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, John Orchard, Lingfield Point | Tagged Art, budget, comprehensivespendingreview, dx2, greeninvestmentbank, oneplaceuk, publicart, sharedservices, valueformoney |
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.
Jack Robertson of 3FOLD 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“We find that councils are often housed in outdated buildings which don’t allow the people to work efficiently.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.”
We are currently in discussion with other organisations.
| Also posted in General, John Orchard, Lingfield Point | Tagged Art, comprehensivespendingreview, costsaving, dx2, Regeneration, restructuring, sharedservices, sustainability, valueformoney |
The sixth annual best of Darlington awards were held at Darlington College last Friday night. This fantastic event had a lot to live up to after last years’ world Champion Cyclist, Steve Davis, who won the converted Citizen of the Year for 2010 and so it did!
Gordon Pybus and Antonia Puccio picked up the top awards of citizen and young citizen of the year respectively, along with 13 other category winners.
John Orchard commented; ” As the founder and long-standing chairman of Darlington Association on Disability, Mr Pybus is a very worthy winner of the top prize at this years awards. He also won the adult contribution to the community category”.
He went on to say; “I had a tear in my eye when I heard the story of the young citizen of the year, Antonia Puccio, who bravery and the will to win against all odds is surely an inspiration to us all”.
The business contribution award went to Mech-Tool and the contribution to the environment to pupils at Corporation Road Primary School. Rockliffe Hall the stunning country house hotel and spa, won the “Putting Darlington on the Map award”, and photographer Tracy Kidd won the “Oh My Darlington” photographic competition, sponsored once again by Marchday.
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 are right behind the ethos of the GIB and the role it could play in creating a low carbon economy for the UK but why the hold up? Surely we need it now.
We believe the case for basing 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 already home to groundbreaking manufacture of low carbon technologies and close links to the GIB would be invaluable. We would also like to see the GIB put its (green) money where its mouth is and base itself in the type of award winning recycled buildings we have at Lingfield Point.
The GIB will need to hit the ground running. At Lingfield Point we have developed the perfect environment for public sector organisations and have established a successful cluster including Student Loans Company, NHS, NAAFI and Capita. We have developed critical support services which have allowed these organisations to thrive. At Lingfield Point we can provide a low cost, low carbon home for the GIB and we can provide it fast! We’ll keep shouting about it; let’s hope Mr Clegg is listening.
