General Updates
Thank you for taking the time to read the Alconbury Weald Newsletter.
Since the last newsletter in July, lots of work has continued at New Shire Hall in preparation for when staff will begin working from the building, in line with the return to buildings process which is outlined below.
All of the collaboration furniture has been delivered and put in place. This will provide staff with different spaces to work, meet or take a break. There are quiet areas for reading and spaces for less informal or workshop style meetings. There are also 16 meeting rooms for more formal and private meetings.
Collaboration furniture; L-R quiet space, 4 person meeting pod, 2 person meeting pod, laptop chairs, meeting table & chairs and highback acoustic meeting sofas.
The furniture for the Multi-Function Room is also in place ready to host Service Committee meetings from mid-September.
The furniture for the tea points, the outside balcony and the outside courtyard is in place and will provide staff with areas to take breaks away from work and their desks.
Kitchen Tea Point
L-R: Balcony and Courtyard
IT equipment is being installed. All desks will have two adjustable mounted monitors, a VOIP phone, a keyboard, a mouse and a docking station.
All meeting rooms will have AV equipment with a wall mounted monitor to support hybrid meetings.
 Desk set up and meeting room AV equipment
Staff journeys and working days
For all teams moving to New Shire Hall, we are asking each Team manager to complete the HR Spreadsheet to confirm each team members’ new journey and the number of days they will be working (on average) at New Shire Hall. Guidance is included in the document. We appreciate the date each team will return is currently unknown due to COVID-19 and therefore please leave the date blank for the time being.
Please ensure that spreadsheets are returned to Olivia.Russell@cambridgeshire.gov.uk by Thursday 30 September.
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Tours of New Shire Hall
Councillors and members of JMT and DMT's visited New Shire Hall at the end of July for a tour of the building. The tour was filmed and the video is now available to view so that those moving to, or those who are interested in, New Shire Hall can see how the building has progressed.
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Storage unpacking
Team storage was transported from Shire Hall, Cambridge to New Shire Hall at the end of July, and staff were invited to come to the building to unpack their storage into their allocated cupboards. Thank you to everyone who came in. This was one of the first opportunities for staff to experience the new building and we had lots of positive feedback. Each team has also been allocated a team locker which has a combination lock, therefore everyone in each team can access their locker and will be able to store items. In addition, day use lockers are available for staff use.
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Electrical equipment
For fire prevention and health and safety purposes Property Compliance have reviewed the use of portable electrical equipment such as small fridges, kettles, and toasters within New Shire Hall. Following the review and as New Shire Hall is an open plan building with two well kitted out kitchen areas that each have a sink, two microwaves, two fridges, a hot water dispenser and ample cupboard space, staff are asked not to bring in any portable equipment.
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New Shire Hall Opening
 Working from New Shire Hall
The opening of New Shire Hall, and therefore when staff can begin working from the building, is subject to the completion and outcome of the ventilation surveys and Covid-19 risk assessments that are being carried out across all of our CCC buildings.
The ventilation survey and Covid-19 risk assessment will determine the capacity that can be in the building at any one time.
Once the ventilation survey and Covid-19 risk assessment has been completed, and a date for staff to start working from New Shire Hall has been approved, a phased return of teams and individuals will be jointly coordinated between Cambs 2020 and the Covid Compliance Group.
Currently the plan is that teams and individuals who have already been agreed to return to work, and who are currently working in temporary locations, will be prioritised to start working from New Shire Hall first.
The numbers of staff in the building will need to be managed, therefore each team will be contacted directly to advise how many of their staff can be in at any one time and teams will need to oversee this themselves.
At present everyone should continue working as they are until they are contacted.
You can find more information on the phased return to buildings process on camweb.
Committee meetings
Service Committee meetings will begin to take place in the Multi-Function Room at New Shire from September onwards, with the first Service Committee meeting taking place on Tuesday 14th September. New Shire Hall will therefore be operational from this date and will welcome members of the public who wish to attend for Service Committees. As mentioned in the item above, staff will not be able to work from the building until the ventilation survey and Covid-19 risk assessment has been completed and you have been contacted and given formal agreement to work from New Shire Hall.
Booking meeting rooms at New Shire Hall
IT are currently working on a new meeting room booking tool which will integrate with the meeting room information panels that are being installed at New Shire Hall and Office 365. As a result, it is not possible to book meeting rooms or collaboration spaces at New Shire Hall until this piece of work is completed. Once the meeting rooms and collaboration spaces are live and ready to be booked, Democratic Services will be given priority access to the Multi-function Room to ensure that Service Committee meetings, Full Council meetings and Citizenship Ceremonies are booked in advance. As soon as the meeting rooms and collaboration spaces are available to book, we will communicate this with the teams who will be based at New Shire Hall. Although, it is important to note that even when the meeting rooms and collaboration spaces are available to book, any use of them will be in line with the phased return to buildings process and staff should only book meetings once their team has been contacted and has formal agreement to work from New Shire Hall.
Desk booking tool
Following feedback and to support the return to buildings process we are implementing a workspace booking system to allow you to book a desk within your team area. This is currently being tested in Scott House and is going well. We hope to be able to roll this out in New Shire Hall once testing has been completed and then roll out to our spoke buildings.
New Shire Hall Travel
Public Bus
In the last newsletter we updated that an additional stop at Milton Park & Ride was being considered. Following the responses to the survey, that was shared with staff to engage and express interest for this, Milton Park & Ride has now been added to the bus service route between Cambridge and Alconbury.
The bus service will be operational from Tuesday 14th September to support people travelling to New Shire Hall. Staff should only be travelling to the building if they have been formally invited to attend a Service Committee meeting or once their team has been contacted and has formal agreement to work from New Shire Hall.
The stops and timings of the bus service are:
- Cambridge North Station (leaving at 7.55am)
- Milton Park & Ride (leaving at 8.05am)
- Bar Hill (leaving at 8.20am)
- New Shire Hall (arriving at 8.45am)
The return journey would carry out this route in reverse and leave New Shire Hall at 5.15pm. More information about the bus service can be found in the FAQ’s.
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Car park booking tool
In the last newsletter we asked for volunteers to test the car park booking tool. Thank you to everyone who volunteered. The car park booking tool is being tested internally and is expected to be ready for wider testing, by those who volunteered, in September. Once the testing is completed and the car park booking tool is available, this will be communicated to staff.
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New Shire Hall Food and Drink
Café at New Shire Hall
The main reception atrium area on the public side of New Shire Hall has space for a café function. We are currently in negotiations with Bohemia (a café/bar/restaurant based in St Neots) who have opened a restaurant in the Watch Tower opposite New Shire Hall, to provide a smaller function of their restaurant from the café space within our building. This will provide staff and Members working from New Shire Hall, as well as visitors to the building, with a place to purchase pre prepared food and hot/cold drinks, alongside vending machines which will offer hot & cold drinks and snacks.
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More Information
For any further information about New Shire Hall please visit the Cambs 2020 camweb page and the FAQ's which have recently been updated.
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