Project Management

Preparing the organisation

Reps has extensive experience in delivering projects and programmes within the real estate arena.  Successful projects require strong leadership, plan management, governance and control and effective communication. To support the project management process and compliment the in-house team, Reps can build bespoke teams of professional subject matter experts.

Any building fit-out and relocation that is expected to bring substantial change and impact to an organisation requires project preparation from a minimum six-month lead in. Reps works with executive sponsors and facilities managers to solidify the client’s requirements and expectations of its new space. Detailed planning and articulation of client requirements with the host of third parties involved ensures the vision and expectation of the new space can be delivered effectively and efficiently.

Reps project management ensures the client understands all stages of the process and how their organisation will need to be linked into the process. This involvement of the organisation ensures that the functional support teams that will be responsible for supporting the new space feel inclusion, ownership and accountability early in the process.

The process of moving often presents an ideal opportunity to change the way and organisation works. FollowMe Print, Hot Desking and Document Management Systems all increase efficiency and flexibility and help drive down cost. It is also an opportunity to consider investment in an organisations infrastructure such as technology upgrades. To successfully implement new strategies requires careful management by sponsors, structured procurement processes and well planned and consistent communication to the workforce. To prepare employees to be comfortable both in their new (or newly designed) environment will have a material impact on the move experience.

Moving the organisation

Physically moving the organisation, its equipment and staff, without interrupting ‘Business as Usual’, must be undertaken with thorough planning.  Reps embeds a team within the organisation, which is dedicated to the planning effort. This planning effort permeates the entire organisation, from top to bottom and side to side. Making effective use of ‘Move Champions’ – selected individuals in the organisation who provide conduits for information about the new space, the method of the move, and the changes ahead – provide all staff within the organisation a consistent two-way channel of communication for feedback and queries.

Reps seek to work with key operating functions within the organisation, such as Facilities Management and IT to ensure the operational risk factors are considered, thought through and mitigated and prepared for.  Operational risk is inherent when placing a business in transit.

Planning and delivery must cover everything from Business Continuity Planning, user acceptance testing down to the details of updating the business cards. The big delivery items and the inclusion of the finer details is what enables an organisation to be lifted from one location and over a weekend be operational at 9am Monday morning in another.

Settling the organisation

When employees cross the threshold of their new space the final managed process is activated. On day one, support teams are on hand to assist with new infrastructure, distribute welcome packs to provide an on hand reference to the new space, how it all works and the organisation within it.  Whilst the workforce settles Reps will continue to work with the third parties that have delivered the space to ensure an effective hand over to the in-house teams and to address any teething issues that may surface.

When the organisation is confident in the new space the project closure phase will deal with managing Reps out of the business, ensuring it is leaving the organisation fully operational and able to manage independently. Readying the company’s various functions, checking they can operate in the new environment and that it has the requisite skill sets and equipment enables a carefully controlled and managed handover at the end of the move process.