From Strategy to Investable Delivery
Problem solving and fresh ideas for a wide range of policy areas — from housing, investment and public policy solutions in the UK to conflict resolution abroad.
Problem analysis. Opportunity creation. Solution delivery
Our consultancy delivers answers through solid analysis and creative thinking. It secures outcomes through strategic direction and committed partnerships.
Solving the big problems means finding the right answers, the opportunities, the partnerships that can deliver the change that is needed. It means trying new combinations, challenging old ways of doing things and leveraging the right resources. It starts with the right analysis and ideas — it ends with managed delivery.
Analysis and strategic insight
With over 30 years’ experience of public policy, the Consultancy provides solid analytical services from its wide range of associated experts and professionals. Countering decades of relative decline, transforming and repositioning a regional city, building competitive business clusters, managing back-to-work schemes, transforming public services — from education to social care and police reform — all this requires fresh thinking built on solid analysis. That is precisely what we deliver.
Investment opportunities
Identifying the North’s strengths, its development opportunities, and its transport connections to the rest of the region — Scandinavia, Northern Germany, the Baltic, The Netherlands, Belgium and North-Eastern France. It’s realising where we are really positioned that starts to set the scene for what can be created. Redefining ourselves to position the North for success by partnering with new capital and IP to create new wealth — and fresh opportunities for all.
Thought leadership
We bring ideas to life in our associated think tank Policy Brief, but we bring them to impact through promotion, education and engagement. Taking the right analysis on any area of public policy — at home or abroad — and getting buy-in from policy advisers and politicians is an essential part of what we do. We identify what needs to change, set out an alternative solution that can actually be delivered and then go out to win the support it needs to become public policy.
Delivery partners
It is one thing to identify the right course of action, and then to get it agreed to by policy makers. It also has to be delivered. Without making a difference in the real world, what is the point? Our policy analysis identifies the routes to delivery, and where the means is lacking — whether in know-how, training, structural re-organisation or finance, we set out to find partners who can fix those gaps.
Changing the world through analysis and ideas backed by investment and partnerships.
Current Campaigns We Are Tracking
Our public-facing platform, Policy Brief, explores the wider challenges of renewal. At the Consultancy, we take those insights and structure them into investable delivery.
For public analysis and thought leadership, visit Policy Brief — our platform shaping the national conversation on renewal.
Energy
Shaping policy-aligned, capital-ready solutions for clean growth and industrial transition.
Early Years
Designing initiatives that unlock opportunity and growth for children and families.
Real Growth
Moving to structure investment that builds industries, infrastructure, and skills.
International Development
Turning lessons from fragile states into grounded strategies for resilience and investment.
The North
Driving regional renewal by aligning local strengths with national priorities and long-term global opportunity.
Housing
Creating pathways to affordable, sustainable homes through integrated policy and investment.
Investable Opportunity Report
We brief institutions, investors, and leaders with clear, structured reports that present investment-ready opportunities in housing, city and regional growth and transformation, economic growth and cluster development. These are tailormade to specific briefs to promote investment, growth and development at sectoral, local, regional and national levels.
Battery Storage UK — A policy and investment report
Our inaugural investment report demonstrates how analysis can support policy and capital investment in the UK energy sector.
Battery storage is essential to ensure grid resilience and to lower energy prices in a decarbonised grid.
Compared to wind or nuclear power, the role of battery storage in energy policy and markets is little understood. ‘Battery Storage UK’ will provide a clear analysis of the sector for policy makers and investors. The report will also assess the capacity for additional build and identify what specific opportunities there are for new battery storage projects. This report will also evaluate the sector’s business and funding models.
It will provide leaders, policy makers, and investors alike with the analysis they need to support the development of the right level of battery build in the UK at the right pace.
City Vision: Empowering Real Change, for Real People in Real Places
Re-envisioning the city in its region is a key task for the early to mid 21st century. Our work spans complex policy contexts, regeneration, and capital alignment. Always outcomes-driven and committed to making real change in cities and regions. We work to support local leaders to design policy and shape strategy to deliver renewal across cities and their regions. We can support communication of that vision to stakeholders and to national and regional audiences across government, business and finance.
From Think Tank to Consultancy
Two platforms. One mission.
Policy Brief shapes the ideas, Roderick Crawford Consultancy turns them into investable delivery.
Public Insight, Private Action
Policy Brief is our think tank, publishing clear analysis on policy, growth, and renewal. Consultancy takes those insights forward, shaping them into investable delivery.
Independent and Credible
Policy Brief is an editorial platform — independent, accessible, and trusted. It frames complex issues in plain terms, while the Consultancy builds bespoke solutions.
Campaigns into Policy
Campaigns such as International Development, Early Years, Real Growth, and Back-to-Work help set public debate. The Consultancy lobbies for policy change and new political initiatives.
