Archives for July 2009

It doesn't feel to me like there's been any let up this summer with such a lot of activity taking place. The AOP (Annual Operating Plan), CPP(Corporate Property Plan) and the WoSP (Workplace Strategic Plan) have been finalised (more on these below); the preparations for the move of R&D from Kingswood Warren to W12 continue, the topping out ceremonies at MediaCityUK and Broadcasting House, and the recent listing of Television Centre. I hope many of you will have been able to enjoy a summer break or be planning one while the weather is good.

This week the BBC published its Annual Report & Accounts for 2008/09. Full details here:

Workplace Staff Event
Thanks to all of you who attended the staff session at the end of June in the Radio Theatre. I have talked about the first event in earlier blogposts and we will be uploading podcasts of the separate sections from the event on this site and the Workplace website so that anyone who didn't attend can follow what went on.

I plan to change the format of these events from now on. To reflect that many of you work outside of London, I would like us to come to you rather than the other way round! From the beginning of November we will be holding smaller sessions in the hubs, so that it will be easier for you to get together with your colleagues to discuss any issues which affect you. I and members of the senior management team will be on hand to take part in these meetings. More information will be available nearer the time.

Partnership engagement sessions
Following Director General Mark Thompson's recent note to staff about Partnerships, I hope by now many have attended one of the engagement sessions which have taken place over the last month. This is a very important initiative for all of us and it should be the start of a conversation about what partnerships mean for us and our areas now and for the future. For those who have not managed to make a session, there will be an opportunity to learn more about it at the next team lunch on August 12th.

Corporate Property Plan
The Corporate Property Plan (CPP) has been updated. It contains three elements: Part 1, the Corporate Property Strategy, covers the high level strategy for maximising the value of the BBC's property estate, and our approach to maximising the creativity of its workplaces. Part 2 describes individual Portfolio Strategies for delivering the high level strategy in each geographical area, and Part 3 contains links to the asset-level Portfolio Programme Plans.

The high level Corporate Property Strategy (Part 1) will be issued this month. Although there is nothing new in this document in terms of strategy or policy, the information is gathered together in one place for the first time. Comments and feedback can be made to [email protected].

W12/WEST PORTFOLIO
TV Centre Listing
The Department of Culture, Media & Sport announced their decision to list TV Centre at Grade II - with only the central office ring and Studio 1 regarded as being of special interest. This is good news which gives us certainty about the site, whilst recognising its heritage and cultural importance. It doesn't adversely affect our intention to dispose of and vacate TV Centre at some point beyond 2012.
Caroline Thomson, Chief Operating Officer, said: "We welcome DCMS's announcement of their decision on the listing of the central ring and Studio 1 of Television Centre in West London and their recognition of the historic and architectural merit of these parts of the Television Centre complex."
Many thanks to Andrew Fullerton and Peter Copley for their work on bringing this to a successful conclusion.
TRR Sold
The Television Rehearsal Rooms in North Acton was sold at the beginning of July to the next door neighbours, Carphone Warehouse.

Dump the Junk - Media Centre
A flexible working pilot in the Media Centre is underway in Vision Productions, Future Media & Technology, Multiplatform and Learning. The project is looking at creating spaces on floors 3-5 that will support collaboration, creativity and the sharing of resources more effectively.

One of the areas of concern encountered by the team and colleagues has been storage. Working closely with the productions and Information & Archives, the project team and the floor managers have addressed this through a series of "Dump the Junk" sessions targeting individual zones and floors. The initiative was very successful, with 20% of their drawers and lockers emptied and over 58 large skips filled.

Sally Debonnaire, Controller, Production Operations, commented on a visit to the Media Centre "It's good to see such a vast improvement and the space feels so much better. It proves that Vision and Workplace working together can achieve real results and create a more practical and pleasant environment. The challenge is to keep it going and make sure it stays that way."

Workplace are looking to build on the Media Centre initiative through similar activities across the W12 estate, so get ready to "Dump the Junk" to improve your space!

Bristol Environment Roadshow
BBC Bristol hosted an Environmental Management Roadshow manned by Mark Wilkinson and David Gordon. It was an opportunity for staff to put their questions and suggestions about environmental services in the workplace and discuss environmental targets. Bristol has recently replaced 100 bottled water coolers with 32 mains-fed ones, saving 15.39 tonnes of CO2. 

W1 PORTFOLIO
Topping Out
The Topping Out ceremony for Phase II of Broadcasting House takes place today (July 17). It will be attended by Sir Michael Lyons, BBC Chairman; Nick Pollard, CEO Bovis Lend Lease; Francis Salway, Group CEO LandSecurities; Dermot Gleeson; Caroline Thomson, Chief Operating Officer; and myself.

