Life after Lockdown: Leanne Guy, Hassell’s health sector leader & principal

“Like most businesses”, says Guy, “we took steps to look after our people, projects, suppliers, contractors, and clients. We have been using technology that was already embedded in our studios across Australia, Asia, the UK and the US to collaborate remotely and from multiple locations to suit our clients and projects.”

“When the current crisis hit, we extended this so more of our people could do this more of the time – and we have seen that it’s working well. We’re keeping projects running smoothly, communicating regularly and maintaining client confidentiality and information security, as always.”

“Over the years I have been fortunate to work for organisations that support flexible working arrangements, so I am very accustomed to home working.  I do miss being in the city and the opportunities to connect with people over coffee, however we have transitioned to technology enabled catch ups surprising well.”

“Clients and the Hassell team have been very positive and accessible which has facilitated a great start to with working with Hassell,” says Guy.

As to what are some positive results of this lockdown working arrangement, Guys says that there have been many positive results including, “the impact on the environment and obviously protecting the health and safety of our people, and everyone else.”

“Feedback from clients has shown we’re able to not only work successfully while project teams aren’t physically located together in the studio or office but actually increase communication in many ways.”

“For example, we’ve been able to increase engagement between the client and the whole project team. Traditionally it isn’t always practical to have the entire team present at all client meetings (perhaps because travel budgets or room size may have been restricted) but now it’s actually easier to open meetings up to the wider team who are working on the project.”

“This allows for even greater sharing of information and ideas and efficiency of information flows. It’s also allowed some of the younger members of our teams to be involved in more elements of the process and as a result increase their opportunities for development, and that is always a good thing,” says Guy.

 

Article originally appeared in Architecture & Design