This guide is for project proponents seeking a stronger way to design projects in shared space

You’ve designed projects with technical precision, a strong business case, and regulatory alignment – yet some stall or collapse. Why?

Because they were planned for a 'technical' site, not with the people who live there.

This guide is:

• A road map for delivering projects that are not only technically sound, financially robust, and legally well prepared, but also responsive to how they are experienced locally – reducing social risk exposure and improving delivery certainty
   
• A clear explanation of how project teams can move from a Decide-And-Defend engagement model – to collaborative design that protects timelines, trust, and targets.

What you’ll take away

• Why even well-intentioned engagement efforts fail in today’s shared spaces – and what to do instead
  
  
• The Projects AT PACE™ framework – a structured, tested process for intentionally developing the fourth pillar of project success: local legitimacy and support
  
  
• How to strengthen team readiness and engagement confidence, so you can show up well and work well with all your stakeholders
  
  
• Real-world case studies showing what works, what doesn’t, and why, across diverse projects and contexts.

Based on: 

• 35 years of developing natural resource projects, including 20 years of helping project teams and communities successfully navigate shared space challenges, of which
• 6 years of research developing and proofing Earning Local Support Architecture (ELSA). with financial support from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and peer review from national and international researchers (e.g. within International Energy Agency Research Tasks).

Why we wrote the guide

As energy demand grows, there is increasing pressure to deliver more renewable – and other – energy projects quickly and at scale.

But, to be successful, that pressure should not fall unfairly on the communities hosting those projects.

Too often, projects that are strong on paper still run into opposition, delay, or failure – not because they are technically or financially weak, but because they are not well aligned with the places they are built.

Through our work across many projects, we have seen that when projects are designed differently – with local realities understood and addressed early – both developers and communities benefit.

We have also seen that this approach is still used in too few projects.

This guide was written to change that by providing a practical framework to help teams design projects that are:

• better aligned with local context

• more likely to move forward successfully

• and deliver with greater certainty

The result is a meaningful reduction in delay and failure risk – helping move outcomes from disruption and misalignment in shared space towards more consistent, supported delivery, and enabling the energy transition and its host communities to gain momentum, resources, and resilience.  

What happens when you enter your e-mail address 

• You immediately get the link to the guide on your email (please check your spam folder if you don't, or write to elsa@astoneco.com and we will assist you).
  
  
• In the same email, you can opt-in to receive related insights, if you choose to.
  
  
• Every project is different – so if you want to talk about your project(s) after reading the guide, we’ll be here.