After an initial review to identify potential gaps and risks to the programme, GenNorth provided a team to manage the programme, lead the IT workstream and develop the brief / requirements for the Trust. Through a programme of stakeholder engagement sessions, a detailed brief and accommodation schedule was developed for the Trust. This exercise informed aspects of change management requirements and further comms and engagement, to ensure the smooth transition of services into the new hub.

The primary challenge for teams being the shift from desk allocation, to a significantly reduced footprint (apVarions exercises were undertaken to validate service requirements and translated into a space evaluation model to confirm scale and fit. The North & South Hubs were both approximately 3,000 sq ft and designed to provide similar settings and desk positions. The insights shared by each team were used to quantify areas, desk numbers and a variety of supplementary working spaces. The challenge of addressing fears around capacity was resolved by mapping all team preferences for office attendance and frequency of team anchor days across both HUbs.

The settings included were designed to accommodate 99% of all ICB requirements, with the exception of the need for whole business events and conferences where additional facilities would be required, these were to be provided by partners the ICB were co-located with or through additional facilities available on the site for the South Hub.

Various options were developed and the South Hub has now been implemented, and a decision was made to hold back on the North Hub by using a temporary space, whilst the team review occupancy and demand levels before delivering the 3rd Hub.