Cumbria
Selected Projects
Related services
Key Contacts
Capita Symonds works closely with Cumbria County Council to provide a complete multi-disciplinary service at a local level throughout Cumbria.
Successes:
• £3.8m cumulative Best Value savings achieved
• 500 seat Regional Business Centre constructed in Carlisle
• 220 new jobs created in first five years
• 30% increase in staffing numbers in area offices
• £3.1m 5-year investment target exceeded
• Over £7m of capital receipts provided for the Council
• 650 new jobs created across Cumbria
Staff: 535 people over 10 offices
Start date: 2001, initially for 7 years, extended until 2011
Overview:
The Capita Group Plc established a strategic partnership agreement with Cumbria County Council to manage, run and develop its Design & Business Services Directorate (DBS).
DBS is a successful trading unit within the authority providing specialist services back to the Council and to over 500 public and private sector clients. The partnership saw hundreds of staff (including over 300 property and infrastructure professionals) transferred to Capita across various professional disciplines including HR and personnel, payroll and pensions and ICT. Those from the property arm of DBS have subsequently formed Capita Symonds' northern operation encompassing a multidisciplinary set of services.
Capita Symonds in Cumbria operates from a network of strategically placed local offices in the North West of England and the East Midlands with a base in Carlisle, enabling it to provide consultancy services to a wide geographical area serving a large and diverse portfolio of clients within both the public and private sectors.
As part of the agreement Capita pledged to establish a landmark business centre in the region to house its new staff and to act as a focus for its operations in the area. This promise became a reality with the official opening in June 2003 of the striking 'Capita Building' at Carlisle's Kingmoor Business Park by Capita Executive Chairman Rod Aldridge OBE and Cumbria County Council Leader Rex Toft, who described the building as "a glowing tribute to how the public and private sector can work together to make real change."
Awards:
- North West Regional Construction Awards: Best Practice Award - Barrow Marina Village
- Cumberland News Countryside Tourism Award 2003: aka Herdie, for outstanding contribution to the tourism industry in the County awarded to Capita Symonds' Hadrian’s wall path team
- BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries) award for Keswick Town Centre Enhancement
- IiP accreditation (Investors in People), Profile Standard, Work Life Balance and Recruitment & Selection
Services provided:
Building Design: Architecture.
Transport & Infrastructure: Traffic and transportation including road safety, Infrastructure highway design, Highways Maintenance, Civil engineering, Transport management, Transport planning, Road safety, Electrical and Mechanical engineering.
Property: Property and estates management, Surveying, Property valuations and acquisition advise, Regeneration and Estates management.
Environment: Environmental design and reclamation, Countryside management, Heritage Management, Geotechnics, Environmental impact assessment.
Technology: Software Development.
Development & Regeneration: Town and country planning, Regeneration.
Management: Project Management
Back-office administration (provided by Capita Group Plc): Payroll and HR, Housing benefits administration, Pensions administration, HR consultancy and health solutions, Customer service, School finance and IT support, Graphic design and print.
Cumbria News
NCE/ACE Major Consultant of the Year 2006
Copyright © The Capita Group Plc 2007