Project background
As a business, UKN Group provide key IT support services 24/7/365, that include – IT Outsourcing, Service Desk, Infrastructure, Network & Applications Monitoring & Management, Service Delivery Management, IT Consultancy, including Cloud Solutions, and Data Analytics.
Expansion led to them outgrowing their existing premises and they required their new facilities to be up and running in a short timescale. “When you are a company that specialises in ensuring business as usual for your own clients, you simply cannot put things on hold just to sort out your own issues”, says Jane Jenkins, UKN Group’s HR, Compliance & Administration Manager.
CID delivered…
UKN Group made the decision to move while remaining in the Basingstoke vicinity, taking on a sole building for itself, over two floors. The decision did not just address its existing space challenges. It also gave it room to expand further in future and afford more breathing space to its teams and incorporate meeting rooms and offices.
“Starting from a previously occupied space on two floors, CID delivered a lighter, airier and more inviting ambience to visiting clients than we’d had in our previous, largely functional, location,” says Jane.
The project involved the creation of two meeting rooms and three Director’s offices on the first floor, with glass partitioning to maintain open vistas and the dispersion of light throughout. A reception area was also created in the style that one would expect to be expressed by an organisation deeply immersed in technology. On the Ground Floor a further meeting room and store room were created and a large open plan space to accommodate the Service Desk together with a separate break out area.
Striking a balance
“The new premises strike the right balance for us,” says Jane. “We often have clients at our offices so there has to be a certain ambience that fits with the world of business, combined with a modern feel that reflects the nature of the IT Support we provide. CID enables us to achieve this.”
Jane says she found the CID team approachable and responsive: “They weren’t ruffled by anything. As problems cropped up during the project they took them in their stride, resolved the issues and carried on making rapid progress. They inspired a lot of confidence.”
Clients love it
“Every client who now sees our new premises for the first time, loves the new look. It says the right things about us. Our staff are far more comfortable, with more space, and feeling that we’ve come home,” says Jane.
Final thoughts?
We asked Jane about her overall impressions of working with CID on the project. “The team started work in November, with a goal that we would be able to move in within the first quarter of the new year. There was a lot to be done, including taking out the partition walls that were already there, preparing the site and then installing our new look and new layout. It was ready for us to move in on March 3rd; very impressive.”
