ECF

What ECF does

ECF (Engage. Communicate. Facilitate.), trading as Forestville Communications Ltd (England company number 11329697), is a UK specialist communications and community engagement consultancy headquartered at The Stanley Building, 7 Pancras Square, London, with a registered office in Wallasey, Wirral. Founded in 2018 and operating with approximately 28 employees, the firm is led by Managing Director Oliver Deed and Co-Founder and Executive Chair Kathy Jones, who brings roughly 30 years of community engagement practice. The company provides advisory, communications, consultation, engagement, facilitation and recruitment services on a project basis to UK local authorities (including multiple London boroughs and district councils), NHS-aligned bodies such as Community Health Partnerships, and private developers and property companies including U+I/TOWN and Crystal Palace Football Club. Notable deliverables include multi-stakeholder engagement programmes on Hartree North East Cambridge, Regent Street's Future Public Realm Vision, Haringey's Draft Walking & Cycling Action Plan (engaging approximately 2,000 participants), Mid Sussex's Clair Hall (over 1,200 feedback items), Crystal Palace FC's academy (549 letters of support), and the Homes for NHS Staff project at Finchley Memorial Hospital.

The business model is project-based professional services with individually negotiated fees; revenue is not publicly disclosed and the firm is bootstrapped with no recorded outside funding. ECF monetizes its intellectual property through the ECF Engagement Toolkit (a methodology asset complementary to the RIBA Engagement Overlay), the recurring Active Travel Barometer research report produced with Velocity Transport Planning and Modescore, and a recruitment arm placing communications and engagement professionals into interim and permanent roles. Technology plays a supporting rather than central role: ECF relies on third-party digital engagement platforms (Engagement HQ, Commonplace and, via partnership, Hello Lamp Post) and frames relationships as the foundation of engagement.

Go-to-market is consultative and sales-led, combining content marketing (website, blog, LinkedIn @ECF_UK, Twitter @ECF_UK, YouTube including The LGR Series), industry events such as the London Festival of Architecture, and referrals from a deep base of UK local-authority clients. Recent strategic moves include a 2025 partnership with Layton Consulting to enter PFAS community engagement in the UK, the 2024 launch of the Active Travel Barometer, and a 2024 London Festival of Architecture event with Gensler, TPXimpact and Hello Lamp Post positioning the firm at the intersection of AI and engagement.

Name

ECF

Legal name

Forestville Communications Ltd

Website

https://engagecf.co.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: ECF generates revenue by providing communications, engagement, advisory, consultation, facilitation, and recruitment services to local authorities, government bodies, and private developers. Services are delivered on a project basis, typically supporting planning applications, policy development, and community engagement programs.
2. Recruitment Services: ECF places exceptional talent in interim, temporary, and permanent roles within communications and engagement. The company provides staffing solutions for clients needing interim support, project completion, or urgent staffing needs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ECF provides communications, community engagement, advisory, consultation, facilitation, and recruitment services to UK local authorities, government bodies, and private developers. Services are delivered on a project basis to support planning applications, policy development, public consultations, urban regeneration, active travel schemes, and stakeholder engagement programs across England. Delivery relies on in-house methodologies (Engagement Toolkit, Ideas Exchange, Design Festivals, Community Forums) supported by digital engagement platforms.

Product overview

ECF (Engage. Communicate. Facilitate.) is a specialist communications and community engagement consultancy operating as the trading name of Forestville Communications Ltd. The company offers a unified suite of services centered on advisory, communications, consultation, engagement, facilitation, and recruitment. These services are delivered through methodologies including the Engagement Toolkit, Ideas Exchange Programme, Design Festivals, and Community Forum sessions. ECF also produces research reports such as the annual Active Travel Barometer. The portfolio is service-based rather than software-based, with engagement activities supported by third-party platforms like Engagement HQ and Commonplace for online feedback collection.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Advisory Services

