The Client
Severn Trent Water is a part of Severn Trent Plc an international utility services and environmental solutions company. Severn Trent Water serves over eight million customers across the UK, mainly in mid-England in an area stretching from the Bristol Channel to the Humber, and from mid-Wales to the East Midlands.

The Challenge
Even by modern standards, Severn Trent Water operates in a fast moving marketplace. It is subject not only to the usual organisational and market pressures but also a rapidly evolving regulatory framework and internal and external demands for greater corporate social responsibility, most notably with regard to the environment.

The company had felt for some time that it needed to address these demands by examining every aspect of its business. It had come up with clear corporate vision with a series of direct but ambitious objectives. In some areas, investment was an obvious and relatively straightforward way of meeting this vision. In others, things were a little more complex.

One area that had attracted the attention of the firm was its working culture and the use of its buildings. Although there were clear advantages in having a number of buildings from which staff worked, not least because of the need to reflect the geographical spread of the business, it was felt that employees would benefit from a more team based structure and a clearer identity, the firm would benefit from reduced costs, a more environmentally friendly property portfolio and a more cohesive working culture and customers would benefit from a greater focus on their needs.

So the decision was taken to move to a single building that would be the catalyst for the organisational changes that would drive the company forward. And so the idea of the Severn Trent Centre was born.

The Solution
The Severn Trent Centre (STC) in Coventry is a purpose built 1400 workstation building in St John’s Street, Coventry. Logic Office Group had an ongoing relationship with Severn Trent as part of its overall framework agreement. However, it was decided that the firm should bid as part of a competitive process given the importance of STC. Logic was able to secure the project thanks to an impressive proposal and a clear understanding of the client’s needs.

This was a unique job given the needs of the STC. The Project comprised an installation of dedicated workstations for the majority of staff, coupled with the provision to accommodate Severn Trent’s peripatetic staff within the main office areas. Working closely with the client, Logic provided a furniture solution that helped support the accommodation of some 1700 employees at 1400 workstations. Logic provided furniture, meeting room seating, storage tops, screens and other furniture elements for the offices together with the furniture for a range of public spaces including meeting rooms, break-out spaces, collaborative space, Internet Benches as well as the installation of other items to compliment the final solution.

The chosen furniture system was Staverton ZD benching which was selected for its space efficiency, looks and ability to adapt over time. This was an important consideration given the challenge to future proof the building. Severn Trent were particularly impressed by the way Logic was able to modify the products to meet a series of unique demands, not least in terms of cable management. Cat 6 cabling was used extensively throughout the building which meant that the furniture had to be customised in a way to accommodate the technological infrastructure chosen by the client. The elegant bespoke solution means that the servicing is now completely hidden under the workstations, but is flexible enough to be changed over time.

The facilities team at Severn Trent were also impressed with the way Logic worked within the complex logistical framework needed to rationalise the company’s product portfolio and seamlessly move hundreds of people into the new building.

“Logic truly engaged with us to enable the best possible outcome, and continuously worked hard to successfully fulfil all our requirements. They worked in collaboration with us to help make the change happen. We would be happy to use Logic Office Group again in the future”. [Mark Henderson, Supply Chain & Procurement - Severn Trent Water]