Cover Feature

Bruntwood Works

A feature interview with Kelly McNair, communities manager, and Tony Reed, head of commercial at Bruntwood Works in Liverpool.

How have your business relationships changed to become more supportive and collaborative?

Tony: From the very outset, we made a concerted effort to speak to every single customer to understand how their business was likely to be impacted and that allowed us to offer tailored support to those businesses who needed it. Every customer now has their own account manager who they can turn to at any time.

We have a large SME community in Liverpool, including lots of smaller independents, many of whom needed our support. We’ve helped them to access grant funding or lobby for financial assistance from the government that wasn’t immediately available. We’ve been happy to guide them during this time and pass those learnings on to support other customers.

It was also important to keep buildings open for those businesses who needed them and to be flexible in our decisions while implementing Covid regulations in an evolving situation. Properties such as Burlington House, a hub for health and wellbeing organisations, needed to operate as normally as possible for high levels of occupancy.

Kelly: Bruntwood Works has also created Spark, a business support programme to support our customers both professionally and personally. This ongoing programme involves webinars, one-to-one advisor sessions and curated introductions for our customers and the wider community.

We’ve created an approach that is bespoke to our customers. We’re proud to have helped so many customers in so many different ways, especially during a challenging 12 months.

How has your business adapted to provide products and services to customers in a different way?

Kelly: In ‘normal’ times, Bruntwood Works customers enjoy a vibrant community programme including networking events, wellbeing sessions, business seminars and charity fundraisers. We’ve built on

Bruntwood Works

an existing virtual community during lockdown and hosted everything virtually, continuing to connect, inspire and engage our community. We’ve hosted everything from virtual book clubs and cocktail making masterclasses, to connecting our customers to our partners including InnovateHer and An Hour For Others, both based in Liverpool. Tony: We have quickly adapted the entire customer journey to ensure that we’re still able to engage with new customers with minimal contact to ensure we all remain safe and comply with government guidelines. This has included everything from making various practical changes, such as allowing new customers to complete agreements electronically using Docusign, avoiding physical contact and printed documents. We’ve been conducting virtual viewings, using iPads to tour people around buildings from the safety of their home or workplace. Some of these technological solutions may move with us into postpandemic times as they offer greater flexibility and efficiency.

Another development is that we’ve created flexible products to suit the new ways of working. We have simplified all-inclusive deals that allow people to relocate more quickly and introduced OfficeShare which allows our customers to share their workspace with another company.

While some customers have preferred to stay at home, others have been unable to do so, so all our buildings continued to remain open and have been accredited by the British Safety Council as Covid secure - something we’re really proud of.

Pet ownership has increased during lockdown, so to reflect this we’ve now begun allowing dogs into workspaces for the first time - a very popular decision with our canine-friendly customers.

How are you supporting net zero on a strategic level or via practical support?

Kelly: Sustainability has always been central to our approach at Bruntwood Works and the need to act sustainably as a business is becoming increasingly critical.

In 2018, Bruntwood became the first UK property firm to join the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon commitment and our pledge is that by 2030 all areas in our direct control will operate at net zero carbon and all of our new buildings will be net zero in operation with 40% less embodied carbon. We’re working to drive that figure down to zero by 2050.

Bruntwood Works

Tony: Our Pioneer development at The Plaza will be best-in-class in terms of sustainability. It will support active travel with 142 bike spaces, 18 showers and a state-of-the-art wellness studio for fitness classes. We’ll also be using green-tech solutions such as photovoltaic tiles to harness solar power, energy-saving sensors to optimise efficiency and new air quality control systems.

How have you engaged with your staff and/or local communities?

Tony: Internal communication with staff has expanded and responded to the needs of lockdown, with virtual meetings to provide updates on the latest developments and a focus on mental and physical wellbeing. Our companywide challenges have been a big hit with staff, including a step-count competition between different teams.

Kelly: As mentioned earlier, long before the pandemic began, we’d established an online platform for community engagement as we’d recognised that need to connect virtually. We increased our virtual presence by hosting a variety of activities with a particular focus on mental and physical wellbeing. Crucially. through the virtual platform we continued to connect our customers to the wider city through our longstanding charities and partnerships. Members of our team delivered Christmas presents on behalf of An Hour For Others and, together with our customers, we managed to raise approximately £10,000.

How are you addressing issues around physical and mental health and wellbeing, and other staff related issues including the growth in flexible and home working and supporting staff who have caring responsibilities?

Tony: For Bruntwood Works colleagues, we’ve put in place online counselling and support for people who may be struggling and strengthened existing flexible working arrangements to ensure everyone who wanted to access it was able to do so.

Kelly: Staff enjoyed a Friday afternoon social call and chat, as well as peer learning groups that got people talking across the business. We also relaunched our staff wellbeing programme, which includes greater engagement on social media and a bespoke cycle-to-work scheme with Evans Cycles.

We’re currently working alongside local authorities and healthcare providers to improve the offering to employees across the region regarding fitness, sports and wellbeing. This aligns with Liverpool Chamber’s strategy to support the wellbeing of people and businesses and we’re excited to begin working even more closely together when it moves into Cotton Exchange.

Why is “green space” important?

Tony: There is nothing like being outdoors - it really helps with both physical and mental wellbeing, as well as creating a space to encourage connection.

Kelly: As we hopefully move away from pandemic times, we will initially take community activity back to outdoor space such as the roof terrace at the Cotton Exchange or in Queen Avenue as part of a phased approach to ensure people’s safety and make them feel comfortable attending.

We also have our very own green space inside Cotton Exchange – a living wall of salad leaves, which is now a very popular lunch ingredient among customers in the building.

Tony: We want the whole city to regain its vibrancy while staying safe, so we’ll be working with groups such as the BID Company to encourage outdoor activity throughout the summer and beyond.

“While some customers have preferred to stay at home, others have been unable to do so, so all our buildings continued to remain open and have been accredited by the British Safety Council as Covid secure - something we’re really proud of.”