Quantifiable outcome

• ECF engaged with over 1,000 people locally on the Hartree Cambridge project, collecting hundreds of ideas from the community
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• U+I and TOWNcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF is working with U+I and TOWN as master developers of Hartree, North East Cambridge. The joint venture also includes Anglian Water and Cambridge City Council. ECF has shaped a comprehensive communication and engagement programme for the project, conducting webinars, pop-up roadshows, and recruiting an Ideas Exchange panel of randomly selected community representatives.
• Involve FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF partnered with Involve Foundation, the organization that has been at the forefront of delivering citizens' assemblies and participatory processes in the UK for almost two decades, for the Reimagine London competition entry. The partnership aimed to create a network of citizens' assemblies on the Local Plan process.
• LandsecU+IcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF worked with LandsecU+I on the Hartree project, supporting the team in engaging deeply and meaningfully with children and young people to develop the Child-Friendly Design Strategy that received an IFG Awards commendation.
• Velocity Transport PlanningcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF partnered with Velocity Transport Planning alongside Modescore to survey local councillors across England for the Active Travel Barometer report, their first annual industry report on active travel policy.
• ModescorecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF partnered with Modescore alongside Velocity Transport Planning to survey 173 local councillors across England for the Active Travel Barometer report.
• Westminster City Council and The Crown EstateminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF is supporting Westminster City Council and The Crown Estate with engagement strategy for the Future of Regent Street Public Realm Vision project, learning from innovative consultations that engage the community from project inception.
• Layton ConsultingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF works closely with Melanie Layton, one of Australia's leading PFAS stakeholder engagement professionals, who relocated to the UK in 2025. Their co-founder Kathy Jones has a long history of working on PFAS topics in Australia. Together they bring proven strategies and practical tools for PFAS community engagement to the UK.
• GenslerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF co-hosted a London Festival of Architecture event with Gensler on the role of AI in community engagement. Gensler's digital artist Hamza Shaikh presented on how AI can address barriers to engagement and the climate emergency.
• TPXimpactminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF featured Stefan Webb from TPXimpact as a panellist at their London Festival of Architecture event. Stefan discussed difficulties in planning engagement and how AI could help citizens better understand and participate in shaping their communities.
• Hello Lamp PostminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerECF featured Tiernan Mines, CEO and Co-Founder of Hello Lamp Post, as a panellist at their AI engagement event. Hello Lamp Post enables people to engage with the physical environment through AI chatbots via QR codes.
• Harlow and Gilston Garden Town (Five Councils)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerECF is working in collaboration with five Councils to deliver the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town, which will provide 23,000 homes as well as new jobs, schools, and transport routes. ECF's role involves facilitating workshops and assisting in designing the Discover Harlow Hub.
• Community Health Partnerships (CHP)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerECF was appointed by CHP (owned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) to provide communications and engagement services for the Homes for NHS Staff project at Finchley Memorial Hospital, supporting NHS organisations, One Public Estate, and the Greater London Authority.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Broad incumbents

• PJA: UK transport, planning, and placemaking consultancy offering engagement and consultation services alongside engineering and design. Overlaps with ECF on active travel engagement (ECF partners with Velocity Transport Planning) and serves similar local authority clients.
• Ipsos UK (Public Affairs): Global market research firm with a substantial UK public engagement practice serving government and infrastructure clients. Comparable on stakeholder research, consultation, and citizen insight work, but operates at much larger scale and as part of a global research portfolio.
• Steer: Major transport and infrastructure consultancy that includes stakeholder engagement and consultation services as part of larger multi-disciplinary project delivery. Comparable customer base (UK local authorities, transport clients) but operates at much larger scale and as an incumbent.

Emerging players

• DJS Research: UK research and engagement consultancy with a public-sector practice covering stakeholder consultation and community research. Partial overlap with ECF on consultation delivery but broader market research remit and larger scale.
• Hello Lamp Post: AI-enabled engagement platform enabling two-way conversations between communities and the built environment via chatbots and QR codes. Adjacent competitor / partner to ECF in the engagement space, focused on the technology layer ECF currently outsources.

Direct peers

• Metro Dynamics: UK place-based consultancy providing economic, planning, and engagement advice to local authorities and developers. Directly comparable on community engagement for planning and development projects with a similar boutique scale.
• Hopkins Van Mil: UK consultancy specialising in stakeholder engagement, consultation, and deliberative dialogue for planning, infrastructure, and regeneration projects. Operates in the same client verticals with overlapping methodologies around facilitated community engagement.
• The Consultation Institute: UK professional body and consultancy focused on public consultation best practice, training, and quality assurance. Comparable to ECF in mission (improving engagement quality) with a more standards-and-training orientation versus ECF's delivery-led model.
• BritainThinks: Research and engagement consultancy running deliberative engagement, citizens' panels, and stakeholder consultation for UK public sector and infrastructure clients. Overlaps with ECF on consultation methodology and policy-engagement use cases.
• Soundings: Specialist community engagement consultancy serving UK local authorities, developers, and infrastructure clients on planning and development projects. Directly comparable in service mix (engagement, consultation, communications) and customer segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ECF_UK
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC8U6Pw4i6w44HMgQhtJHIEQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ecfuk

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ECF