including accommodation and related conference facilities [SOURCE 3 CEO Belfast Charitable Society].
Policy impact and the regulatory environment
The longitudinal aspect of our work on community assets emphasises the time, post-research effort and partnership work with advocacy groups required to maximise impacts. The JRF project had an impact on the content of the development of the NI Government strategy on Community Asset Transfer in Northern Ireland (2013-19) (R2). However, there was a concern among NGOs about whether the policy would reflect QUB findings, which emphasised the need for a strong legislative and financial basis to asset transfer. We worked with the lobby group Stratagem along with Development Trust Northern Ireland (DTNI) and sympathetic MLAs to table a formal Assembly Question (AQ) in the Northern Ireland Assembly and a commitment by the Minister that the research findings would feed into the new policy (quoted in Hansard, 2013, p.WA.293)]. DTNI was established to provide technical support, training and advocacy and we continue to work closely with them to organise best practice visits along with key policymakers (most recently to Scotland in 2019); undertake (by colleagues in QUB planning) a focused study on the feasibility of a Community Rights Act; and lobby for investment support, especially as Murtagh was appointed to the government’s Strategic Insight Lab on Asset Transfer (September 2019) to set out a new direction for policy in NI [SOURCE 4 Director DTNI]. The emphasis on asset-based regeneration and community accumulation strategies raises significant implications for policy, local practice and support for individual social enterprises (R4).
Innovative urban regeneration
Part of the story of impact in this arena is to take the lessons from previous programmes to create more effective and sustainable interventions. Murtagh and McFerran (R3) reported their evaluation of the EU URBAN II Initiative 2000-08 that aimed to regenerate north Belfast, using a community-based economic development approach. The paper showed that the investment in social enterprises largely failed because financial aid was not accompanied with appropriate technical support; the investment was too small to sustain or grow a proper business model; and because managers lacked the commercial experience to develop markets, supply chains and value-added services. Drawing on this experience, QUB partnered with the leading social enterprise LEDCOM in a three-year action research project to develop the social economy in the inner-city. The research helped to scope and develop key sectors such as heritage based tourism, textiles and property development; support individual businesses to exploit specific market opportunities; provide technical assistance to help ‘translate’ research for organisational planning, campaigning and networking; transfer best practice from other countries; build an advocacy evidence base (for policy support, legislation and finance); develop and apply local economy multiplier methods to better evaluate community businesses; and a programme of 7 MSc studentships to help train the next generation of practitioners in social economics and regeneration (https://www.edtnorth.org/). This secondary, quantitative, qualitative and evaluative data helped direct a GBP1,500,000 investment to support the development of asset holding community businesses with three levels of staged grant; technical assistance; and establishing a stronger learning and advocacy network. Part of the learning also involved leading practitioner visits to high-impact social economies in the Basque Country, Bologna, Bristol and Edinburgh. Independent government monitoring of the programme showed that it has supported: 22 social enterprises; created 51 jobs; placed 661 participants through accredited training; leveraged an additional GBP3,100,000 from participating projects; and generated GBP580,000 in new sales [SOURCE 5]. The analysis also showed that ACDL alone invests around GBP6,000,000 annually in salaries and supply chains which generates a Local Multiplier Effect of GBP1 spend to GBP1.78 leveraged in the north Belfast economy [SOURCE 6]. The Government-commissioned external evaluation also highlighted the innovative nature of the research component - ‘through the dimensions of a true partnership where academics understood practitioner and service delivery issues while practitioners have recognised the value of contributing to the research agenda and strengthening relationships with academia’ [SOURCE 7, p.23].
