Lincoln Connected: Three years into exciting digital project
Key delivery milestones have been achieved on Lincoln Connected in 2024, three years into the five-year £1.45m project that forms part of the Lincoln Town Deal Fund from the city council.
The aim of this project is to digitalise the High Street and visitor economy in Lincoln, bringing visitors, residents, and businesses on a ‘digital adoption’ journey which is delivered through business support, lighting animations and art and cultural installations.
The key milestones this year include the launch of our new Visit Lincoln website in September and the completion of an extensive city centre wayfinding report.
The success of this project will be realised through a digitally inclusive community (residents and visitors) who are engaged in Lincoln’s retail, arts and culture. This will be underpinned by engaging with high street businesses, artists, tourism operators, cultural champions and community groups who combine their information into a ‘digital town centre’.
An ongoing appreciation of a future place-based agenda is essential as the project is an important part of the world class visitor experience managed by Visit Lincoln and championed by partners across the city.
Aims of the Project
- Lead the recovery of Lincoln’s visitor economy
- Contribute to a future vision of the High Street
- Underpin and maximise the value of capital investment in the city as a result of Towns Fund investment
- Explore how we use the creative interventions to encourage digital adoption of the digital infrastructure of the city
This programme is being delivered with our delivery partner Threshold Studios, who have been part of Lincoln for 20 years through creative programming such as Frequency Festival. It will establish a new digital infrastructure that will attract more visitors and residents spend into the city and create sustainable foundations for creative place-making and digital adoption that enhances everyone’s experience of Lincoln.
As Destination Lincolnshire is now an LVEP (Local Visitor Economy partnership) we are working with Visit England on shared priorities and targets to grow the visitor economy.
So, what does the project involve?
There are three elements to the Lincoln Connected project.
- A bespoke content management system and new website for Visit Lincoln. This new VisitLincoln.com website unlocks technology previously not available to us. Amongst other capabilities, it has enhanced functionality to inspire and facilitate bookings, sell tickets, and encourage visitors to turn a day trip into a short break. Following substantial work, this new website was launched in September this year.
The project also supported a new Content Management System. Businesses will now have access to a new B2B Content and Data Hub and be more involved in our destination marketing.
2. An extensive city centre wayfinding report which identifies all the challenges and opportunities Lincoln offers when moving visitors around the city. This report is complete which, along with the website, represents a key delivery milestone for the project.
This report is also informing the positioning and design of six interactive wayfinding pilot signs. These will advise visitors how to experience Lincoln in the most engaging and informative way.
3. Over the lifetime of the project, 12 Creative Commissions will deliver high quality creative experiences driven by target key visitor segments. The aim of this is to attract more people to Lincoln, encouraging visitors to dwell longer, hopefully spend more money and share all their positive experiences with friends and family via our new website.
This is underpinned by a new artist commissioning framework that curates’ activities to support economic growth and deepening the visitors experience of the city.
Five of these commissions have happened so far including the Imporium which was timed to appear in the Festival of History and saw key interaction from visitors experiencing all that Lincoln had to offer.
In addition to the 12 commissions, a feasibility study for a light event – ‘Lincoln Lights’ to establish how this could work for the city in the future.
All of this activity sits under the ‘one city, one venue’ approach and is working in parallel with the City of Lincoln Council and Lincoln BIG campaign strategy.
Destination Lincolnshire’s Chief Executive Charlotte Goy said: “Tourism is dependent on discretionary spend and is highly competitive, and whilst the physical offer in Lincoln has received lots of improvements through projects like the Cornhill Quarter, Cathedral Connected, Lincoln Castle Revealed and other brick and mortar programmes, the digital infrastructure needed for a growing visitor economy has fallen behind. But thanks to the Lincoln Town Deal and City of Lincoln Council that is now being tackled!
“Lincoln Connected is allowing us to build a responsive and in-depth digital infrastructure that can respond to the digital behaviours people expect nowadays. Before covid our old technology on www.VisitLincoln.com converted £24m of visitor spend, and we’re expecting the new website to work even harder for the city with bookable functionality, maps, trails, interactive maps, AI searches and dynamic content. We’re building a destination website which isn’t just functional but fun and creative too for visitors and residents.
“The new technology means that we can track, engage and connect with visitors, residents and businesses so much more. At the moment, visitor spend puts £260m into the city’s economy and research shows that we have significant headroom for growth as a destination to grow this number.
“If we can encourage visitors to spend their money in Lincoln, rather than London or other ‘honey pot’ tourist destinations then that supports local jobs, local businesses and local communities.”
Emma Olivier-Townrow will take over as Chair of Lincoln Connected’s project board, which also includes Simon Kirk, Assistant Director for Growth and Development at City of Lincoln Council, Lincoln BIG’s Chief Executive Simon Beardsley, and Tim Marks, Head of External Affairs at the University of Lincoln.
Outgoing Chair Laura Dunne was full of praise for the progress of the project so far. She said: “It has been wonderful to be part of this project from the very beginning.
“From when we first started talking about the digital visitor experience for Lincoln, to the Town Deal application, to planning and delivering the project over the past three years.
“The project is now well into delivery, and it’s fantastic to see the new website live and the response we’ve had to creative commissions so far.
“We are realising the potential of Lincoln’s digital offer, allowing visitors and local people to plan their trip and get the most from it when they are here.
“The wayfinding and creative commissions elements will teach us a lot about how we can link everything together to be more efficient and provide a joined up experience which enhances the city for everyone.”