Why Two Platforms
Policy Brief provides independent analysis and promotes ideas and seeks to inform and influence. The Consultancy actively works to get policy ideas adopted and to shape investment decisions, making a real difference in the world.
About Roderick Crawford
Roderick has more than thirty years working at the intersection of politics, policy, and conflict resolution. He founded Parliamentary Brief to connect policymakers with expert insight. For two decades it shaped debate across Parliament on everything from health and education to constitutional reform. He used it to promote a political resolution in Northern Ireland. That experience taught him how ideas take root — and what it takes for them to influence decision-makers.
Since then, his work has ranged from high-level policy analysis to international peacebuilding. He played a key part in finding a solution to the impasse on the Northern Ireland Protocol and finding a path back to the restoration of the Northern Ireland institutions.
Beyond the UK, he founded If You Are Safe, I Am Safe — a reconciliation initiative introduced to Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen.
What unites all of his work is a simple motivation: solving complex problems with solutions that last.
He is also editor of Policy Brief. The think tank explores the wider challenges of public sector reform, national and regional economic competitiveness, economic policy and housing, as well as international affairs and conflict resolution. Policy Brief identifies solutions to policy issues. The Consultancy carries some of these themes forward into delivery through lobbying and engagement with business and investors.
Proven Where It Matters
With over 30 years of experience, I’ve worked at the highest levels of politics and policy — from founding Parliamentary Brief to shaping UK–EU negotiations at Policy Exchange.
Trusted Across Divides
From briefing ministers in London to building reconciliation initiatives in Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen, I’ve earned trust by helping people work together across deep divides.
Turning Insight Into Action
I don’t stop at analysis. I help leaders cut through complexity, find clarity, and deliver solutions that make a lasting impact.
The most effective answer to insurgency and civil unrest is the police.
Shaping accountable, trusted policing as the foundation for stability and investment.
The only truly appropriate experience that matches the needs of Nigeria – as far as the West is concerned – is from Northern Ireland; the insurgency there was by far the worst of any experienced in the West. Its police had to learn to deliver police services whilst at the same time policing a thirty-year terrorist campaign, not least through extensive and competent use of intelligence. It was there that the model was developed that many other countries have sought to copy when faced by similar problems.
No other police force’s experience can rival the experience of Northern Ireland. It is a remarkable asset that cannot be rivalled anywhere in the world.
Connecting the North’s Future with Asia’s High-Tech Capital
Bridging Taiwan’s innovation and capital with the North of England’s next chapter of growth.
The Taipei 2027 Investment Conference is designed to align Taiwan’s leadership in high-tech innovation with the North’s ambition for renewal and transformation. By bringing together Taiwan’s business and industry leadership with Northern investment opportunities and facilitation, the conference creates a platform for investment flows that are both globally significant and locally transformative. Our consultancy is curating the dialogue that links Asia’s technological powerhouse with opportunities across the North of England, positioning capital where it can deliver long-term impact and shared prosperity for the future.
Working with leaders, decision-makers, and innovative partners
We partner with the leaders who set direction and expect delivery.
Corporate Executives & Industry Leaders
Getting Britain open for business is the key requirement for Government and business today. Yet the worlds of politics and business are often far apart. We help business to share its insights with Government at every level to help shape policy and deliver economic growth.
Institutional Capital Gatekeepers
We deliver policy-aligned, delivery-ready opportunities structured to your mandates. Governance and risk clarity are built in from the start. Projects that fit into national renewal plans in the UK. With delivery partners you can trust. Unlocking opportunities for long-term capital investments.
Housing developers and master builders
We unlock opportunities as part of city development so that housing adds value to place. We create substantial development projects with city leaders and planners for innovative master builders to improve the regional housing offer, delivering social value and driving economic growth. We work from policy to planning and design, and unlock capital, by building coalitions to move projects from blueprint to build.
Northern Business and Political Leaders
It is not just renewal we are looking to create, it's transformation. That means new thinking, a new narrative and delivery strategy. There is investment available – what is needed is a vision and a framework that creates opportunities for that investment. We align vision with investment. With us as your partner, you can move from plans to visible, investable delivery.
What People Say
Roderick is trusted by leaders across policy, finance, and regeneration for his clarity, insight, and ability to bridge divides.
“What impressed us most was the clarity. Instead of another mission statement, we were given a structured, investable pathway with governance and risk mapped from the outset. It made the decision to engage straightforward — and it moved us ahead of slower competitors.”
Director, Global Pension Fund
“We were used to hearing that values and viability couldn’t coexist. Working with Roderick showed us otherwise. The coalition he built gave us political cover, capital traction, and community trust — without compromising what mattered. We finally felt like we were building faster and smarter.”
CEO, Regenerative Housing Group
“Roderick understands how to bridge local ambition with national attention. He helped us align capital, narrative, and delivery in a way that gave our regional strategy real momentum. It’s rare to find someone who can move so comfortably between politics, policy, and investment.”
Northern Combined Authority Leader
