When Polycom needed a new European headquarters its requirements were high tech and specific. Ricky Collier, the company's facilities manager, explains why 270 Bath Road in Slough provided the solution.
With its base in Boston, Massachusetts, Polycom is the world leader in video conferencing. The company develops, manufactures and markets visual and audio "platforms" which enable people to communicate across countries and continents. It dominates its market. And having set up a business in Europe in 1991 with just two people it now employs 200 as video conferencing has become more widely used.
Which is why it outgrew its first building in Slough and spread to a second. But having staff split between two sites was too inconvenient to remain practical for long and a single location to accommodate their specific needs had to be found.
The answer was a brand new building. "We felt that we needed a building that reflected our business. A large open plan, very high tech type of building," says Ms. Collier. "What we chose was 47,000 square feet, on three stories, mainly glass and was designed by Norman Foster".
Polycom was committed to occupying the building even before it was built. SEGRO, its owners, were able to offer the company a package of terms including releasing the company from its lease on its existing property on the Slough Trading Estate and providing a rent-free period on the new one. Throughout the design and build of 270 Bath Road PictureTel and SEGRO worked closely to ensure that the outcome would be exactly suited to its purpose.
"We knew that we wanted half of one of the floors dedicated to a customer area," explains Ricky Collier. "So it was configured into a dozen demonstration rooms where we could show our products. We have a network operating centre with a big glass dividing wall. Upstairs in our services department we have a video wall and all sorts of design features that we wanted built in for us."
For a company whose business is providing the infrastructure to hook up parties from across the globe by real time video links, this sort of equipment is their vital stock in trade.
While Ricky Collier performs the vital role of making sure that the internal infrastructure of the building is working properly, she does not have to do it single-handedly. "SEGRO is there at hand and they are personally involved. The people that I have dealt with are always very knowledgeable. If I have got a question they either know the answer or they can very quickly find out because of their internal systems. They are very responsive and I have just never had any problem with them as estate managers."
She adds that because SEGRO manages its own property, rather than using managing agents, and because it has a strong policy of customer care, once an occupier moves into one of its buildings, they are always on hand to help."
As a result of continuing to be located on the Slough Trading Estate not only were highly skilled staff available locally but it wasn't a major upheaval for existing employees when the move was made. Being close the London's Heathrow is still an important factor. Meanwhile the building at 270 Bath Road remains ideally adapted to Polycom's purposes as the business continues to grow with the spread of its technologies to more and more users worldwide. Having the right location and accommodation to meet their needs was vital to Polycom, as Ricky Collier confirms. Meanwhile behind the scenes SEGRO's customer support team help her with her work in maintaining the right environment for her company to prosper in the fast moving, high technology field where speed and efficiency are the keys to success.