London Thames Gateway's got telent
telent plc www.telent.com has over 40 years' experience of providing integrated communication systems and services in the telecommunications, utilities and transportation markets, including metro, rail, and road.
telent project manage the installation, maintenance, consultation, system design, asset & network management and support of communications services to organisations in the UK and Germany. The organisation has over 2,000 staff based across the UK and Europe, with its UK headquarters soon to be located in Warwick. Although telent is supported by a nationwide technical team, reaching customer sites quickly is of paramount importance.
Having been awarded a major new contract, the company needed to re-assess its property requirements in line with meeting its customer's needs and maintaining a high quality of service.
Gateway to London's role
telent first approached Gateway to London for advice in June 2005, after winning a major new contract to provide communications networks to Tube Lines, one of the London Underground's public private partnerships. The company initially required a combined office and storage facility close to the Jubilee Line, in order that their field staff could be close at hand to service the contract.
The 13 year, �150-million contract covers upgrading and maintaining the communications infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines of the London Underground. The deal covers a number of communications systems, including station communication, supervisory control and data acquisition, as well as CCTV and security systems, public address systems, customer help points, visual information displays, and software for managing lifts and ventilation systems.
Gateway to London worked closely with the senior management team to fully assess the property requirements, and identify all suitable premises. A headquarters and a technical services operation in the London Docklands was proposed to consolidate a number of operations from across the UK, bringing departments together and driving down the costs associated with maintaining a number of sites.
telent needed a site with excellent transport links and space for further expansion, whilst reducing property related risk as much as possible. They also needed a flexible lease option which would enable them to either plant firmer roots, or relocate, depending on what future market conditions dictated.
Gateway to London was able to advise on all suitable available properties and through excellent contacts with local estate agents, was also able to make telent aware of properties that were likely to come onto the market. After identifying Three Harbour Exchange, one of the area's most prestigious office locations, as a possibility for their new headquarters, Gateway to London organised several bespoke tours of the area so that the senior management and property teams could assess the premises and its wider location.
The new offices offered everything telent were looking for, including cost effectiveness, and negotiations began. Gateway to London was available at all stages of the negotiation to help telent secure the 16,000 sq ft office space, and were also able to brief the management team on development activity across the London Thames Gateway area, including the London 2012 Olympics. The deal for Three Harbour Exchange was finally secured in October 2006 and telent refitted the space to a very high standard before moving in.
Around this time, Gateway to London was also advising on a second property requirement to relocate the company's engineer service operation from their Stratford site. telent's highly skilled communications engineers, who provide the on call service when communications problems arise on the London Underground, needed new premises, ideally close to Stratford and its superior transport connections.
Gateway to London identified 6,000 sq ft of light industrial space at Stratford Hub on the edge of the Olympic Park, which fitted the bill. telent have completed the deal on the property and are currently fitting it out to their requirements. The company's former site in Stratford is now on the market, and Gateway to London has taken several other clients on viewings, thereby providing a complete property service.
Outcome
telent has taken two new commercial sites - Three Harbour Exchange and the Stratford Hub site in east London - both of which were identified by Gateway to London, working closely with the telent property team and London property agents.
Providing a flexible service and using their extensive database of local contacts, alongside a considerable experience of local property availability, Gateway to London has been able to help telent to move forward its growth strategy and take advantage of future opportunities in London Thames Gateway, increasing profit and streamlining its business operations.
Approximately 85 employees have relocated from other telent locations, and over 65 new positions have been created as part of the company's growth and cost management plans.
The Company's View
Paul Harris, Head of Operations and Infrastructure, telent plc:
'telent's changing property requirements meant that we needed an effective and discreet property search that could respond to varying situations and ensure that all our needs were met."
"Gateway to London ticked every box in this regard and has been able to find us the ideal sites, providing supplements to our existing HQ and engineering base. Importantly, this also means that we can be close to a number of our key London operations."