BH Update
Find out what's happening at Broadcasting House by reading the latest copy of the BH Newsletter. Highlights include the first images of the new newsroom under construction and a visual of how it might look when finished, as well as details of how to book a free place on a guided West End walk that includes Broadcasting House. The Newsletter is available via the Broadcasting House website

A roadshow held at Bush House has helped to raise the profile of the
Helpdesk and encourage people to make use it under the See it, Own it, Solve it banner.

NORTH PORTFOLIO
MediaCityUK progress
After holding over 100 workshops and running four rounds of user engagement (totalling 300 hours), the Stage C Concept Report has been developed into a more refined and detailed Scheme Design report. This report represents a Design Freeze and includes sign off from the moving departments. For the next stage a newly formed design group will have input into the details of the design and themes for content areas.

A Topping Out ceremony took place last week to mark the construction of the highest point of MediaCityUK. Kevin Gosney, assistant construction manager, turned a golden spanner on the final nut and bolt of the steelwork. To date, 6.5m workman hours have been spent on the build and more than 85,000 cubic metres of concrete, and nearly 9,000 tonnes of structural steel have been used in the build.

New Cambridge premises
The new premises for BBC Cambridgeshire on the Science Park, north of the city, have been handed over to Siemens.

PQ Award
The lighting design for Pacific Quay has been recognised by the International Association of Lighting Designers. The Award of Merit was handed out at the International Lighting Design Awards in New York on May 6, one of only 19 given for projects from 11 countries. "The beauty of this lighting design project is that it uses simple methods, coloured exterior lights, standard interior lights and painted walls to give the building identity at night," one judge remarked. "This design is innovative because it shows that simple methods can have a powerful influence on a building's exterior appearance."

Manchester co-working
The Helpdesk and Workplace teams at BBC Manchester are now working in one open-plan area which has improved their communications and workflow. 

Diary Dates
The Operations Group Summer event will take place from 2pm on the afternoon of the 28th of July in Showstoppers, TV Centre. The occasion will celebrate the hard work and many successes of the Group, with a chance to meet colleagues and find out more about what they and their teams do. It will be informal, fun, with some interesting speakers and presentations. Workplace has a stall to showcase to colleagues what we do. If you have any ideas or want to help out please speak to Hellen Martin [email protected] or x84008.

Can you offer a Work Experience placement?
Can you offer a placement in your area for someone to come and do work experience?

Operations Group has initiated a scheme to provide opportunities for work experience in the division. All departments are to provide a minimum of one work experience placement by the end of March 2010. Each placement will be a minimum of one week and a maximum of four weeks.

Gary Hills is looking for opportunities for placements that we can offer in Workplace. The placements will be managed through the central BBC system

Please consider what opportunities you may be able to provide along with details of the tasks they will be required to undertake, the opportunities this offers them, and the learning experiences they will get.

The deadline for suggestions is 1st November 2009

Please contact Gary if you have any questions or need further information.
[email protected] or 020 8008 1690.

Happy Anniversary
July 1 marked the third anniversary of the Johnson Controls contract live date, which coincided with the annual contract review with BBC Workplace and BBC Procurement. 

Who You Gonna Call?
Vernon Grech, Call Centre Champion, was profiled in a recent edition of Ariel promoting the 047 service. This is just the sort of publicity we need to help our customers understand the job we do and how we help them make great content.

Catering
All strawberries used in London outlets are locally sourced - from West Peckham in Kent - and picked and delivered to the BBC within 48 hours.

A new hospitality menu has been launched in BBC Manchester preceded by a sampling session and invitation to help design the new range.

Staff News
In Paul Kevern's absence, Tim Whilde is acting as the Senior Performance and Programme Manager for W12, while Paul's broadcast critical responsibilities have been allocated across the Operations team.

Leavers
If you notice an absence of pink around White City, it could be because the Pink Princess, Sophie Harvey, has left for a nine month attachment to Radio 1 and 1xtra. At the same time as moving, Sophie has reverted to her maiden name of Sophie Khan. Karen Clydesdale, formerly PA to BBC's Head of Employee Relations and the Director of Reward & Commercial Businesses, joins as PA to Chris Kane from July 6 for a few weeks whilst the recruitment process takes place.

Jane Slaughter, Finance Partner, is on an 8 month attachment as Senior Manager, Major Projects and Investments in the Central Finance team from June 09 to January 2010, covering the Sian Thomas's maternity leave. During Jane's absence Jonathan Pettit will be acting up to cover her role and recruitment is underway to backfill.

Louise Hesketh, Communications Administrator on the helpdesk at BBC Manchester, started maternity leave on June 20. Her replacement for six months is Chrissy Cain.

Joiners
Welcome back to Andy Thornton, Portfolio Director W1

Frank Devoy has joined the W12/West Portfolio team for three months, as a programme manager. He reports to Francesca Fryer and his main focus will be to compile a property strategy for the W12 campus.

Neil Niblock rejoins the BBW account in the Programme Management Office. Andy Inge joins the account again in the Project Management Office. Having been a key part of Project Windsor; Neil and Andy are now supporting the BBW's Transformation Programme.

