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Categories: General

Birmingham should look to Darlington rather than outsourcing jobs overseas »

OnePlace - launching a unique offer

Marchday, owners of Lingfield Point, says that there is absolutely no need for Birmingham City Council to outsource its jobs overseas.  Marchday is part of a unique consortium ‘OnePlaceUK’ that specialises in saving public sector cash by the use of shared services and rationalising assets.

OnePlaceUK advises the council to consider all options before taking such a drastic step and instead adopt a radical new way of working to suit the 21st century.

John Orchard, director of Marchday says that by following the path suggested the public sector could save millions of pounds to reinvest in services or staff.  OnePlaceUK helps neighbouring local authorities and public sector organisations work together to share common functions and make best use of space.

The aim is to stop the duplication of straightforward tasks and keep the cash to save libraries, arts venues and front line staff – be it teachers and caretakers or binmen and gardeners.

The logic behind OnePlaceUK is undeniable and yet only a handful of local authorities and public sector organisations have caught on… hence the action Birmingham seems set to take.

It is already working in several places including Darlington and Stockton Borough Councils in the North East of England. Stockton Council has confirmed it saves a massive £680,000 a year by sharing some of its HR, IT and finance back office functions with its neighbouring authority.

Every million pounds the public sector can save equates to around 35 jobs – and John says that alone makes considering this approach worthwhile.

Too good to be true?

“It sounds too good to be true which can be a problem. The fact is that most councils don’t know what to do with their existing properties. We work with them to get best value out of their portfolio and get their running costs down.  Instead of having a knee-jerk reaction we want people to understand how this works, to think seriously about it and to consider the benefits.

“Over the last 20 years many organisations have grown organically and we need to stop the corporate sprawl. They now find themselves overblown and in a form they wouldn’t have chosen if starting afresh.

“In good times they may chose to live with these inefficiencies but tough times have brought a need for clear thinking. As always, this presents opportunities for those who are open-minded and can decide what shape they need to be in for the future. The result will be a happier, more efficient workforce, an improved service for the customer and an organisation model which is sustainable for the next 20 years.”

A working example

Lingfield Point, Darlington, is already home to a cluster of public sector organisations including Student Loans Company, NHS, Darlington Borough Council and NAAFI.

This has allowed the creation of a ‘shared services’ centre providing these organisations with critical support without the crippling cost. They have also facilitated the creation of Xentrall, a joint venture between Darlington and Stockton Borough Councils providing IT services to both.

“Many of our public sector customers have the same needs. We can often provide shared facilities to satisfy these without burdening an individual organisation with the cost. This results in people needing less space and less duplication of meeting rooms, break out space etc.”

The model works effectively and efficiently

Graham Black, of Catalyst said: “We take care of everything from assessing the portfolio, to creating a full business case, handling change management and consolidating staffing needs.

“Because we are offering long term leases we are able to offer a long rent free period – perhaps up to five years. That frees cash to allow the customer to move and for the fit out of the building.

“They could then sell their property assets should they wish to – but even without doing that – because the buildings they move into are sustainable and cost effective – they make massive efficiency savings into the millions anyway,” said Graham.

For further details log on to www.oneplaceuk.com or www.marchday.com

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Categories: General

Budget makes Green Investment Bank even more appealing for the North East »

John Orchard; “I really welcome George Osborne’s commitment to the Green Investment Bank, with an additional £2BN funding outlined in the Budget. There’s now even more reason for the North East to make a robust argument for it to be headquartered in the region. The North East is not only a hot bed of green technology, innovation and manufacturing, but has the most to gain from this level of investment.

“A recent trip to Malmo in Sweden has demonstrated to me that the skills and facilities in the North East are perfectly placed to capitalise on the growth of the green technology industry. In Sweden they are using their ship building facilities to build wind turbines. This is a fantastic opportunity for the North East to do the same. Skills and Facilities abound; all that’s missing is the money that the Green Investment Bank will bring.”

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Categories: General

Marchday launch ‘OneplaceUK’! »

We’re really excited to announce the launch of ‘One Place UK’, a new partnership between Marchday, Glasgow based work place gurus 3FOLD and process specialists Catalyst Consult to deliver a complete cost saving package for public sector organisations.

Members of the partnership have already delivered huge savings to Glasgow City Council where a mixture of remodelled delivery methods, efficient work patterns and a unique workplace concept have resulted in savings of over £18m a year.

