Build the fourth pillar of project success: local legitimacy and support
ELSA helps developers, authorities, investors and other shared-space project leaders design projects that are not only technically, financially and legally strong, but also better aligned with how they are experienced locally:
- reducing social risk
- improving delivery certainty, and
- building resilience in the face of regulatory challenges.
Where projects meet people's lives, local support isn’t optional.
Build it in – and you unlock smoother permitting, and more resilient projects because they deliver better outcomes for all.
❌ More consultation fatigue
❌ Less control
❌ A slower process
✅ A way to successfully develop projects in shared space.
When projects start to drift
Many renewable energy project proponents recognise the same pattern.
A project begins with strong technical work, solid financing and a clear regulatory pathway.
Yet as the design develops, many teams experience similar community-related pressures:
- unexpected local opposition
- consultation processes becoming adversarial
- attempts at redesign after community concerns emerge
- planning delays or appeals
- increasing internal pressure and uncertainty
At this point, teams are no longer just managing a project.
They are managing risk, relationships, and reputation – often without a clear path forward.
These challenges are often treated as community engagement problems.
In reality they usually form during the conceptual design of the project, when key decisions
are still being made.
The same project. Two different development paths.
Without the fourth pillar
- Concerns harden into opposition
- Teams shift into defence
- Issues emerge through objections
- Redesign under pressure
- Permitting becomes slower, riskier
- Trust declines and so does reputation
- Internal friction increases
With the fourth pillar
- Concerns surface before positions harden
- Teams enjoy local support and are forward-moving
- Fewer avoidable surprises
- Designing for success from the beginning
- Permitting becomes smoother, more predictable
- Trust builds through process and it compounds
- Internal clarity and motivation improves
ELSA ensures greater project delivery certainty in shared space.
What ELSA does
ELSA is not about simply doing engagement better,
nor just helping developers overcome ‘community risk’.
It provides an upgrade to project development in shared space, in a way that makes projects stronger, more legitimate, and easier to deliver.
Assess
Understand local risk, alignment, and project decision points at an early stage
Executive Strategy Session
Early Social Risk Diagnostic
Apply
Implement a project development approach optimised for shared space
ELSA Implementation Support to apply the architecture on live projects
Learn
Build capability across teams, projects and pipelines
Foundations CPD
Applied CPD
Specialist CPD
ELSA is grounded in the Renewables AT PACE framework
- developed through 20+ years of project experience, resolving complex shared-space project conflicts; and 5 years of national and international research and development (e.g. within SEAI and IEA programs)
- introduced internationally at the Wind Energy Science Conference in 2025.
Anchor
Transition
Partner
Acknowledge
Collaborate
Empower
Start with the Guide
If you are exploring how to strengthen local support for projects in shared space, the best place to begin is the guide:
Designing Projects that Succeed
The guide explains:
- the fourth pillar of project success
- why Decide-and-Defend approaches fail
- how projects can move AT PACE
- practical first steps for project proponents
I want the guide
Led by John Aston
ELSA is co-created by John Aston, founder of AstonECO Management, who has more than three decades’ experience supporting complex natural resource and infrastructure projects across multiple countries.
He was part of the expert team who created AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standards, one of the leading stakeholder engagement standards in the world.
John also acts as Co-Operating Agent of the International Energy Agency Wind Task 62 on social science and wind energy - where he also represents Ireland.
Ready to explore fit?
If you would like to explore how ELSA could support your organisation or project:
Request a conversation