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FOCUS ON YOU: From left,
Andrew Saunders of business interiors specialist ODT
with YOU’s Jonathan Crutchfield,
Steven Embleton, Nick Buchanan, Anne Kallman, Alex Batt,
Vanessa Steenton and Simon Monk
outside the charity’s new headquarters at Admiral House
in High Street, Fareham
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A charity which helps thousands of vulnerable people in the
south has relocated to new headquarters near Southampton
and Portsmouth.
The three-storey south wing at Admiral House, 43 High Street, in
Fareham was transformed by office refurbishment specialist ODT
Business Interiors in readiness to accommodate 30 staff from the
YOU organisation.
Formerly the Southern Focus Trust, YOU was recently voted one of
the Top 100 companies to work for by The Sunday Times and
focuses on the needs and aspirations of individuals so that they
can achieve and maintain independent lives. It promotes life
skills among services users, such as budgeting,
confidence-building and cooking, and has 450 employees working
at 50 sites, last year touching the lives of 12,000 people in
Hampshire and Dorset.
The new three-storey, 4,000 sq ft-plus headquarters replaces a
split-office site, which was half the size, at Kingston Crescent, North End, Portsmouth.
ODT Business Interiors, led by director Andrew Saunders and based in Fareham,
was awarded the “substantial” five-figure fit-out contract
following a competitive tender.
It is the latest project win for
the company, which has been involved in work for some of the
biggest company names in the South, including drinks giant
Bacardi-Martini near Winchester and Big Four accountancy
Pricewaterhousecoopers at Ocean Village, Southampton.
Project work at Admiral House involved transforming what was an empty
shell over four weeks into a comfortable and welcoming place for
service users and staff alike. Privacy partitions were
installed, along with lighting, decorating, air conditioning,
re-cabling and enhanced disabled access.
Jonathan Crutchfield, YOU’s director of corporate and property services, said:
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“The
fit-out by Andrew’s team was carried out professionally,
on schedule and at a competitive price, creating an
office environment that is smart, functional, welcoming
and reassuring, reflecting our core brand values.
We must make every penny we spend count, making it important to have our central delivery team under one roof,
including finance, ‘people and learning’, business development and our strategic level operational management.
The highly professional fit-out by Andrew’s team represented excellent value for money, transforming
an empty shell into a smart, functional head office, providing a warm, user-friendly welcome and
reflecting our five core values which underpin the YOU brand:
'person centred’,
‘innovation’, ‘excellence’, ‘trustworthy’
and our ‘can-do’ approach to everything we do.
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They delivered on
everything, from start to finish, which meant our
relocation went smoothly.”
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Andrew said: “It’s great to be at the heart of a project to
refurbish the new headquarters of a charity which helps
thousands of vulnerable people every year, and we wish YOU every
continued success going forward.
The contract was one of several we’ve done recently for regional
charities, including Hampshire Autistic Society’s headquarters
at Solent Business Park, Whiteley, and an office for the Guide
Dogs for the Blind Association at Chilworth, Southampton.” Ends
For more information on The YOU Trust, click on to
www.sft.org.uk