East of Scotland Water (ESW) is one of three publicly owned Scottish Water Authorities. Headquartered in Edinburgh, ESW supplies water and wastewater services to both residential and commercial customers in East Central Scotland.
Faced with increasing pressure on their workspace, ESW appointed Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) to carry out a review of their accommodation, leading to the development of a strategy to meet their future workspace needs.
The review, which focussed on 8 of ESW's principal offices amounting to 15,600sqm and accommodating 850 staff, entailed:
- Ascertaining the needs of the business (current and future) through a series of interviews with senior managers;
- Carrying out an appraisal of the buildings, the workspace they contained and how it was planned;
- Conducting surveys over a five week period to determine how the work environments were utilised;
- Conducting surveys of ESW's staff to ascertain their views on the effectiveness of the workplaces provided;
- Modelling different business scenarios and assessing the implications for future workspace demand.
An analysis of the results of the review identified the potential for rationalising office space and options for the application of flexible workstyles, which formed the basis upon which an accommodation strategy was developed.
The proposed strategy comprised the following elements:
- Proposals for the for the amount, type and location of workspace ESW would require over the forthcoming 5-10 years, to meet different business scenarios;
- Options for the redevelopment of the headquarters building and its surrounding site;
- The consolidation of two office buildings and the release of others;
- New criteria for allocating workspace;
- The scope and a framework for the introduction of new workstyles; and
- Opportunities for the consolidation of accommodation in line with the progressive adoption of flexible workstyles leading to further building disposal.
Within 12 months of the receipt of the accommodation strategy, ESW had vacated 2 of its buildings and had commenced work on the redevelopment of their headquarters.
