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Recently some of our readers will have had a “We’re Moving” flyer land on their desk and we would like to let you know not just where we have moved to but why we have moved.
Over the past year or so we have investigated the possibility of building a new office for CMCR, leasing the ground floor of a large new build and also moving to our third larger office at Glenbervie Business Centre. All of these options were given serious consideration simply because we had expanded our workforce and therefore needed more space per employee than that provided at our office in Larbert.
However, on many occasions the four directors and the production manager looked around the Larbert office and spied not another person in sight, why?, because all the surveyors were out working on site just where they need to be to help put some money in the coffers.
The next discussion was, do we the directors need to travel to Larbert daily to work in the office when we could all undertake the majority of our work at home with good modern communication links. The surveyors already were totally mobile with the ability and facilities to process away from the base of operations and more and more we had encouraged them to process at home rather than waste time travelling to the office.
The main reason to come to the office was to occasionally pick up additional kit or to exchange the current kit to a more appropriate one for the next job to be undertaken.
We were already operating with a base in a leased property in London from which up to four teams operate, two experienced surveyors are located permanently there with staff supplemented from Larbert when required, this base has been in operation for more than 18 months.
In addition to our London base, two surveyors have their base in Germany, Yes you read it correctly! Germany - they are only an EasyJet flight away, no additional cost than sending someone down to London from Edinburgh. This has worked operationally very well and has also enabled us to be very competitive in the South of England.
We came to the conclusion that far from needing a larger office we decided we really didn’t need one at all. The Head Office function is located with our Finance Director in a purpose built extension to her house.
The four Directors, Production Manager and the Railway/Utilities Manager all have fully equipped offices within their own houses and the staff have been provided with desking and any other equipment they required to enable them to undertake their processing and CAD work at home.
Who said that sounds straightforward – well it is, except as you would expect there are Health and Safety regulations, risk assessments etc., to be carried out at each premises, all work procedures have to be changed, terms and conditions etc., so lots of administration tasks to be gone through before the new system came into operation.
However, all did go smoothly and on 5th January 2009 the Head Office of CMCR Limited became:
4 Langlands, Luncarty, Perthshire, PH1 3EX, Tel/Fax 01738 829 000.
By the end of that week everyone had moved from Larbert to their own homes and the office was handed back to our landlord, having first had a coat of emulsion.
The Business Development Director said that he was fed up with people throughout the UK saying when he met them “where is Larbert anyway?”, at least now everyone will know where Luncarty is! Actually it’s just a few miles outside Perth driving North on the road to Inverness, but you knew that, didn’t you?
We had a few problems with different Broadband systems not liking us using our cmcr.biz email addresses but nothing our Operations Director couldn’t sort out so all is fully operational and it seems that everyone is having little difficulty in adapting to the Home Working ethos.
The major considerations that we have addressed are communications and Quality Assurance of all works undertaken, systems and procedures have been put in place and they appear to be working well.
The main reason for this change in strategy was one of advancing our Company into 21st century methods and not just as you may think to save money, however, during the current economic climate that will be a useful by-product of the new system.
In hindsight we should have done it earlier but you have to go through all the possibilities before discounting them and then moving on to the correct decision.
Directors and Senior Managers meet regularly at Head Office, operations meetings are held at various venues decided by those involved and contact is very frequent through mobile phones and emails. We probably all talk more now than we did when we had the office. Client meetings can be held at the client’s office, at Head Office or at a venue to suit both parties.
We trust that you our clients will benefit from the change and trust that you will report to us any areas of concern should anything seem not to conform with standard requirements, we are aiming to improve the efficiency of the business.
If anyone has any queries about this radical modernisation of our business practices then please email your questions to david.corfield@cmcr.biz
Following CMCR’s involvement in the heighting of Foinaven and Beinn Dearg during 2007, CMCR Limited informed The Munro Society that it would in future have to at least cover its costs in any further expeditions, but not charge a commercial rate for the project.
Efforts were made to obtain sponsorship and external funding by both CMCR and The Munro Society but unfortunately this was unsuccessful this resulted in no measurement of Munro’s during 2008.
You will have probably noticed in the press in September 2008 that two amateur mountaineers equipped with a Leica Geosystems 530 GPS receiver heighted a Welsh Mountain – Mynydd Graig Goch and the resultant height was accepted by the Ordnance Survey.
It has been agreed that John Barnard and Graham Jackson, the two amateur mountaineers, will undertake two heighting exercises for The Munro Society during 2009 and CMCR Limited will act as (unpaid) Professional Advisors to the Project.
CMCR’s Rail and Utilities Manager Jim Melville who masterminded the previous Munro heightings has agreed to undertake this advisory role and will accompany the climbers (work commitments allowing). In this way CMCR will continue its commitment to The Munro Society.