Jack Robertson of 3FOLD, the designers behind the Glasgow restructuring, claims there are huge efficiencies to be made in most towns if only the councils know where to look:

“We find that councils are often housed in outdated buildings which don’t allow the people to work efficiently. Once you start with a clean sheet and look afresh at service delivery with proper use of the latest technology and ‘agile’ working patterns the efficiencies are quite staggering. Such widespread changes require bold thinking from the start – it won’t work if you just tinker around the edges. You need to follow through into each area of the business and see it through to its logical conclusion – and that can be scary stuff.”

Marchday bring a wealth of innovative property asset management skills to the partnership with their proven track record of  adding value to challenging property stock. Marchday’s Lingfield Point, Darlington is already home to a cluster of public sector organisations including Student Loans Company, NHS, Darlington Borough Council and NAAFI. It has become a true ‘shared services’ centre providing these organisations with critical support without the crippling cost. Lingfield Point is also home to Xentrall, a joint venture between Darlington and Stockton Borough Councils providing IT services to both. John Orchard explains;

“Many of our public sector customers have the same needs. We can often provide shared facilities to satisfy these without burdening an individual organisation with the cost. This results in people needing less space and less duplication of meeting rooms, break out space etc. We developed a whole suite of bespoke services in line with our customers’ specialist needs.”

So how has the idea been received in public sector circles? Such wide ranging reforms are always going to be met with scepticism despite proven successes. John continues;

“It sounds too good to be true which can be a problem. We are in a unique position to help Councils make huge savings. If they team up with other similar organizations the saving go through the roof. The fact is that most councils don’t know what to do with their existing properties. We work with them to get best value out of their portfolio and get their running costs down. Instead of having a knee-jerk reaction we want people to understand how this works, to think seriously about it and to consider the benefits. In addition to huge savings the result will be a happier, more efficient workforce, an improved service for the customer and an organisation model which is sustainable for the next 20 years.”

Graham Black, of Catalyst Consult, designers of the Glasgow delivery processes and systems adds;

“We take care of everything from assessing the portfolio, to creating a full business case, handling change management and consolidating staffing needs. We are often able to offer a long rent free period. That frees cash to allow the customer to move and for the fit out of the building. They could then sell their property assets should they wish to – but even without doing that – because the buildings they move into are sustainable and cost effective – they make massive efficiency savings.” said Graham.

We are currently in discussion with other organisations. For more information visit www.oneplaceuk.com.

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Categories: General

Support for Green Investment Bank gathers pace »

We’re glad to hear that the Government is to push ahead with its much anticipated Green Investment Bank (GIB) under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Even so it could be two years before it is up and running – causing a delay in the financing of the vital renewable energy sector – which seems shortsighted in these straitened times.

Marchday/Lingfield Point is right behind the ethos of the GIB and the role it could play in creating a low carbon economy for the UK and indeed leading the world in the field of sustainability.

Award-winning office space at Lingfield Point

We believe the case for basing the administrative HQ of the GIB in the North East (and at Lingfield Point in particular) is very compelling for several reasons – not least to balance out the loss of public sector jobs in the region.

The North East is clearly emerging as a frontrunner in the renewable energy sector and close links to the GIB would be invaluable. We would also like to see the GIB practise what it preaches by locating to the type of sustainable recycled buildings we have here.

The GIB is an organisation that will be starting from scratch and that will also need to hit the ground running. So unlike many public sector organisations of today, which are trapped in dusty inefficient town halls and old buildings, the GIB would have the opportunity to get it right from the start – by plugging straight in to the fantastic facilities we have ready to go.

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Categories: General

Rallying call to reinstate commercial property rates relief »

Marchday, owners of Lingfield Point,  fully support the RICS’s position calling for empty commercial property rate relief to be reinstated.

Since buying Lingfield Point, 11 years ago, we’ve spent many millions of pounds creating award winning offices from disused factory buildings. However, the scope to create more speculative recycled office space has been greatly impacted by the withdrawal of empty business rates relief on industrial properties.

Meadow - 47,000sqft of great office space - ready to go

With the ongoing demise of manufacturing in the UK, there are, including on our site at Lingfield Point, a large number of empty warehouses. Unlike retail properties and, to an extent, office accommodation, warehouses have a finite life. Some of our warehouse buildings are approaching the end of their useful economic life.

We cannot convert all these into offices because there isn’t sufficient demand.

Like most of the property industry, we were astounded when the previous Government took away the Business Rates relief for industrial properties. From not paying rates on empty industrial space, we now face paying full rates on properties vacant for more than 6 months. This has added almost £1m a year onto our costs.

This in turn is preventing us from regenerating other properties.

The reason the then Government gave for introducing this tax was to encourage companies to bring back into use properties left redundant. In this climate, why would a company spend money on speculative conversion, (which the banks will not lend on, and for which there is probably little demand) so that they can pay even higher rates for having them empty?

