This decision supports the delivery of the Chief Officer’s Transformation Programme which is seeking to address a number of key workforce issues.

The GLA is a very different organisation to the one envisaged when the GLA started life in 2000. The growth in staffing over time is perhaps the most tangible sign of change. This growth has partially been driven by a significant broadening of the GLA’s responsibilities over time. The focus of the organisation has shifted from entirely strategic to a mixture of strategic and delivery roles – the responsibilities for housing delivery added in 2012 and those gained this year with the devolution of adult education skills are two examples of moves into delivery. As the GLA has grown its requirements for facilities and technology have also grown and changes are required to support the current and future workforce.

In looking to support new ways of working, the Transformation Programme is working to a number of underpinning principles:

• A digital workplace of modern systems, products and a culture of paperless working
• Increased collaboration and innovation across the organisation, as teams are equipped to work more effectively together
• Increasing productivity – more time for higher-value tasks
• Flexibility to change and respond swiftly to change
• Inclusive – designed and available to everyone
• Reliability – everything works, wherever you are working
• A focus on evaluation by outcomes and results rather than presenteeism.

The Transformation Programme is organised into three workstreams:

• Talent attraction, management, diversity and inclusion workstream;
• New ways of working workstream; and
• Shared services workstream.

Work is already underway across all the workstreams. The talent attraction, management, diversity and inclusion workstream has already been resourced. The shared services workstream is still in the early, exploratory stage and does not need any further resource at the moment. This paper focusses on the new ways of working workstream where funding is now required to procure the services of a number of specialist external providers.

The workplace consultancy company Advance Workplace Associates Ltd (AWA) undertook initial analysis of the City Hall and Union Street offices in Q4 2018 and Q1 2019, looking to understand not only the utilisation of these offices, but also how the working environment in these spaces supports staff in undertaking their roles. Their findings were that there was a lack of consistency in adopting smart ways of working and a sense of dissatisfaction and inconsistency around the technology strategy.

An improved technology approach which provides staff with standardised kit will enable them to reduce their reliance on paper usage, particularly in meetings because staff will be able to take notes and refer to documents on their surface pros. This will both support the reduction to the GLA’s carbon footprint and is also more secure than having confidential papers printed out. The proposals below seek to address these issues.

In light of the programme of work laid out in this paper, and assuming its successful implementation, we will not have to consider the acquisition of any further leased space beyond our current commitments in City Hall, in Union Street and at the Royal Docks. This had been under consideration and not pursuing this saves considerable cost.

Programme of further analysis of City Hall and Union Street capacity and implementation of early changes

The AWA initial analysis found that there was a sub-optimal use of office space, for example technology not being used effectively, peak and trough desks (desks not being utilised consistently throughout the week), lack of meeting room space and office usage and inefficiencies in the use of the office floorplan. These inefficiencies have largely arisen from the increase to head count as the GLA has additional responsibilities. Their analysis supports the recommendation that it is preferable to work on the introduction of smart working and streamlining the building use as opposed to renting additional space which would be costly and not solve the underlying problems.

Further formal analysis is required of the maximum capacity in City Hall in terms of statutory compliance with air volume, fire strategy and toilet capacity, alongside a capacity audit for our leased space in Union Street. This will ensure that we have a clear view of our capacity limitations and to ensure we continue to comply with all relevant statutory obligations in this regard. Arup were the original designers of the engineering services for the building and therefore, hold all the design information and models on the capacity of City Hall.

We are seeking an exemption from the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code, Part C, paragraph 10 to procure Arup to undertake the work required rather than undertake a procurement process. Arup have previously investigated the statutory capacity limits in 2007. The new specification is to update this in line with current legislation. If another company were to undertake the work, they would have to start the project from first principles including consulting with the original designer, Arup, and therefore, it would take longer and cost more.

