1. SMART Story
Royal Borough introduces flexible,
agile working using SMART visual
collaboration solutions
Programme’. One of the main aims of
the programme is to create a flexible,
open plan working environment.
In order to achieve this, corridors
and offices have been taken down
and the Council’s staff are able to
work from any desk. A number of
meeting spaces have been located on
each floor, and most of the formal
meeting rooms are un-bookable in
order to encourage a more agile
working environment. In addition,
there are several breakout zones and
collaborative meeting areas where
staff can have more informal meetings
but with easy access to SMART
Technologies’ visual collaboration
solutions delivered by Steljes.
Bridgit conferencing software will
be a facilitator to help us extend
and improve our home working
policy and is an important factor
in the Council achieving the aims
of its Space Programme.
Mike Hollingsworth
Space ICT Project Manager, Royal
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
K
. ensington and Chelsea Town Hall is
an iconic building. Designed by the
famous architect Sir Basil Spence, it
is laid out around a square courtyard
plan and was built to house the
administrative centre of the Royal
Borough of Kensington and
Chelsea Council.
But the building belies the revolution
that is happening within its walls. The
Council has embarked on a 5 year
programme of works called the ‘Space
The Council chose the consultancy
services provided by Steljes to help
decide which technologies would
give them the greatest benefits
for what they wanted to achieve.
The consultancy service starts with
Steljes getting to know how your
organisation and your people work
today, so the company can help you
change the way you work tomorrow.
This approach means Steljes can help
you choose the right technology
and get the maximum return on
investment by focusing on the
areas of productivity that are most
important to you.
Mike Hollingsworth, Space ICT
Project Manager, Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea explains,
“The Council is making a quantum
leap in its use of technology and
we chose Steljes as our consultancy
partner because of their knowledge of
the latest collaboration technologies
and their excellent reputation in
the industry. We will be replacing
dry whiteboards and flipcharts in all
our meeting rooms with the latest
technologies such as SMART Board
interactive whiteboards, SMART
Meeting Pro software and Bridgit
data conferencing software. We
will be creating a more productive,
efficient and collaborative working
environment where people have the
freedom to work with colleagues
anytime, anywhere, as if they were
in the same room.”
SMART interactive whiteboards
combine the simplicity of a
whiteboard with the power of a
computer. Together with SMART
Meeting Pro software, users can
write notes in digital ink over any
document, application or website on
the interactive whiteboard and save
them as a PDF or PPT file.
Marked-up pages, revised documents,
diagrams, notes and comments can
all be captured easily and e-mailed
directly to meeting participants. Users
can also write and save notes directly
into applications such as Microsoft
Word, Excel or PowerPoint, Adobe
Acrobat and AutoCAD.
Used in conjunction with Bridgit
conferencing software, it gives the
Council a cost-effective solution to
connect their SMART interactive
whiteboards to each other or to
remote computers, helping remote
workers to participate in meetings
without having to physically be in the
meeting room. Hollingsworth adds,
“Bridgit conferencing software will
be a facilitator to help us extend and
improve our home working policy
and is an important factor in the
Council achieving the aims of its
Space Programme.”

2. In February 2012, The Space
Programme completed works to
the third floor of Kensington and
Chelsea Town Hall. Delivering the
first fully completed refurbished floor,
and giving over 400 staff, a new
working environment and access to
SMART technologies.
The feedback has been very positive
with the new technology already
making a difference to their way of
working. Their meetings have become
more productive as users are finding
that the technology has enabled a
richer collaborative and knowledgesharing environment.
Hollingsworth continues “Before
we had SMART solutions, time was
wasted writing up minutes of meetings
and then distributing them. Now
meeting notes are captured instantly
and saved digitally for immediate and
easy distribution so everyone has the
most recent notes when they get back
to their computers.”
The installation of SMART visual
collaboration solutions is part of the
overall Space Programme that will see
the Council implement a number of
technological changes including WiFi
connectivity, moving from desktops to
a one laptop per person model, using
the SMART Go Wire auto-launch
cable to connect to the SMART
Boards, and moving from fixed line
telephony to a mobile solution.
Hollingsworth elaborates “The Space
Programme will affect a cultural stepchange for us. We are adapting the
working environment to take a more
innovative and effective approach to
use the space we have.”
The new working environment
will also have a positive impact
on reducing the Council’s carbon
footprint. Zahra Shah, Lead
Communications Officer, explains,
“The Royal Borough of Kensington
and Chelsea wants to stretch itself
as far as it can to reduce CO2 and
save money. The Council’s Green ICT
strategy sets a target to reduce our
carbon emissions by 40% by March
2014 and implementing SMART
collaboration solutions is part of our
plan to achieve this aim. It will help
us to reduce business travel and its
associated costs and deliver energy
savings through more sustainable
working practices.”
“Every day we think of more
innovative ways to use the SMART
Boards and the possibilities are
endless. When we are planning a
change to a floor layout, we use
the recording facility of the SMART
Board to show what areas are open
or closed, what lifts are working etc.
This makes installation much quicker,
easier and more cost effective”
adds Hollingsworth.
The Council, held its first ‘SMART
Week’ in March 2012, dedicating
a full week of activities around
improving awareness and use of

3. the SMART solutions to support the
adoption of this new technology
by employees.
The week included daily drop in
sessions, open to all staff, providing
tips and ideas on getting the best
from the technology and live chat
sessions with SMART UK via Bridgit.
During SMART Week an event was
held using the SMART technology
located in breakout areas, allowing
the Council to promote use of the
space as a shared area, enhanced
by technology that can be used for
multiple events, be they meetings,
talks or presentations.
Videos, case studies and staff
feedback was communicated daily via
the Councils intranet to support the
week-long event, with good feedback
from staff on their experiences of the
technology including;
“I would highly recommend using
SMART Boards. The benefit of
collaborative working when using
SMART Boards have changed the way
I work completely. It saves so much
time and completely changes how a
team can work more effectively.”
Revenues and Benefits team member
“Using Bridgit was great! It was quick
to set up and the reception and clarity
of the call was really good. I think it
would be a useful tool for those who
work from home.”
New Ways of Working project team member
The Council isn’t stopping at
improving how it works. It plans
to extend its new way of working
to accommodate a tri-borough
initiative that will see it sharing
selective services with the City of
Westminster and Hammersmith
and Fulham boroughs.
Hollingsworth concludes “Every
council looks at how it can improve
its services to its public and achieve
a good return on investment in the
money it spends. SMART solutions
are even more relevant in the current
economic climate as they tick all
the boxes – they reduce travel and
associated carbon footprint, reduce
costs and make working practices
more productive.”
Every day we think of more
innovative ways to use the SMART
Boards and the possibilities are
endless. When we are planning
a change to a floor layout, we
use the recording facility of the
SMART Board to show what
areas are open or closed, what
lifts are working etc. This makes
installation much quicker, easier
and more cost effective.
Mike Hollingsworth
Space ICT Project Manager, Royal
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
.
Steljes Ltd
Steljes is a SMART authorised distributor
for SMART Technologies
info@steljes.co.uk
08450 724 800
www.mysmartspaces.co.uk
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