Case Study - the Met office (2001-2004)

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MET OFFICE GROUP MOVE FROM BRACKNELL TO EXETER

The Met Office has been the world's leading weather forecaster for 150 years, but no-one could have predicted the nature of its biggest logistical challenge - the wholesale relocation from its Bracknell headquarters to Exeter. Crucially The Met Office works around the clock 24 hours a day, seven days a week - providing vital meteorological and environmental services to customers at home and abroad. So throughout the entire relocation, it had to be business as usual for our national meteorological service which provides critical weather forecasts for the Ministry of Defence and the Civil Aviation Authority. Dubbed Europe's most complex IT move, it was certainly a tall order for Graham Cooper, who headed the relocation project. He said: "People ask me how did it go? We moved on budget, on time, maintained business continuity and 82 per cent of our staff transferred to Exeter. Do you have any questions? I think that is what I say. It was an enormously successful relocation." And the learning potential for other government departments is huge especially in the wake of Sir Michael Lyons' recent recommendations for a mass exodus of civil servants from London.

Indeed, the Met Office's experience could prove critical to those gearing up to relocate later this year. Sir Michael Lyons' Independent Review into the relocation of public servants out of London and the South East was published in March and recommended that 20,000 posts were to be dispersed in the first wave with a further 40,000 to be moved in the medium term. Thousands will be faced with upheaval like never before, but critics say The Met Office's experience was unique for a number of factors. Firstly, employees had already signed contracts complete with mobility clauses, secondly the department enjoys trading fund status (meaning it operates on a business footing) and finally the board decided to move as opposed to being earmarked by Lyons. Nevertheless, as one of the most recent examples of a major relocation, much can still be learned from The Met Office's big move.

So what was the most important lesson learned? A tight timetable was paramount, according to Graham Cooper. In January 2000, he presented the business case for relocation to his boar a watertight argument for moving the 40-year-old headquarters which was home to half The Met Office's 2,000-strong workforce. Once accepted, work in earnest began to find a new nerve centre for the £155 million business. A list of 1,100 sites was quickly filtered to 220 before being whittled down to 12. By October that year Exeter was confirmed as the location and by November 2001 having decided on a Public Private Partnership with Stratus construction on the new site was kicked off with a turf-cutting ceremony. A wealth of information and advisory packages for staff followed such as reconnaissance visits to Exeter to check out the city, its houses, health and schools, with reciprocal visits of key agencies to the Bracknell headquarters. Finally, by the end of March this year the project was complete with 1,000 staff relocated in a three-year process which at times had employed 34 relocation team members.

Graham Cooper believes a watertight deadline was just one of the secrets to The Met Office's succes and a lesson for all departments facing relocation. Clear communication on all levels was equally important to The Met Office and could be for others set to move. Other rules which would, Mr Cooper believes, also apply to any good relocation, include:

• Prioritising relocation. The Met Office's relocation was prioritised from the very top downwards. "Our chief executive said at the start that relocation was his most important project, our priority after our customers of course." Establishing a strict criteria for the new site. In The Met Office's case the site needed to be about 22 acres and already have planning permission or be able to obtain planning permission quickly this helped narrow the options.
• Creating as strict a criteria for employees' family lives; affordable housing, good schools, transport, health etc. need to be prioritised.
• Forging excellent working relationships with regional authorities Exeter City Council and Devon County Council were pioneered at the very start of the process and involved The Met Office's new home city at the outset.
• Making excellent working relationships with partners. We decided to use a PPP (not PFI) to find our location and construct the building, move the staff and maintain the building for us for the next 15 years giving them a vested interest in building the right sort of building to schedule if they were going to maintain it for the next 15 years and be responsible for the initial moving of people.?
• Establishing and maintaining excellent communications with employees from the outset newsletters, workshops in Bracknell on Exeter's houses, schools, health etc, 'recces' to Exeter

If some of the lessons are universal to other civil service departments facing relocation, so too are the advantages. Graham Cooper said The Met Office's relocation was primarily an opportunity for improvement both professionally for The Met Office and personally for staff. It was a chance to improve 40-year-old infrastructure and integrate the ten sites in Bracknell into one purpose-built, environmentally-friendly campus. It gave staff the chance to reassess their careers and by choosing whether to relocate were able to reaffirm (or not) their positions in the Met Office. On a more personal level it had the same effect - the projected move away from Bracknell was also a catalyst for personal relationships and resulted in a number of marriage proposals. Secondly, it was also a chance to attract top-level recruits from a university town without getting hijacked by competition from the M4 corridor employers.

Apart from the macro lessons and advantages gleaned from The Met Office, those wanting to weather the forthcoming relocation storm as successfully should at least look at the following, more specific dos and don'ts.

• Do try and stick to a three-year period deadline, longer makes it difficult to plan ahead.
• Don't move into a construction site, some of our staff moved in and it worked and was fine, but I wouldn't recommend it.
• Do be honest about what you can't do.
• Do think communication, communication, communication.
• Do identify and manage the risks and mitigate for them.
• Don't bother updating your IT The Met Office didn't.We felt IT is updated when it needs to be and its easier to transfer what you know than have the headache of installing a brand new system. Leave it to updating it when you normally would.
• Do get rid of rubbish in the move, have a good clear out. You don't want to move loads of rubbish into a new site.
• Do remember families are key, open a dialogue with them as soon as you can.
• Do remember Trade Unions and open a dialogue with them.

TEAM supported the Met Office throughout its group move, by providing the following services:

• Producing detailed budget estimates for the costs of relocating Met Office employees .
• Tracking all costs and producing tax/NIC reports.
• Seconding two relocation consultants to the Relocation Advice Centre in Bracknell.
• Creating a special website for employees and their families.
• Providing a Guaranteed Sale Price Scheme (enabling employees to move to Exeter as 'cash-buyers').
• Co-ordinating the work of key service providers (e.g. Solicitors, Surveyors, Estate Agents, Movers etc) and negotiating price discounts.
• Providing information and specialist advice whenever required.

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