OPN Event at EC Harris, 34 York Way, London N1

“… a working environment which will support fully our mission of delivering better value results for our clients …..”

Thursday, 12 June 2008

The Office Productivity Network’s last event was at EC Harris's global HQ near Kings Cross, London . EC Harris covers 19 disciplines across construction and FM in 40 countries. This will be the 22 nd OPN productivity best practice Workshop which aims to show exemplar workspaces which are delivering productive environments for their corporate occupants.

After 50 years in the same building, EC Harris needed new premises to accommodate ambitious plans for growth and provide better working conditions for staff, clients and suppliers. Using the property strategy as a catalyst for change, the brief on taking the lease of a new 67.000 sq ft refurnished Victorian building was to create ‘a Headquarters for a business which “Inspires Exceptional Performance”.’ECHQ, as it is now known, has become the template for all EC Harris’s offices worldwide and was the winner of the PFM Magazine ‘Partners in Business Change’ award.

In their former HQ at Tavistock Square , 600 EC Harris staff occupied desks on a 1 to 1 basis. At ECHQ, some 670 people were accommodated at just 510 desks and a further 200 were based at client premises. Since moving in the business has grown but the desk numbers have not – now 920 people work from the same number of desks.

The building layout is based on ‘landside’ and ‘airside’ principles. A ‘welcome’ team operating from a small counter at the entrance welcomes clients to public access areas including the ground floor café, bar, meeting rooms and drop-in wired and wi-fi work spaces. These landside facilities create a focal point and social hub for the office to increase informal contact between staff and clients. ‘Airside’, the challenge was to move to hot desking whilst keeping teams together and providing a sense of belonging to staff who spent part of their time on site or working at clients’ premises or from home. Clusters of desks mirror team configurations and internal signing identifies areas for different departments.

Each floor has free vending areas and break out space. A strict no eating and drinking at the desk policy ensures that people meet informally in these spaces.

In the months after the move the staff attrition rate was down 20 per cent, and since then has dropped further. The introduction of optical filing systems has already reduced file storage from 3,500 linear metres to 840 metres. CEO Philip Youell attributes EC Harris’ 25 per cent increase in turnover last year to the changes bought about in the company culture. The EC Harris ‘brand’ is clearly demonstrated through this building, and it has raised the company profile in its industry sector and with its clients.

The event included presentations on the strategy, business case development, change management, the user view and POE surveys, followed by a question and answer session with the project team and users. 40 delegates had an extensive tour of the building.

OPN Event at EC Harris, 34 York Way, London N1

Thursday, 12 June 2008

PROGRAMME