In the boom years, property companies, like most other sectors, did reasonably well. With increasing property prices, the property sector has been an easy target for  Government in terms of raising extra tax revenues to help fund its spending programme. Firstly, it raised the stamp duty level from a maximum of 1% to 4%. Now we have the loss of relief on empty properties.

The Coalition Government must reverse this unjustifiable tax.

We as a company do not mind paying Corporation Tax as it means we’ve been successful but we deplore having to pay taxes which are totally unfair and counterproductive.

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  •   saraatlingfield replied “

    RT @lingfieldpoint: #lingfieldpoint Rallying call to reinstate commercial property rates relief http://www.lingfieldpoint.co.uk/rallying…

    ”     1 year ago
  •   John Fernihough replied “

    Its rubbish! Totally unfair tax

    What is the position if the building is demolished?

    ”     10 months ago

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Categories: General

Providing a public service! »

Communities Secretary and Conservative MP Eric Pickles has thrown his hat in the ring and agreed with the ‘Leaner and Greener’ Report that says local authorities should manage their estates better by moving from dusty old town halls and expensive-to-run buildings to more cost-effective sites to save jobs and cash.

 Great to hear – because Lingfield Point is bursting with the potential to become a hub for shared services for the public sector – and that’s something we’re already working towards. Our buildings are ready to go and are uniquely well-suited to exactly the type of ‘agile working’ the report describes.

 Mr Pickles said: “Every council could save millions by managing their properties better; using money to protect frontline services or keep council tax down.”

 We’ve already launched a call to move the House of Commons to Darlington. And we’ll now be writing to Eric Pickles and to Matthew Hancock MP who chaired the inquiry that led to the report to see if they’ll back our cheeky campaign!

 After all, the Government itself could make massive savings on the cost of running the establishment by moving out of the House of Commons – and ‘clustering’ here! We’ve also invited them for a tour of Lingfield Point so they can see for themselves how the idea already works in practice.

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Shut town halls . . ? Why not mirror report advice and move the Houses of Parliament? »

A REPORT launched today by MP Matthew Hancock advises that local authorities should move to greener more sustainable office space to save cash – and public sector jobs. But does the report go far enough?

John Orchard at Houses of Parliament

It costs a staggering £208,000,000 a year to run the House of Commons alone – so by relocating the functions of the Palace of Westminster thousands of jobs could be saved.

Property company Marchday says that by closing the doors and relocating, the Government could make massive savings on the cost of running the establishment as well as providing a greener alternative.

Today’s report “Leaner and greener: Delivering effective estate management” is the result of research by the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum, and Marchday agrees with it findings (* see Editor’s notes) – but wants the Government to consider taking up its recommendations itself.

Marchday says exactly the same premise applies to Government as to local authorities – and that the functions of the House could easily be accommodated on its huge 107 acre award-winning sustainable development Lingfield Point in Darlington, County Durham.

Now Marchday, (which also owns New Lodge in Windsor and Cavendish Square in Central London) wants to put the House of Commons up for sale on behalf of the people of England.

The £208million for the eight acres of accommodation, operating costs and security does not include MPs salaries or administration costs.

Marchday wants MPs to be prepared to accept the advice of MP Iain Duncan Smith and move to follow the jobs.

John Orchard, of Marchday said: “The Palace of Westminster functions as a giant office space with meeting rooms and chambers.

“It is very costly to run and maintain. Obviously there are cheaper places to be based – for example Lingfield Point – which is an award-winning sustainable business park that offers everything needed to run the country efficiently and cost effectively.

“Despite the fact that Government has commissioned two reports into devolving civil service jobs to the regions very little changed as a result. (The Lyons Report and the Smith Review, the Lyons Report alone cost £2.22m)

“News reports make it clear how hard some of the poorest areas of England will be hit by the planned spending cuts and this is a great opportunity to resurrect this idea.

“The Government is asking everybody else to face the harsh realities that cuts will bring – it needs to take a top-down lead by example approach.

“Office space at Lingfield Point is available at £10 per sq ft compared to the average of £35 per sq ft in London. The North East has a work-ready army of skilled people and logistical and transport links to Europe that are the best in England.

“This isn’t about making political points – it is a moral issue – we want the people in charge to think about the human cost of the proposals on the table and how easily some of the effects could be mitigated,” said Mr Orchard.

Savings would be ongoing and long term and include benefits such as reducing environmental impact, reducing sickness, the fact that running and maintaining new  facilities is cheaper and  the fact that people work better in clean fresh and well-designed buildings.

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