CASE STUDIES ORS OF POWER
use space. It has become a variable and that has changed everything.
But it would be wrong to assume that the public sector is reacting to directives or playing catch up. Many Authorities have been proactive in developing better and more efficient ways of managing their property for some time. Their thinking is innovative by any standards. The results are equally impressive.
One of these organisations is Nottingham City Council which identified a number of issues with six of its key buildings comprising a total floor space of 25,600 m2
and housing around 2,300
staff. These assets were core resources for the council and so it was essential that changes were made without disrupting any services.
An initial survey identified some key areas to address. The two most notable findings were that at any one time only half of workstations were occupied and that for 40 per cent of the day, formal meeting rooms remained empty. The ownership of desks had to stop being a matter of right and instead become dependent on need and job function. The number of workstations could then be reduced without any adverse impact on the business. An intensive survey revealed that it would be perfectly feasible to reduce the desk to occupant ratio from 100 per cent to 70 per cent. In other words, there could be 7 desks for every ten people.
Although perfectly feasible in hard mathematical terms, in order to work it required a culture change and the need for staff to embrace the new principles and understand their benefits. The catalyst for these changes was a move to a newly acquired property in the City Centre. Not only was the move an opportunity to introduce a new working culture in a contemporary work setting, it meant the council could accommodate everybody comfortably in 17,600 m2 saving of nearly a third.
– a space
Geoffrey Hibbert, Nottingham City Council’s Director of Property and Workplace Strategy believes that the move needed the support of every level of the organisation. “Political leadership and commitment were essential components of the project,” he said. “Acquiring a modern new headquarters proved to be the catalyst necessary to accelerate the introduction of a new operating model. There was a very strong business case but
it’s easy to forget, when looking back over the first year of operation, just how radical the pace and scale of the change has been. New systems, like the Condeco booking solution, increased confidence and helped to maintain business cointinuity. More than 2,000 colleagues moved to a flexible, adaptable and mobile working environment and in every single case each one of them was at a workstation, up and running by noon on the day of their move. Condeco has helped to prove the concept and manage the workspace in a way that has underpinned the business case and delivered all the planned savings.” The move was managed by the
Workplace Strategy Team which carried out an extensive review of partner firms of workspace management solutions in the market and concluded that Condeco’s room and desk booking system was the ideal solution to manage 100 meeting rooms, 1,930 workstations, 190 parking bays and all visitors to their new HQ. Working closely with Nottingham City Council on the new strategy, Condeco supplied a range of products and services including: graphical floor plans for desk booking which can be searched across a number of elements including physical location, workstation features and user needs; a facility to allow groups of rooms to be managed by a dedicated Resource Booking Team; a visitor management solution that means all guests and visitors are automatically logged in at reception and passes prepared; and a
comprehensive reporting system that can be used to generate a range of management reports including space utilisation and resource costs Not only will the move mean an overall space saving of 8,000m2
and the
consolidation of all of the Council’s functions into one building, it will also save the Council an estimated £3.9 million a year for the long term based on a range of factors including the more efficient use of space and a reduction in accommodation costs, greater energy efficiency and sustainability, reuse of the divested space.
This is more than just a matter of cutting costs however. The move allowed the Council to develop a new working culture based on teamworking, higher productivity and improved work/life balance for employees. For the Council itself it helps to communicate its identity
and confirm its progressive approach to the environment and the wellbeing of employees. Lee Thomas, the WSP Programme Manager sums it up neatly. “Within twelve months, we have achieved enormous success including a new corporate HQ building for NCC, new data centre, customer contact centre and new technology to support new ways of working,” he says. “Before our move to Loxley House, we had a traditional working environment. Now, we have a dynamic and flexible workspace which is capable of meeting the needs of the business at any given time. The management information systems we have developed with Condeco are a key element in the Council’s building rationalisation strategy and allow us to determine interactively what space is available and to analyse historical data. The system provides the evidence we need to identify efficiency savings across the operational estate and to plan the next phase of the workplace strategy with complete confidence.”
www.condecosoftware.com www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk www.marshmanprojects.com
PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY • VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3 39
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