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How Hertsmere Used Evidence to Measure Covid-19 Recovery
How Hertsmere Borough Council used footfall and catchment evidence to measure pandemic recovery across four town centres.
The Challenge
Hertsmere Borough Council needed factual evidence of how pedestrians used its high streets and how those places were recovering from Covid-19. Anecdotal feedback and an undersubscribed market survey were not sufficient for town-centre decisions.
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Track recovery
Compare post-lockdown footfall with historic trends to understand how quickly town centres were returning.
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Map catchment change
See where visitors came from and how each town's dominant catchment shifted over time.
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Assess market days
Test whether Tuesday and Saturday markets produced a meaningful uplift in Borehamwood footfall.
The Solution
huq provided a live behavioural intelligence layer that unified movement trends, catchment visibility, and district benchmarking into a single platform.
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Movement Intelligence
Live visibility into visitor activity and engagement patterns.
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Catchment Analysis
Postcode-level insight into visitor origins and regional movement.
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Recovery Tracking
Monitor behavioural recovery and engagement trends over time.
Intervention Evaluation
Measure how funded initiatives and place-based interventions affect behaviour and local outcomes.
Hertsmere Borough Council used footfall and catchment evidence to measure pandemic recovery across four town centres.
huq worked with Hertsmere to monitor Borehamwood, Bushey Heath, Potters Bar and Radlett. Footfall and Catchment Area modules provided historic and current evidence for the council's three priority questions.
Case study highlights
- Historic comparison: Footfall data across 2019, 2020 and 2021 made town-centre recovery trends visible.
- Catchment mapping: The council could see how visitor origins changed, including Radlett's expanded Christmas catchment.
- Market-day benchmarking: Tuesday and Saturday activity was compared with Borehamwood's normal baseline.
- Objective decision support: Repeatable evidence replaced anecdote and limited surveys.
The analysis showed clear recovery patterns while also demonstrating that market-day footfall was not significantly higher than normal.
Results & Operational Impact
With huq first clients achieve significantly stronger visibility into commercial demand, engagement growth, and estate performance.
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Faster leasing evaluations
Improved understanding of real-world commercial demand
Stronger investment confidence
Behavioural intelligence supported more evidence-led decisions
Improved district visibility
Teams benchmarked engagement across multiple locations
Better recovery tracking
Live movement signals replaced delayed reporting cycles
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