Overview
With natural segregation in their existing buildings, there was little to no collaboration between teams. This, in addition to a lease end at their Academic House property, inspired the move to The Lantern building. Designed with people in mind and boasting over 50,000 sq. ft. of BREEAM excellent office space, The Lantern was the ideal location for the merging of the two teams. A live performance space plus 17 new state-of-the-art broadcast studios were key features of this highly technical project.
Approach
Our role was to act as Bauer’s internal project manager and primary contact for the external professional team, as well as managing the traditional move and change activities for the relocation. As the project evolved, so did our involvement, with our focus shifting to encompass aspects of the external project management to help keep the project on track.
Managing the move and change
We conducted an initial period of research with all departments to determine essential services, non-negotiable downtime and time-critical research and operation. This led to a move strategy that involved staff move planning and preparation and a communications plan that outlined both the Academic House and the One Golden Square exits. To ensure a smooth change for the staff, we set up and contributed to a new ‘People + Culture’ workstream, developing the new Bauer Workplace Culture Manifesto in conjunction with the Bauer team.
Establishing the look and feel
At the same time as the Lantern House project, Bauer was undertaking a global rebrand to develop a new corporate identity. We worked with the Bauer team to ensure the elements of this rebrand were incorporated into the look and feel of The Lantern. With the introduction of an agile, flexible workspace, one of the key design themes was to develop a digital first approach to branding. Digital screens suspended from brackets around the perimeter were installed which can flexibly display branding or content.
Bauer Media moved into The Lantern fully in April 2024, and the feedback from those involved in the project has been excellent.