To alleviate the capacity issues there is currently a partial hot desk system in place which we have found is not working as effectively as it could. Hot desk allocation is managed by a variety of different administration processes across the offices. These processes, in addition to staff having to spend time trying to find a desk, are not efficient. There are also desks which are occupied but not used for large parts of the day while the occupant is attending meetings. The current systems contribute to the buildings being deemed to be over utilised or underutilised. A system will be installed to signpost staff to the free desks across the building which will manage the desk capacity more efficiently and reduce the time staff spend administering hot desk processes or looking for a desk. Space allocated to Assembly Members and their staff and Mayoral space will not be subject to these proposals.

It has been identified that a procurement process needs to commence now for installation of the desk signposting system in early Autumn. Transport for London (TfL) are trialling desk sensor systems and we will work with them to share learnings as part of this project. It is important to note that the purpose of such a system it is to ease the capacity problems in the office by signposting staff to available desks. The purpose is not to monitor staff in any way.

Workplace requirements have changed considerably since City Hall (and Union Street) were built. The right tools and environment are needed to support smart working, team collaboration and individual working, and changes and updates are needed to upgrade the GLA facilities and office space. A procurement process (as further detailed in paragraph 2.4) is required of professional capacity, internal building works, for example additional meeting spaces and a limited amount of new furniture to put in place the right mix of desk, collaboration and meeting space in City Hall and Union Street.

Package of technology changes and upgrades

The current IT model requires most staff to log into a stationary computer and desk phone located on desks in City Hall and Union Street. This reduces flexibility of working as it means staff have to come into the office to log onto the systems. An important part of smart working is to provide IT equipment for staff to be able work flexibly.

A procurement process (as further detailed in paragraph 2.4) is required to equip staff with the equipment to support the technology changes and upgrades.

After researching the options, the proposal is to upgrade or issue standard ‘kit’ of Microsoft Surface Pro laptops and Apple iPhones for all staff (other than those in posts with no flexibility in terms of hours/location, or with specialist requirements, for example graphic design). There are currently 400 Microsoft Surface Pro laptops already in use and software on these would need upgrading. There are 700 Apple iPhones currently in use. Staff who don’t currently have kit will need to be issued with a laptop and phone. This will enable them to work collaboratively, flexibly and remotely, both within the office, outside of the office and at external meetings.

Surface Pro devices are built around the Windows operating system and require much less effort to enable network services on and these devices are very tightly integrated with Office 365 software. iPhones benefit from the fact that the Apple iOS operating system is consistent across all models of iPhone devices and corporate software such as Outlook will work much more reliably on them.

As part of this IT upgrade the equipment on desks will need to be reconfigured. 30% of desks will still have a desktop on them to enable staff to access the GLA systems when in the office without their laptop for example, or if staff have reasonable adjustments which means they need to work from the office.

All other desks are to have a docking station for Surface Pros and the proposal is for all desks to retain desk phones initially, however the role of Skype in our new arrangements will be considered in more detail.

Along with the roll out of new kit and to support smart working, standard meeting room technology will need to be installed, compatible with Surface Pros, allowing staff and others joining meetings virtually to do so in an effective way. Technology will be trialled in limited locations initially, but eventually these devices need to be provided throughout all current meeting rooms in City Hall and Union Street. The roll-out will be based on prioritisation and will start with replacing the most out-dated/energy inefficient equipment first at City Hall.
Professional support in detailed design and early implementation of this change programme

To successfully roll out a transformation programme it is important to procure specialist knowledge to support the roll out of the technology and facilities project streams. Included as part of this transformation must be change management support to successfully embed the changes. Communications and training need to be planned in to ensure staff understand the changes and why they are happening; the impacts on them and their work life; and have any support or training that they require as part of the changes.

We are seeking an exemption from the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code, Part C, paragraph 10 to procure AWS to undertake the work required rather than undertake a procurement process. They have the expertise to implement the changes that we require, they have knowledge of the organisation because they undertook a recent analysis report (as described in paragraph 1.6) and they will be supporting the GLA to embed their recommendations which was a deliverable from the phase 1 contract. Given the pressures that the GLA has with its building and the lack of capacity, we consider that AWA are the most suitable and that they can help the GLA to deliver its transformation programme.