Greengage partnered with the National Trust to develop a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for their ambitious Green Corridors Programme.
The Green Corridors Programme is a National Trust initiative to establish 20 large, nature-rich corridors by 2030, connecting urban areas to high-quality green spaces that enhance biodiversity, improve public access to nature, support carbon sequestration, promote climate resilience and enrich placemaking, while fostering long-term collaboration, advocacy and sustainable management.
This project was an exciting collaboration between Greengage’s nature and social value teams. It brought together expertise in biodiversity, carbon, climate resilience, and social impact to create a robust and practical framework. Working closely with the National Trust’s programme teams and Green Corridor project managers, we developed a comprehensive suite of key performance indicators (KPIs) that enable the programme to monitor and evaluate its impact over time.
Building a framework for long term success
The M&E framework provides a structured and scalable approach to impact assessment, ensuring that the Green Corridors Programme can track progress and refine its interventions based on real-world data. The framework includes:
- Nature KPIs – Measuring the extent and condition of created and restored habitats.
- People KPIs – Assessing access to green spaces, social inclusion, and social prescribing.
- Carbon & Climate KPIs – Tracking carbon sequestration and climate change adaptation measures.
- Placemaking KPIs – Evaluating wayfinding, volunteering, and cultural connections within the corridors.
- Legacy & Advocacy KPIs – Supporting long-term programme sustainability, adoption into local development policy, and advocacy activities.
In addition to the KPI framework, we developed a user-friendly tracking tool that allows the National Trust to collect, analyse, and report on performance data, ensuring continuous improvement and accountability across the programme. Recognising that data collection would be carried out by non-technical project managers at the project level, we designed the tool to be accessible, intuitive, and easy to use, ensuring that Green Corridor project managers could confidently input data without requiring specialist expertise. This seamless translation from project-level inputs to programme-wide insights enables programme managers to effectively measure success, track progress, and make data-driven decisions that enhance the impact of the Green Corridors initiative.
Driving future impact
The Green Corridors Programme is now equipped with a powerful data-driven approach to measuring success, ensuring these vital spaces thrive for nature and people alike. Greengage is proud to have played a key role in shaping this transformative initiative and we look forward to seeing the programme evolve with an increased ability to drive meaningful change.
Testimonial
“Greengage provided a real depth of expertise across our programme objectives – which include Nature, People, Climate and Placemaking – laying down solid foundations that have moved us into the enviable position of being able to track and measure our impact meaningfully, and in turn boost our ambition in the Green Corridors Programme. Thank you to the team at Greengage for bringing their interest, insight and energy to the table.”
Hannah Stennings – Urban Project Manager, National Trust
