BDG architecture + design News

 
Tony Miller MBE 06/01/2012
 
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Tony Miller. Director of the Whitechapel Mission. Has been awarded an MBE in the new years honours list for services to Homeless People. 

Congratulations to him and his hard working team at the Mission
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Phil Hutchinson with Turner & Townsend and our clients The Electoral Commission presented a case study to the Charities FM conference in Central London today. The Electoral Commission's new office move demonstrated how a new dynamic working environment can save money, save space and successfully foster a new working ethic.
Cathy Haywards article from Facilities Management News writes;

With concerns over the UK's economy still  evident and charitable funding declining, the voluntary sector is facing reduced investment which could well impact on service delivery. Cathy Hayward of Magenta Associates reports from the recent Charities Facilities Management Conference 2011. Saving money while generating income for the core business might sound like an impossible task for the facilities professional, but for those in the charity sector it's been a way of life since the recession reduced fundraising, grant and investment income by approximately £911m a year. Yet at the same time there has been increasing demand for the services on offer. Sharing resources is the key to achieving that aim, that was the message from Annette McGill, director of Upkeep, a charity that teaches people how to look after buildings. McGill opened the Charities Facilities Management Conference 2011, held last month, stating that the theme of the conference was to "save, share and supply". Held at BCS, the Chartered Institute of IT's Covent Garden office, more than 100 delegates heard from a range of practising FMs in the not-for-profit or third sector, together with advisers and consultants to charity facilities professionals. First to speak was Helen Reeves of The Electoral Commission who detailed the organisation's journey to flexible working and the real cost savings achieved as a result. With the lease at the organisation's Great Peter Street office up, and no renewal option available, a new site was sought which could achieve considerable cost savings while improving communication and collaboration between the 120 staff, currently spread across two floors. The challenge was to find something near Westminster - but not sharing with another organisation which could potentially go against the Electoral
Commission's impartiality - where all staff could be accommodated on one floor. The
other aim, however, was to cut running costs by around a third and do this within a tight timescale. The project team was appointed in April 2010 with the deadline for moving set as December 2010. With support from Turner and Townsend Project Management and designers BDGworkfutures, who presented at the event alongside Reeves, the seemingly impossible was achieved. By December 2010 - in plenty of time for the May 2011 referendum - the Electoral Commission had moved from a 1,624m2 office to 1,141m2, all on one floor, with a 7:10 desk sharing ratio but with an increase in both meeting rooms and break-out and informal spaces. Costs, Reeves says, have been substantially reduced; the silo-working environment has been broken down, people work more flexibly and productively, and the move has received positive feedback from staff and visitors.
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We are delighted to welcome Helen Ieronimo to the team as our Marketing Manager. With over 15 years of working in the world of property and design,  Helen joins us with a wealth of experience and knowledge.  
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Phil Hutchinson joins a select group from our industry who attended the London Design Festival awards dinner at St Pauls crypt on Monday evening.  A great evening culminating in celebrating awards given to Vidal Sassoon for life time achievement and the London Design medal to Ron Arad
http://www.londondesignfestival.com/editorials/20-september-e-bulletin
http://www.londondesignfestival.com/content/london-design-medal-2011
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Phil Hutchinson with Theresa Dowling at Bisley, Newport.

On 8th September, Phil joined Bisley for an open day to celebrate 50 years of manufacturing investment and innovation. Along with highly-valued clients, suppliers, employees and friends from around the globe, Phil took an insightful tour the factory which represents an investment of £60 million in the most advanced metalworking machinery and state-of-the-art painting equipment since the Newport factory opened in 1989. 

A great day in great company!
 
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Phil Hutchinson judged London Metropolitian Universities Design competion sponsored by Humanscale as part of the Clerkenwell Design week at the end of May.
This comprised a display of edgy, visionary and quite beautiful work from the innovative Sir John Cass Department of Art, Media and Design at London Metropolitan University, exploring ‘Living Bridges’, ‘Urban Rooftops’ and ‘Floating Structures,.’ After some deliberation, Danielle Ferguson was awarded the first prize for her Living Bridges project and will enjoy an internship with Humanscale’s London and New York design studio.

Phil Hutchinson, joint Managing Director of BDGworkfutures and Judge of the wining category Living Bridges, comments:
“The variety and approach to the brief and the range of solutions offered by students, especially at the conceptual stage, impressed me immensely in this category and are a credit to them and their course. The winning solution simply took this to a different level with a hugely personal and sympathetic idea that both sat comfortably within the locale and would surely offer surprise, delight, engagement and involvement with the whole community. What more could a designer want to achieve?”



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Office next is Moscow's annual conference on the workplace, Phil spoke on the subject of 
 ‘The office’ an important tool for improving business performance and employee loyalty.
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Gill Parker spoke at the ThinkFM conference attended by over 200 professionals on the subject of 'The Myths around Flexible Working'.
Gills top ten myths for the conference;
Myth 1: Flexible Working is new
Myth 2: Flexible Working is just jargon 
Myth 3: Flexible Working means homeworking 
Myth 4: Flexible Working is a quick win 
Myth 5: Flexible Working is a pure cost-saving exercise
Myth 6: Flexible Working is the answer for everyone 
Myth 7: All Flexible solutions are the same 
Myth 8: Flexible Working is not about FM

BDGworkfutures have extensive experience of flexible working solutions for clients across all sectors, for more information contact Gill at; gillparker@bdgworkfutures.com
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