Yvette Greener, Client Director
We exist to create great places to work for the UK's civil servants. To achieve this we must have a strong commitment to the solutions we design and the services we provide. This is why we are currently reviewing our service offer to create a service and pricing catalogue that works for our clients through being clearer, more consistent and transparent.
Our investment in fixing our client billing also continues with improvements being seen across accuracy, collections and forecasting. But the greatest improvement has been in the timeliness of raising invoices, with a 60 percent improvement in just 12 months. We know there is more to do in this space though and with the award of our new strategic property partner contract with BNP Paribas Real Estate, with a strong emphasis on client satisfaction, we expect to see a real improvement in this area during 22/23.
I am pleased that during 2021/2022 we saw a marked improvement in our client satisfaction scores across nearly all of our clients. Incremental improvements have been seen in each quarter from 3.9 in Q1 to 4.7 in Q2, 5.2 in Q3 and finishing the year at 5.4 out of 10. An increase of 40 percent during the year. But there is more to do.
Our growth and improvements is heavily dependent on the strategic partnerships we build. These partnerships empower us to develop new ways of thinking; to challenge the standards; to ensure we're improving; and to identify efficiencies and innovations. We're proud to have recently signed our first Strategic Partner Charter with Atkins Faithful+Gould and AECOM. The Charter includes the ten principles that underpin our commitment to always delivering better for our clients.
As we continue to strive for 'trusted partner' status with our clients, I thank you all for your continued support and transparency. Across Government, we are all working to create a modern Civil Service and I look forward to continuing this journey together.
In this issue:
- Looking Beyond Carbon Emissions: Net Zero Programme
- Government Workplace Design Guide updated
- New strategic partnership for property and property-related financial services
- OneEstate enabling flexible working across locations and on the go
- Capital Programme progress continues
- Case study: Feethams House IT solution fully operational in just seven months
- 40% improvement in client satisfaction
- Client invoicing improves by more than 60%
- Defining our service commitments to clients
- New TFM contract awarded for two Government Hubs
- GPA appoints new Chief Security Officer
The Government Workplace Design Guide updated to reflect new ways of working
We've updated the Government Workplace Design Guide (the Design Guide) - version 3.0 - to reflect new ways of working.
The Design Guide provides guidance, baseline standards and aspirations for delivering the great places to work needed for a modern Civil Service. It covers all buildings within the Government Hubs and Whitehall Campus Programmes, and the central government office estate. The Design Guide helps customers and others who use the Government estate to understand what different working zones are for and how to get the best from using them.
Five key areas or 'zones' are identified within the Design Guide that facilitate flexible and hybrid working practices - otherwise known as 'smarter working'. The Home Zone is where teams will usually work for longer durations on desk-based daily activities in a traditional style but with flexible activity tables and personal storage. The Collaboration Zone provides flexibility and a wide choice in how and where to work with a variety of work settings ideal for group tasks and activities accessible both in person and virtually. Collaboration Zones are accessible to all customers and clients based in the building. The Do Not Disturb Zones provide space for individual focus work, such as work with complex information or conducting confidential activities, without being distracted or disturbed.
The Business Events Centre provides spaces for people to engage with the public and visitors securely and professionally. These are fully flexible, multi-purpose, serviced areas that are used for meetings, training and conferences. Finally, the Amenity Zone comprises a variety of indirect work-related settings for social interaction and wellbeing.
Clive Anderson, our Capital Projects Director, said: "The creation of major multi-departmental government hubs - beacons of workplace excellence - will provide cutting-edge, innovative working environments across all four nations of the UK. This will help improve productivity and deliver a more diverse and inclusive modern Civil Service that can work in a smarter, more flexible way than ever before. The Government Workplace Design Guide is crucial to this and the provision of such guidance is another part of the GPA's increasing mandate that also includes delivering Places for Growth as part of the Levelling Up Agenda, the property aspects of the Net Zero initiative and the management of more than 700,000 square metres of government office property. We hope that our guidance throughout these workstreams can help foster best practice across both the public and private sectors."
Graeme Bell, our Deputy Director of Design and Engineering, added: "The Government Workplace Design Guide is a visual and technical resource which clearly sets out how to design and deliver truly great places to work. Today's workplace is more flexible and the way people interact with the office is changing. The Design Guide has been updated to reflect this, and will continue to be updated as ways of working continue to evolve."
The Design Guide is supplemented by a range of Technical Annexes :
- Architectural Annex
- Fire Safety Annex
- HM Government Identity Guidelines
- Government Hubs Healthy Building Guide
- Wayfinding & Signage Annex
- Historic Building Annex
- Inclusive Design Standards
- MEP Technical Annex
- Sustainability & Net Zero & Annex
- Physical Security Standards & Guidance
- Furniture, Fittings and Equipment Specification
- Building Information Modelling (BIM)
- Better Building Information Management (B2IM) Policy Guidance
