Be Group’s Regeneration and Planning Team have recently been involved, or continued to be involved, in a series of wide-ranging programme evaluations.

The team has just been appointed by Denbighshire County Council to carry out pre-occupation and post-completion evaluations of the former Bee and Station Hotel refurbishment in Rhyl. The project is delivering BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rated office accommodation and has been funded through the EU Convergence programme, Welsh Government and Heritage Lottery Fund.

Earlier this year BE Group completed a final evaluation of the EU funded Ireland-Wales Programme (INTERREG 4A) BRAND project. This three year programme involved the establishing and activities of four Place Boards (Rhyl, Holyhead, Athy and Dun Laoghaire). BE Group examined the options and viability for the future of the Place Boards in terms of successor organisations structure options appropriate for each town.

In late 2012 a mid-term evaluation was undertaken of the North East Wales Strategic Business Parks Project, on behalf of Wrexham and Flintshire Councils. A six year programme running to 2015, its purpose is to strengthen the environment for enterprise at North East Wales’ two key employment hubs – Wrexham Industrial Estate and Deeside Industrial Park. The evaluation assessed the effectiveness and efficiency of the project and advised on the direction of activity during the second half of its programme.

The team has also completed mid and final term evaluations of the EU funded Wales – Ireland Network for Social Entrepreneurship (WINSENT) programme that ran between 2009 and 2012. The mid term evaluation identified issues to be addressed around structure and governance. The final evaluation involved greater emphasis on a qualitative assessment, and examined the programme legacies and how these might be continued in South Dublin, Kildare, Fingal, Denbighshire and Anglesey.