Workplace issues:
· ‘Office of the Future’ principles
· Space planning
· Communication
Application:
· 4 year contract
· All furniture requirements
Project scope:
· 1500 workstations
The Highways Agency is an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport (DfT), and is responsible for operating, maintaining and improving the strategic road network in England, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport. The Highways Agency plays a major role in delivering the Government's Ten Year Plan for Transport. The Agency also plays an international role by building relationships and sharing experience and expertise with other overseas road administrations. This helps promote the value of UK knowledge, expertise and best practice across the world to support UK industry.
Herman Miller, through the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) framework were awarded a contract for four years to supply the Highways Agency with all their new furniture requirements nationwide. The Highways Agency selected Herman Miller from a short-list of six potential suppliers all of whom were OGC approved, however as Andy Brown from the Estates Strategy team at the Agency asserts “Our feeling was that if suppliers were successful with the OGC they would meet the necessary Government standards, but at the end of the day we wanted to test companies on what was important to us and our needs”. Herman Miller met the OGC’s quality criteria, showing a good understanding of their needs, whilst offering a broad portfolio that complimented the Agency’s requirements. In addition, it was felt that Herman Miller would add value and innovation to the project.
In addition to providing furniture solutions to the Highways Agency’s head offices, the Agency also had an immediate requirement to furnish their new Regional Control Centres (RCC’s) for the government’s new initiative called the Highways Agency Traffic Officer Service.
This nationwide service was developed to help ease congestion on England's motorways and strategic road network. The service consists of two complementary parts, on-road Traffic Officers, and staff in RCC’s who direct and co-ordinate regional responses. Traffic Officers work in partnership with the police force, and deal with any non-criminal disruptions relating to the motorway, including, debris, stranded vehicles and minor incidents.
Traffic Officers are supported by seven RCC’s covering England, which are jointly staffed by the police and the Highways Agency. Each RCC is supported by four to five out-stations, together they employ over 1500 staff nationwide.
From an employee perspective the Highways Agency wanted to push forward ‘Office of the Future’ principles, (this included compliance with all legislation, accessibility for all, open-plan layouts to effective space-planning and hot desking/drop-in zones), they saw Herman Miller as best suited to help achieve this goal. The agency wanted to be generous with space, conveying a non-restricting and open environment, which would allow for improved communication between individuals, effective communication being crucial to the role of RCC staff.
The products selected by the Agency included, for seating, the Mirra chair, chosen as the standardised task chair for all staff because of its ergonomic benefits and price point, whilst Caper was specified for meeting room application. AbakEnvironments was chosen as the furniture application for backroom staff, selected because the twin-beam under structure allows for intelligent application, whilst Alvar was picked for the control rooms, due to its height-adjustability, allowing it to be customised to the users needs. The storage solution was Global Storage System, chosen for its versatility. All products were tried and tested by the end-users themselves during the tender process, in a series of usability studies at Herman Miller’s offices in Bath.
One difficult situation that Herman Miller worked hard to overcome, related to control room desks. The resilience required because of the technology engaged, meant that the desk had to be designed to support dynamic computer screens and displays, hosting a wealth of critical information, all needing to be clearly visible at any one time. In turn, this meant that cable management was a big issue that had to be addressed, ensuring that cables were logically positioned with easy access. This illustrated the importance of supporting emerging technologies in design, a key criterion in the Highways Agency’s evaluation table.
Commenting on why Herman Miller was awarded the contract, Aidan McGuffie, Facilities Manager for the RCC Team at the Highways Agency, stated, “ We looked for products that were well designed and of a superior quality. We wanted something that was built for the long-term, not something that would give us constant headaches because we’d compromised quality for cost. If our decision was based solely on the price tag, Herman Miller would not have been selected as there were much cheaper options, but we understand the importance of ergonomics, and providing our staff with the best equipment to get the job completed”. Asked what the biggest selling point was, McGuffie stated “The 12 year warranty on all your products was certainly a big deciding factor for us – as it is far higher than the usual warranty that other furniture manufacturers offer”.
The projects have been delivered in association with Herman Miller dealership Workscape, Aidan commenting, “Both Herman Miller and Workscape have proved helpful and professional in moving this project forward, whilst they have provided consistency throughout, I am very pleased”.
