Case Study: Two Roof

Transcript

Charles Stevens, Head of DTI Estates and Projects
The DTI came up with the two roof strategy because it needed to rationalise its estate.

David Morgan, Programme Director - Estate Optimisation Programme
It was a very big culture change because for the first time ever in the department we were breaking the link between the individual and what they perceived to be their desk. 

Charles
So it was a combination of rationalising the estate coming down to two buildings and actually changing the way the department works, so we introduced these sort of team villages, 8-10 desk in, so for every 10 people there were 8 desks, and it was really about getting the business to be more flexible. The reviewers that were on the two roof we found actually to be very experienced.

David
First of all there was the experienced project managers who could help with the processes for running successful projects and secondly there were facilities management and estates people who could bring some technical knowledge as well to the review.

Charles
We hadn't done a big project that was going to cost in excess of £30 million, so it was re-assuring for me that there was someone coming in who had done that before, very much at the planning and the implementation and the delivery, the Gateway teams were with us all the way along.

David
The sort of action lists that the assessors provide you with at the end of each review are quite useful in terms of allowing you to sort of slightly tweak the direction that you go in the program.

Charles
For me the value of independent people coming in is that they actually talk to the people sometimes and find out things that they wouldn't necessarily tell us.

David
The Senior Stakeholders management is always quite tough on these really major strategic programs and I think the independence that Gateway provides allows you to help persuade Senior Stakeholders that things are happening well, they are going in the right direction, and the programs are achieving what they set out to achieve.

Charles
I don't think the Senior Stakeholders would have actually been as comfortable with the program if we haven't had done a Gateway.

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