New Year's Message

Welcome back after a much-deserved Christmas and New Year break. I hope you are all feeling invigorated and ready to face the challenges of the coming year. As I write this the country is mostly under a blanket of snow and it looks like London will get some also!

I started blogging 9 months ago and this mini milestone caused me to reflect on where we are today. As Workplace starts a new decade I want to recognise the great amount that the team have achieved over the past year, as well as the enormous agenda we have coming up - from the small jobs to the great tasks ahead. Over the coming weeks I will try to summarise this but in attempting to do so for this blog I had to give up. There's just so much!

Of course the challenge of the day is for us to make sure we do all we can to keep the BBC on air during this unpredictable spell of cold weather - there's never a dull moment. For those involved please keep safe. For everyone who contributes to keeping the 24/7 operation that is the BBC ticking over by providing the catering, cleaning, heating, security and a whole host of other support to the creative effort please keep up the good work. 

We also have two very large construction machines on the go - at Salford and in central London plus a fairly substantial project in West London. I'm pleased to report that these are going to plan and are on course to be delivered pretty much on schedule over the coming 12-15 months. We might even surprise some people by bringing them in ahead of time!

We often forget why we do this job and it does no harm to think about how each member of Workplace can make a contribution. In the case of all of the stuff I mention above bear one thing in mind - this is only part of what you and I do. However, by operating and changing the BBC estate we are supporting what the BBC is good at - making great content for the viewers, listeners and online surfers. For me that's what makes this job meaningful and worthwhile.

I wish you all a busy, safe and rewarding New Year.