24 November 2010

Ordnance Survey staff get packing for move to new building

Ordnance Survey staff have started packing up their computers and are getting ready to move to their new head office at Adanac Park on the outskirts of Southampton.

The first group of office staff are due to move in on Monday 6 December 2010 with a phased move for the rest of the 1000 staff planned throughout December and January.

Building began in April 2009 when Director General and Chief Executive Vanessa Lawrence CB was joined by John Denham MP to ‘break the ground’. Eighteen months later, Kier Property handed over the keys to Ordnance Survey, and work has been on-going since to make it ready for staff to move in.

The organisation is moving from its Romsey Road site since the building no longer meets its needs. It was designed and built in the 1960s for 4000 staff at a time when maps were still hand drawn and is now very expensive to maintain.

Jan Hutchinson, Director of HR and Corporate Services at Ordnance Survey says: “Today we are a 21^st century digital business and the changes in technology over the past 40 years, mean we now employ far fewer people than we did in 1969. Our new building has been designed specifically to meet the needs of modern map making and it’s very exciting to now be finally moving in.”

The building has been awarded BREEAM ‘Excellent’, meaning that it is one of the most energy efficient office buildings in the country. The building uses the very latest environmentally sustainable technologies to maximise natural resources and minimise carbon emissions. These include a ground source heat pump system that will heat and cool the building, and the ability to harvest and reuse up to 100,000 litres of rainwater.

The £40 million building was completed on schedule and on budget by Kier Property who are now taking on the Romsey Road site with the aim of redeveloping it with a mix of residential and commercial properties.

More information is available in our Media Pack (28 Mb PDF) and images can be downloaded from our Flickr photostream.

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Head of Corporate Communications - Rob Andrews

Email: rob.andrews@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Phone: (+44) 023 8005 5563

Senior Communications & PR Officer - Paul Beauchamp

Email: paul.beauchamp@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Phone: (+44) 023 8005 5564

Press Office fax: (+44) 023 8005 6156