A centre audit is a way of finding out how centres such as women's centres or advice and resource centres are run. If you are interested in either developing a centre or reviewing the way in which a centre is currently run, then these tools will help you to develop your own ideas and questions as part of your research.

The tools are based on work carried out by the Women and Regeneration Project workers and volunteers in 2001. The volunteers developed three audit checklists in conjunction with project workers, to consider their own perspectives and opinions of a number of Women's Centres in London, the centre as well as those of workers and users. The volunteers identified a number of factors that they feel contribute to success in setting up and running centres. The audits considered access in its widest sense, looking at cultural as well as physical access.

They can be adapted by other groups, and could be useful in a variety of different settings. For example, they could be adapted for use with a group of people wishing to explore how to set up a community garden or transport project. They could also be adapted for use with young people to look at how other youth projects have succeeded in obtaining funding and venues in order to get up and running.

All the audits can be printed off and used freely or adapted. Please credit Women's Design Service if you use these materials.

Click here for the following:

Itinerary - this is a way of recording and summarising the research process. It offers a checklist to ensure that everyone is involved in some way and means of allocating tasks to ensure that the necessary jobs get done during the visit.

Building audit - the Building audit enables a complete assessment of how user friendly a centre's physical elements are.

Worker Questionnaire - this is designed to gather a range of information about how centres are run, managed and funded. It also asks about service delivery.

User questionnaire - this questionnaire is designed to seek information from those using centres. This information will highlight what works well and what could be done differently.