Please continue to look up our website for further information regarding this Project.
CMCR is pleased to announce the addition of Landlines Heritage to its list of partner organisations.
A meeting was held on 12th December 2007 between David Corfield, Business Development Director of CMCR and David Fleetwood, Director of Landlines Heritage to discuss the possible co-operation between the two Companies.
Landlines Heritage is a young Company with progressive ideas based in Edinburgh All products associated with Landlines Heritage start from a base of High Definition Digital Photography. Services supplied include:
Full Site Photographic Record Survey
Rectified Photography
Photographic Material Condition Survey
High Level Photography using a free standing 8m high mast
Publicity/Report Images
Stone by Stone digital imaging and terrestrial photogrammetry
Orthophotography
Landlines Heritage has been established to principally service the Heritage/Archaeological marketplace however; together with CMCR we should be able to service many clients throughout a range of disciplines including Architectural practices.
Provided an object can be photographed and Landlines Heritage has many ways of ensuring that it can, by using innovative ideas for access etc then the object may not only be observed for record purposes but the imagery can also be used for accurate measurement.
If you need a photographic record of site progress throughout construction, require a rectified image of a façade being retained during demolition for record purposes or a stone by stone survey of a façade then Landlines Heritage will provide the solution.
Click here to visit the Landlines Heritage website and view images of outstanding quality.
Why is land surveying a recognised profession in most of the civilized countries of the world but not in the UK?
One of the reasons for this is probably that there has never been a strong enough voice in the market place representing the interest of land surveyors... but is that now changing?
“Since the TSA set up its own Secretariat in 2006 there has been a distinct change in the culture and leadership, the administration and support, but probably most of all in the communication both externally and internally” comments Neil Harvey the TSA President (Chairman/Director – Met Surveys).
CMCR Limited applied for membership of the TSA as soon as the Company was established, the idea being that the association may be of value to a new start Company during its first trading year. The TSA rules however, required that we had to be in business for one year before we could join and so it was on 3rd May 2006 that the TSA undertook an external audit of the Company which resulted in us being informed of our Associate status on 23rd May 2006. We will be eligible for full membership in 2008 on completion of three years trading.
The Directors of CMCR Limited are very pro-active regarding cooperation with other like minded Companies in an effort to offer it’s clients a more comprehensive service than might be available should we operate in isolation. With this open form of management it therefore follows that CMCR should be active in connection with the TSA.
The survey industry is always referred to as a very “incestuous” relationship, no doubt due to the specialization of some of the disciplines resulting from staff and senior people moving around from one Company to another.
With the publication of a regular Newsletter it is clear to see that CMCR Limited is not scared to share certain information with others, in fact it is normally our clients who may suppress any sensitive articles regarding Contracts undertaken.
In an effort to raise the profile of the TSA they have organised receptions at the House of Commons at which Instrument Manufacturers and members of the TSA have had the opportunity to promote the Surveying Disciplines and to meet MP’s to discuss issues related to MP’s constituencies. The last one featured Flood Mapping, an issue on many MP’s minds, this gathering certainly gave an insight into surveying that many MP’s had little knowledge of before they met the TSA.
The TSA is also determined to raise awareness in education establishments from schools, colleges and universities of the need to develop “home grown surveyors”. There has been a big reduction in student places at universities for Topographic Science courses – why? - financial reasons, it is much easier to fill courses studying Sociology and Media Studies where there is mass appeal.
TSA is also aiming to increase the standards within Member Companies by running CCD (Continuous Company Development) courses, the first of which has taken place and concentrated on “Team Building” undertaken by Blue Sky Corporate and Personnel Development. This was not only a very informative day but also a very enjoyable one held at Villa Park the home of Aston Villa Football Club. The course brought to the forefront and very much highlighted the need for good communications and this is what CMCR and the TSA are all about, that is why we have now published our 9th Newsletter in 3 years.
The TSA are also publishing specifications and other useful documents on their website www.tsa-uk.org.uk and hopefully these will be used by Surveying Companies and Client/Consultants in order to standardize requirements and ensure that the product they receive is what was expected. TSA has recently been extended to incorporate the following membership categories:
Full Membership (101)
Associate Membership (3)
Supplier Membership (12)
Academic Membership (1 +1 Pending)
Affiliate Membership (0 +1 Pending)
The main points of contact for TSA on a daily basis are Rory Stanbridge, Secretary General and Rachel Tyrrell, Administration Manager at Northgate Business Centre, 38 Northgate, Newark-on-Trent, Notts, NG24 1EZ. Tel: 01636 642 840
At the end of the day it’s down to all of us to promote the business of surveying to raise its image to a higher level and to provide our clients with a quality product at a fair price and within a reasonable timeframe a policy that is strongly held and achieved by CMCR Limited.