The research also challenged traditional models of peacebuilding in Northern Ireland and in particular how to address spatially segregated communities. In critically evaluating identarian modes of conflict, it showed how poverty and not just religion has intensified segregation, resource competition and even violence in the most divided communities. Arguing that desegregation is firmly associated with economic and social mobility, it underscores the potential of a social economy approach to develop accessible facilities in blighted interfaces (childcare); enabled separate communities to plan, deliver and use common services (including trauma support and mental health programmes for victims of the Troubles); created cultural interdependence in the development of an integrated heritage approach (for instance between the Orange Order and Irish language groups); and integrated ex-prisoners and ex-combatants into the labour market (via appropriate education and work based training) (R6). The research informed a GBP140,000 stage 3 investment in the Belfast Charitable Society’s 200-year-old listed headquarters at Clifton House. This now tells the story of the 18thC cross-community United Irishmen and their concern for public health, social reform, education and sanitation in the rapidly changing city. Our evaluation was able to plot the effects of the grant, as between 2018 and 2019 the number of visitors doubled to 2,773 pa; formally accredited docents also doubled to 31; and social media hits increased by 19% to 4,494. These individual project effects may be comparatively modest, but the link between social enterprise and peacebuilding has had a direct effect on the design of the new EUR1,000,000,000 EU PEACE Programme 2020-27. This has now used our research and specifically prepared briefing papers as the basis of a new investment in the social economy in Northern Ireland and the border counties. (https://www.seupb.eu/sites/default/files/styles/Social%20Innovation%20Funding%20Call/SocialInnovationCall\_Final.pdf; see specifically pp.5-6).
Transferring knowledge
The KTP with ACDL has diversified their income stream away from grants toward commercial contracts, especially via procurement tenders (https://youtu.be/54l7N50gZdo\). The KTP Associate, working with the academic team, led 11 tender submissions between 2019 and March 2020 valued at GBP3,687,119 of which 6 were successful. The 6 successful projects produced an additional commercial income into ACDL of GBP1,087,119 (30% success rate) [SOURCE 8 Head of Programmes ACDL]. The KTP introduced a new cost management system to help price bids and their profit margins more accurately; an online procurement toolkit; and a new evaluation and performance dashboard that shows how ‘buyers’ will achieve a social return in contract investment by working with social enterprises. The KTP Associate was shortlisted for the Innovate UK Best of Best Award 2020 - Future Innovator section based on the impact of the project on the commercialisation of the social enterprise sector. ACDL also used this approach to think about the income potential of its land and property assets and the importance of hybrid (private-social enterprise) models in service delivery.
It should be emphasised that not everything worked but the value of a longitudinal research programme is that it focuses on implementation and raises the need for new practices and evidence. The opportunity to draw this body of research together and acknowledge the institutional and political barriers, underscores the complexity of impact, not just on policy, but on communities, social enterprises and debates about inclusive urbanism (R1). Our research certainly played a role in increasing the supply of social finance but demand for such products remains weak, partly because managers lack the skills to use it. The EDT project, our KTP and on-going work with intermediaries such as DTNI aims to skill-up the sector, especially in financial management, project planning and pricing strategies. In 2019, Queen’s appointed one of the leading social entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland as Visiting Professor of Practice to support our community engagement, plan joint research projects and contribute to taught degrees on urban regeneration and this emphasises the two-way nature of our approach to impact. The case study shows that impact happens in different ways. It can have a linear effect on outcomes, such as on the performance of the social enterprise sector, policy recognition and new capital investment programmes. However, it can also reflect the limitations of our own research-based recommendations (finance), identify the need for a different course of action (skills and capacity) and in particular to innovate (KTP) with new ways to grow the sector and how it impacts on urban deprivation.
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
SOURCE 1 The Atlantic Philanthropies (2015) Sustainability Learning Review, New York, The Atlantic Philanthropies
SOURCE 2 Letter of confirmation from Chief Executive Officer, GEMS, Belfast (directly involved in the impact via the implementation and use of case study research).
SOURCE 3 Letter of confirmation from Chief Executive Officer, Belfast Charitable Society, Clifton House (directly involved in the impact via the commissioning, implementation and use of the research).
SOURCE 4 Letter of confirmation from Director, Development Trust Northern Ireland (DTNI) (observer of impact as user of the research findings for policy lobbying purposes).
SOURCE 5 Outcome Based Accountability (OBA) Final Audit Return , The Executive Office – Strategic Investment Board NISRA Economics Branch, June 2018, NI Government validated performance indicator
SOURCE 6 NBEI-EDT (2017) Ethical Development Trust Working Paper Measuring and Mapping the Economic Impact of Ashton, Belfast, NBEI-EDT,
SOURCE 7 Gauge Consulting (2018) North Belfast Ethical Investment Project Evaluation for The Executive Office , NI Government, Belfast, Gauge, page 23,
SOURCE 8 Letter from ACDL Head of Programmes, including validated data analysis on KTP applications and awards (directly involved in the impact via the commissioning, implementation and use of the research, based on the KTP).