Long Service
Chris Hiatt, mobile engineer based at BBC Southampton celebrated 30 years service with BBW with a weekend in London with his wife. They took part in a tour of BBC Television Centre, followed by a presentation and a trip to a West End show, followed by dinner. Congratulations to Chris on his achievement and we wish him many more happy years at the BBC.

Changes
The new Television Centre Soft Services Team is:
Manager: Helen Keaney
Team Leaders: Kata Franko and Rachel Morris,
Soft Services Assistants: Neil Steedman, Tomasso Morretto, Tom Winton, Dominic Ooi, Magda Wojick, Lisa Brookes, Tara Kennedy (currently on maternity leave)

Ian Davis, FM Coordinator in Broadcast Centre is providing Floor Manager cover in Media Centre (4th Floor)
Marc Aston, Graduate Trainee, will be working on a project for BBC Workplace managing Data Protection Compliance
Rico Griffiths-Taite, Lighthouse Floor Manager, is providing temporary cover for Media Centre (3rd Floor). Sara Cubeddu, Garden House Floor Manager, will provide cover for the Lighthouse
Tracy Brown, Senior Facilities Manager for Media Village & West London Premises, has become Acting Principal Facilities Manager for TVC
Nick Roberts, Projects LOB, has been promoted to Projects Director for the BBC Account
Jean Douglas, Aramark Deputy General Manager, Network Central, has returned from maternity leave
Jemma Morris, Aramark General Manager, has moved to Television Centre
Pedro da Silva, Aramark, has moved to become Chef Manager for the Elstree catering team

Leavers
Bill Adamson, Pacific Quay Engineer
Michael O'Hara, Engineering Support Manager for Central London
James Bland, HR Manager
Desmond Morrison from MailSource has retired after delivering mail for over 10 years
Stephen Haines, Aramark

Long Service
Chris Hiatt, mobile engineer based at BBC Southampton celebrated 30 years service with BBW with a weekend in London with his wife. They took part in a tour of BBC Television Centre, a presentation and a trip to a West End show, followed by dinner. Congratulations to Chris on his achievement and we wish him many more happy years at the BBC.

Workplace Dads
Congratulations to Keith Beal, Programme Director W1 and BBC North Projects, on the arrival of Fraser Alistair Beal, born on June 15 (7lb 13oz) and to Richard Seago, Programme Manager, BBC North, on the birth of Anna Grace Seago on June 20 (7lb 8oz).

Charity Activity
Congratulations to Rod Hogg, Senior Performance Manager, English Regions, for his champion efforts to raise money for Children in Need. Rod reached the summit of Mount Denali in Alaska on June 13 and descended safely without incident to Talkeetna two days later. Rod says: "I want to thank all those who supported me both before and during the expedition. It has been quite an adventure."

https://www.rodneyhogg.com/
https://www.mycharitypage.com/RodneyHogg/

https://www.rodneyhogg.com/

Andy Bello took part in the London to Brighton bike ride on June 21 to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

Sophie Harvey and Louise Powers took part in the Race for Life in Stanmer Park, Brighton on July 4, and raised £255.00 for Cancer Research UK.

Louise also took part in her first-ever half marathon on June 14 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. Her chosen charity was the British Heart Foundation.

On June 17 nine Johnson Controls volunteers took part in conservation work on Hampstead Heath in association with Heath Hands and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGS). They cleared non-native invasive plants, working alongside a group of girl scouts from around the world.

Tina Samuels, Abby Phillips and Mick Southam are taking part in Blue Sky Involve projects - Tina and Abby have arranged a day of arts and crafts for elderly residents at Pax Lodge in Belsize Park and Mick is helping maintain the gardens there.

Well done to all for their efforts. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Operations Group staff event next week.

Chris

I was delighted with the news that Alan Bainbridge, our Portfolio Director for the North was elected to the British Council for Offices (BCO) Board of Management.

Alan and I hold the joint ambition that something needs to be done about how the British Property and Construction industry relates with its customers - the end user.

This embraces a pretty wide range of topics from the adversarial nature of the construction process to the hugely inefficient manner in how the landlord and tenant relationship works.

Rather than just moaning about this from the sidelines we have decided to make ourselves heard and try to engage with the industry.

Alan's membership of the BCO Board is the first step - there will be more to follow on this.

Tuesday marked the end of an era for me as the Pink Princess Sophie moved on to the bright lights of central London and the hallowed portals of Radio 1. After three years during which Sophie certainly put a fizz in all our lives, I'm sure colleagues based in White City will agree that we will miss her staggering slavery to all thinks bright and pink!

No doubt she will bring her own brand of liveliness to our colleagues in Radio 1, all the best Sophie

Who says you have to spend all your time at your desk in order to do your job?

During the recent sunny spell, I was walking back to our White City base and came across two colleagues taking advantage of the sunshine but nevertheless beavouring away at their work!