Public sector · Retrofit
Greater London Authority
Helping Warmer Homes London take shape as a learning-led retrofit programme, with Test and Learn built into how it works.
The challenge
Retrofit at the scale of a city is complex, and the cost of getting it wrong is high. As the Greater London Authority and London Councils formed a new home for retrofit in the capital, Warmer Homes London, they wanted a programme that could improve as it delivered, rather than commit to fixed plans before anything had been tested with real residents and real homes.
What we did
We led the development of Warmer Homes London as a learning-led programme, working closely with teams across the Greater London Authority and London Councils. Our focus has been on mentoring and supporting the programme teams, building Test and Learn frameworks, and designing the governance and ways of working that make continuous improvement a normal part of delivery.
What we learned
Together we have helped define what good practice looks like for applying Test and Learn in retrofit. That has meant translating complex delivery challenges into clear feedback loops and actionable insights, and turning those into resident-centred service improvements that can scale across London.
Cultural sector · Family audiences
Imperial War Museum
Prototyping new ways for families to explore difficult histories together, tested in the gallery rather than the meeting room.
The challenge
Museums hold subjects that are hard to sit with, and they can be harder still to share across a family, where adults and children make sense of difficult histories side by side. The museum wanted to help families explore this kind of material together, in a way that was age-appropriate without losing its weight.
What we did
We worked with the team to put small, testable versions of ideas in front of families, watching how parents, carers and children responded in the gallery itself rather than in a meeting room. Low-fidelity props and simple set-ups let us learn quickly which approaches invited families in, which gave them a way to talk to one another, and which fell flat.
What we learned
Testing with families in the space surfaced things that planning alone would have missed, including how different ages engaged and where a shared activity helped a conversation begin. It gave curators and designers a clearer, common sense of what was worth developing into the fuller family experience.
Storytelling · Experiment
Wonderbly
A lightweight flying car, built from foam and lifted by drones, to bring one young reader's imagination to life.
The challenge
Wonderbly's stories put the child at the centre. We wanted to take an idea a young reader had imagined, a flying car, and see if we could make it real enough to leave the ground. This was an experiment rather than a product, done for the pleasure of testing an idea.
What we did
We built the car from modelling foam, kept deliberately light, and flew it using small drones tucked underneath. Working quickly and roughly let us focus on the thing that mattered: whether it could read as the car from the story and still take off.
What we learned
The prototype held together in the air, and watching something from a story actually fly was its own reward. It was a reminder that not every prototype has to lead somewhere. Some are worth building to see an idea come to life.
Systems change · Frontline services
Lankelly Chase
Running prototyping workshops that give frontline change-makers a practical, hands-on feel for testing ideas.
The challenge
People working to change public services from the inside are often asked to do things differently, but rarely get the space or the permission to try things in a low-stakes way. The Systems Changers programme brings these people together, and wanted to give them a real, practical grounding in prototyping rather than another talk about it.
What we did
Working with Pauline Roberts, we designed and ran prototyping workshops for the programme, from an interactive group activity out on the streets of York to a multi-sensory session people could join from their own kitchens, built around something as everyday as making a sandwich. We covered what prototyping is, worked through examples and tools, and left plenty of room for questions, so an abstract idea became something people had actually done with their hands.
What we learned
Making prototyping tangible helped people see it as a skill they could use, not a specialist technique. They left with a clearer sense of how to test an idea quickly and cheaply, and the confidence to try it in their own work.
Place · Participation
Waterloo BID
Prototyping new ways for local people to have a real hand in shaping their public realm, with Waterloo BID.
The challenge
Decisions about streets and shared spaces are often made on residents' behalf, with consultation arriving too late to change much. Working with Waterloo Business Improvement District, we wanted to test whether a more hands-on, participatory approach could give local people genuine agency over the public realm around them.
What we did
We ran the sessions as a prototype rather than a finished method, using a physical space and simple, tangible ways for people to propose and try changes to their area. Each round refined how the process worked, where it built trust, and where the practical friction sat.
What we learned
The prototype showed what participatory design of the public realm can offer, and what needs to be true for it to work at a larger scale, from permissions through to upkeep. It began as a local test and became a reference point for engaging communities in changes to their public realm more widely.
Culture · International
British Council
Helping the British Council test how making and libraries could come together in a growing international network.
The challenge
The British Council wanted to explore how the ideas behind making, and the reach and openness of libraries, might combine to connect people and spaces across different countries. The question was how to grow something like that without over-designing it before anyone had tried it.
What we did
We treated the Maker Library Network as a prototype, standing up simple, low-fidelity ways for spaces to take part and make things together, then learning from how different places picked it up and adapted it to their own setting.
What we learned
Testing in the open showed what drew spaces in and what they needed to keep going, and gave the network a grounded sense of how it could grow internationally from a set of small, practical starts.
