Case Study: Immersa stakeholder and community engagement project

The project 

Immersa provide battery storage and energy generation solutions to businesses and organisations. 

The team was progressing through planning for a project in South Gloucestershire and meeting a high level of resistance from both the authority and local residents. Having read an article in the local newspaper about the project being rejected at the council’s Development Management Committee, C3 reached out to offer support with stakeholder and community engagement.  

Our role 

C3 worked with Immersa to carry out stakeholder analysis and develop a targeted programme of engagement to reach key stakeholders and maximise the possibility of a positive outcome. The team also supported them with their local engagement, including a briefing with key stakeholders and a pop-up event for members of the public and local councillors.  

“This was a fascinating project to be involved with, both in terms of the way we got involved – as a result of a newspaper article! – and the particular challenges faced by the Immersa team who were already engaged in the planning process.  

“It quickly became clear that the underlying issue for the project was a lack of early engagement, which resulted in low levels of understanding among stakeholders and the community. The hot topic locally was the safety of the technology and so the team focused on explaining clearly and consistently about how any possible fire risk posed by the development would be mitigated. This engagement helped to address people’s concerns and enabled a more open and trusting dialogue on both sides.  

“This experience provided C3 with more evidence of the importance of early and deep engagement with stakeholders and communities to enable the successful deployment of projects.”

Saranne 

C3 Communications Co-Founder & Director