April 4th, 2011 - Marchday’s ‘OnePlaceUK’ featured in this week’s Estates Gazette!Marchday’s ‘OnePlaceUK’ is featured in today’s EG as part of the Public Sector focus, ‘Changed Partners’ article. The piece, by EG’s Noella Pia Kivlehan illustrates some of the benefits of the OnePlace shared services model to public sector organisations;
We hope you will be reading more about OnePlaceUK and how we’re working with businesses to save them money. Watch this space!
Also posted in General, Lingfield Point, Tim Stephen Tagged Art, comprehensivespendingreview, costsaving, customerservice, Darlington, dx2, publicsectorcuts, sharedservices, sustainability, thecuts, valueformoney +March 28th, 2011 - Marchday go Mad in Malmo!
John and Tim have just returned from an inspirational trip to Malmo in Sweden where they visited some remarkable housing schemes. John explains;
The trip was arranged by David Birkbeck of Design for Homes. We are about to team up with a development partner at Lingfield Point, Darlington and start building the first new homes there. We wanted to see the very best examples of new housing in Europe before the design for phase 1 was finalised.
David showed us some fantastic low energy schemes using district heating systems, solar thermal and PV but we were most interested in the layouts of these new communities. I was inspired by the mixed scale of these developments with small single storey homes alongside apartment buildings. The designers had created intimate spaces between buildings, often incorporating water and reed beds where children can play safely. People take priority over the car in Sweden and the shared surfaces really work.
We’ll be making sure the ideas and lessons learned from the trip are brought back to Lingfield Point to make the new homes there some of the most remarkable in the UK.
March 23rd, 2011 - Budget makes Green Investment Bank perfect for the North East!Marchday 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 us 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.
Also posted in General, Lingfield Point, Tim Stephen Tagged Art, budget, comprehensivespendingreview, dx2, greeninvestmentbank, oneplaceuk, publicart, sharedservices, valueformoney +March 14th, 2011 - 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.
“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.”
We are currently in discussion with other organisations.
Also posted in General, Lingfield Point, Tim Stephen Tagged Art, comprehensivespendingreview, costsaving, dx2, Regeneration, restructuring, sharedservices, sustainability, valueformoney +March 2nd, 2011 - Marchday unveil Graham Gussin’s ‘Someplace Sometime’.
'Someplace Sometime' Graham Gussin 2007.
Marchday are thrilled to unveil the latest Artwork at their Lingfield Point project in Darlington. They have a close connection to the Graham Gussin piece ‘Someplace Sometime’ as Marchday’s John Orchard explains;
“Marchday’s first project in the North East was the successful regeneration of CNE in Middlesbrough. It was also our first experience of commisioning a high profile art piece. We brought in Ron Hasleden to create ‘Rose’ a neon light piece covering the entire 17 storeys of the building. When we sold CNE in 2005 we wanted to make a contribution towards the continued regeneration of a town we’d grown to love. MIMA, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art was being built and we made a donation which enabled MIMA to commission a legacy piece on our behalf. The result of that process was Graham Gussin’s ‘Someplace Sometime’.
Originally designed as a mobile piece it toured around Middlesbrough town centre eventually being exhibited in MIMA itself. We were thrilled to be offered the piece to exhibit at Lingfield Point. The selection of the location at Lingfield Point was carefully considered by both MIMA and the artist; it’s partially hidden and it’s a lovely surprise when you happen on the piece.”
Graham Gussin also commented on the installation, saying:
“The work was initially conceived as a ‘nomadic’ sign for Middlesbrough. I was drawn to the idea of a sign for something which was non-specific in terms of spatial or temporal location. It’s specifically vague.
“It ‘advertises’ an event which can be in the past, present or future. I like the idea of the work being placed in a thoroughfare, a place of passage or transition seems to be ideal for this. Hopefully it changes it’s meaning according to mood and memory.”
Marchday have long been convinced by the power of high quality art to change peoples’ perception of buildings and places. We saw this with ‘Rose’ at CNE and ‘Futurescope’ at Lingfield Point. ‘Someplace Sometime’ is a fantastic addition to our art offer and further establishes Lingfield Point as a place where art happens!
Also posted in General, Lingfield Point, Philosophies Tagged Art, colocation, CSR, customerservice, dx2, grahamgussin, publicart, sharedservices, spendingreview, valueformoney +
