Case study
Co-creating an innovation framework with Alnwick Garden
Challenge
Enhance sustainability through innovation
The Alnwick Garden is a modern ‘garden for everyone’ created in 2001 by the Duchess of Northumberland. Owned and run by a registered charity, The Alnwick Garden Trust, its mission is to keep “the community at its heart”.
Revenue from the garden’s ticket sales, events and commercial activities support charitable programmes that are designed to improve wellbeing, educate and empower the most vulnerable members of the community.
However, maintaining visitor numbers post-pandemic, generating additional income and ensuring long-term sustainability presented challenges. The team at the trust recognised that embracing innovation was key to evolving and securing the future of its charitable mission.
Like many non-profits, the garden also faced constraints around budget, team capacity and in-house digital expertise. A structured approach to generating and implementing new ideas was therefore essential to achieving its goals.
Response
Collaboration on a new innovation framework
Early in 2024, the garden’s team partnered with an Opencast service design team on a pro bono initiative to explore how innovation could be embedded into the organisation’s culture and processes.
This began with a two-day ‘innovation mindset’ workshop, where the garden’s team worked alongside Opencast to introduce the fundamentals of innovation, foster creativity and co-develop solutions that could enhance the garden’s sustainability and impact.
Day 1 focused on understanding innovation principles, conducting field research within the garden and identifying key challenges. Day 2 concentrated on ideation and iterative concept development, with activities like brain-writing exercises, poster prototyping and a ‘Silent Dragon's Den’ to evaluate ideas.
Following the workshop, the collaboration continued with a 10-day design phase, co-creating a structured innovation framework tailored to the garden’s needs. Two service designers worked on a pro bono basis alongside the garden team, engaging stakeholders across the organisation to understand their processes, aspirations and challenges.
These collaborative discussions helped surface the essential conditions for innovation to thrive in the garden’s specific context and to the design of a bespoke innovation framework. The new framework has enabled the Alnwick Garden team to refine its processes, start to collectively assess opportunities and progress the implementation of creative solutions that better align with its charitable mission, business objectives and stakeholders.
Impact
Bespoke framework for sustainable innovation
Through this partnership, the garden’s team gained first-hand experience with innovation processes and new ways of thinking.
The Alnwick Innovation Framework developed with Opencast provides the trust with a structured roadmap for embedding the refinement of new service ideas into daily operations, fostering collaboration, and driving meaningful change.
Some of the ideas developed through this process – from new visitor experiences to operational improvements – are already shaping the garden’s future.
Insights from the project have influenced the trust’s 2025 event plan, with a focus on strengthening financial performance while remaining true to its community mission.
The trust’s leadership welcomed Opencast’s professional approach, alignment on values and deep commitment to organisational improvement – essential ingredients for organisations that are looking to succeed in delivering meaningful innovation and positive change.
By cultivating a culture of innovation and working together to create a shared knowledge base, the garden team is now better equipped to evolve and continue providing a space where people connect with nature and each other.
Commenting on the project, Opencast Senior Service Design Consultant
Juan Sebastian-Sanchez said: "When my service design colleague Vanessa Lang and I started working on designing an innovation funnel we were really keen to understand how the Alnwick Garden operates. We had many conversations with the staff and we really enjoyed learning so much about all the wonderful work that the Alnwick Garden does and how it goes beyond the gardens.
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