Co-op Conversations - Laura Dunne and Tom Blount

Laura Dunne  is Head of Marketing & Membership at Lincolnshire Co-op. She is part of the Senior Leadership Team at Lincolnshire Co-op with a remit spanning marketing, membership, and community engagement. She joined Lincolnshire Co-op in 2011, following previous marketing roles at adidas UK and Manchester based marketing agencies. Laura was part of the project team that worked on The Cornhill Quarter regeneration project starting in 2016 from a marketing and animation, and tenant engagement perspective; 74% of tenants are members of Lincolnshire Co-op and therefore have a multidimensional relationship with the organisation, which is something Laura is particularly interested in.

Lincoln Science & Innovation Park (LSIP) is a joint venture set up in 2012 between Lincolnshire Co-op and the University of Lincoln, founded  to create a world-class environment for science, research and innovation in the city. Tom Blount, Science Park director notes, "Together with our partners, we have developed a collaborative community of science and technology businesses and university researchers in an innovative and flexible science park environment".

At the UKSCS Conference in February 2023, Laura Dunne and Tom Blount each led half of the delegates to the Cornhill Quarter in Lincoln or to LSIP respectively. The Conversation provided an opportunity for those who attended to ‘hear the other side’, and for those who didn’t attend to get an overview of what we saw and heard – and for us all to hear the inter-relation between two significant developments that Lincolnshire Co-operative has been involved with over the past decade.