EC Harris

'Clear desks' at Baskerville House

Rarely do organisations achieve that ultimate goal of a truly, “clear desk” policy following a relocation, however after the success of its’ East Midlands office move, performed by BCL, EC Harris were adamant to accomplish their ambitions.

 

BCL was appointed from the outset of the strategic planning, firstly conducting high level file audits for each of the 12 divisions and working closely to undertake an aggressive, culling exercise to fit into the new workspace, and allow expansion potential.

 

BCL encouraged the client to create a move communications team, made up of a core project team and a group of ‘Move Champions’ (MC’s) who represented each division. BCL were the catalyst for information throughout, working closely with the MCs and even providing an e-mail help line to provide constant support.

 

Once BCL had assisted each division to reach specified culling targets, the BCL Project Manager (PM) worked on a precise file mapping to fit into the new space. Thanks to thoroughness of the BCL PM – it was noticed that the cabinets’ internal widths were not as specified by the furniture supplier. The fact they were smaller meant re-visiting the whole audit and mapping exercise at just a week’s notice, then communicating all the relevant changes to the users. We were able to demonstrate enormous flexibility to achieve this and communicate delicately with end users on the shortfall.

 

As a mark of our innovative nature: the client had a dilemma over how to provide staff with a means of transferring their personal desk tools and day files from the new locker system to their workstation each day. Options presented by the business such as plastic crates and cardboard boxes were highlighted by BCL as unsightly. After deliberation, BCL’s PM came up with the suggestion of an expanding laptop bag, meeting all the clients’ practical needs, as well as looking good. EC Harris took this idea on board. BCL even traced the best buy via the web on the clients’ behalf.

 

As a client interactive office environment the move itself needed to be carried out with precision timing over a single weekend.

 

A wide service portfolio was provided by BCL comprehensively supporting the clients’ relocation to achieve a “zero downtime” solution. Services included sequential file packing / unpacking, server relocation, IT decommissioning and IT cleaning. As the environment was becoming a ‘hot desk’ workspace, the desktop cleaning was recommended by BCL and agreed as a necessity for hygienic reasons.

 

Each element of the move was carefully and sequentially scheduled from Friday afternoon through to final unpacking on Sunday and our PM ensured that each element was completed on time using our performance tracking tools.

 

Clearly defined budgets for each support service were provided and cost change management updates were tracked and communicated at regular intervals as circumstances and client needs changed.

 

The move was delivered on time, on budget and to the total delight of EC Harris, BCL exceeding our customer’s expectation through innovative and overall participation ‘beyond the call of duty’.

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