So, back in March you provided us feedback that you were struggling to find us and we agreed! 

The Digital Forum is the first of a number of projects slated for Queen Street and the space between the Forum and firstsite. We realised quite quickly that because we're the first and regeneration takes time, you were not able to find as easily as we would like. So, began our task of making the Digital Forum visable from street level. 

If you know, you know - planning permission can be an arduous, albiet very necessary task. What began as, "Let's get some signs up!" turned into weeks of surveys, planning portals, signage companies and design work. Our team came together to get a sense of what was possible and what we would like to achieve - making it easier for you to find us.  

 

We quickly realised we needed planning permission and there were some restrictions in how we could represent ourselves street side. We took the step of obtain pre-planning advise - working with the Council's planning team to understand what would be acceptable. We made some very rudimentary drawings and used the feedback we recieved in the pre-planning meeting to shape how we could move forward with signage that was acceptable to our community. 

We made some simple drawings on Canva and presented them during a pre-planning meeting. This was a very useful step in the process, nothing was off the table, just some simple tweaks and adjustments to find a position that would be acceptable to all. We highly recommend taking this step, it really simplied the process for us and supporting us in understanding why there was some restrictions in-place. In terms of our designs, the pre-planning meetings indicated that our designs were likely to be accepted if we made some vital adjustments. 

The above designed was acceptable, but had we considered how dark it could make the area? Could we make the signage light permeable. 

Again, our design was acceptable, but planning permission for the building meant that this was considered an active frontage, this meant the ground floor should engage with the street side. We therefore decided to reduced the signage to only cover the middle third of the windows. We also needed to consider if this would make the area dark and to make adjustments to make the signage light permeable. 

Following our pre-planning meeting, we needed to engage the right partners! We asked around our community for recommendations to support the planning application and Retail Design Solutions came highly recommended. After our inital meeting with RDS, they came to the Forum to undertake some surveys required for the planning portal. RDS handled the planning application from start to finish on the Planning Portal and kept us informed thorughout the process - from application to final decision took 8-weeks. 

 

Once we had these surveys from RDS we could use these to engage a signage company, but we needed scalable designs. Our Canva drawings were not fit for purpose. Following a positive experience using CJ Creates when refurbishing our Colbea offices, we engaged them to design and create SVG files (scalable files) to pass to our signage company, incorporating the feedback we gained during our pre-planning meeting. 

 

Once we had what we needed from CJ Creates, we could pass these to our signage partner, E-Signs. E-signs advised us on how to meet the planning considersations and we used a type of vinyl (contravision) that could be seen through from the inside, but was a solid sign from the outside, meaning it would not make the area dark and that we meet the active signage requirements. 

The day after our planning application was accepted, we wasted no time in getting those signs installed - you had waited long enough. 

 

E-signs had a task! Queen Street is a very busy street and we are opposite a pedestrian crossing - they had to consider the footfall when installing our signs and provided us with a comprehesive risk assessment. We were impressed with their approach to health and safety, they arrived with a scaffolding tower, hard hats and most importantly, a wealth of experience. 

 

and ta da! The signage is installed. 

 

Whilst the process takes time, it's been worth the wait to get it right! So... are we easier to find? 

 

**Special thanks to Colchester City Council, E-Sign & RDS.