'From collection to connection: the Countryside Agency Resource Centre'

Sparknow helped the Countryside Agency examine what it wanted from a new Resource Centre, how its staff worked in it and interacted with the rest of the organisation. It then went on to carry out detailed design of the Centre to fulfil the newly-created ambition of both the staff in it and the Knowledge Management team.

NOTE: All client quotes in italics

Situation

It was a wish to not accept a solution that missed the needs of the organisation that led the Countryside Agency, the statutory body responsible for improving rural England for everyone and the quality of life in it, to ask Sparknow to help design a new Library space as a Resource Centre.

The Countryside Agency, as a part of a major refurbishment of their offices in Cheltenham, wished to move, expand and improve their library facility. With Sparknow, who had helped them develop their Knowledge Management strategy, they saw this as an opportunity to change the culture around this resource. However, they were concerned that proposals received from their architects did little more than transpose the existing layout into the new space, taking little advantage from the opportunities raised by the move, or the general changes happening in people’s expectations of library space and use, in particular by peripatetic staff from other offices frequently equipped with laptops.

Intervention

Sparknow, working with the Countryside Agency's Head of Knowledge Management, reviewed the library's existing ways of working and use of space in the light of the architects' initial proposal. It was recognised that the library staff felt isolated, and that it was going to be helpful to open them to new ways of thinking about their space, and the way that they interacted with the rest of the organisation. They needed to move away from collection and towards connection. Sparknow used its contacts to take the library staff on a study tour, showing them other organisations' library and research centres - from law firms to architects practices. The staff saw different ways that design and working practices could make working with information more efficient and inviting, and opened them up to thinking differently about their space, about new ways of working.

Sparknow then built on this new outlook in the design and facilitation of a workshop to generate design concepts. Included in the workshop, in addition to the Countryside Agency's Library, Knowledge Management, Facilities Management and Records staff, was the existing architect. The aim of the workshop was to bring out ideas, develop a shared understanding of what was needed from the space to support new ways of working, in a way that the architects could make them real.

Initially, they examined the way that they worked within their existing space, interacted with the rest of the organisation, and how they perceived themselves and how they were perceived by others. They were then given hypothetical situations and worked through how they could improve the space around these situations - they developed ideas of flexibility and informality around the space, and drew up plans of their own that could shape the new space. In addition to arriving at new ideas for the space and how it would be used, the Countryside Agency staff found that their perception of their own roles had changed, and started to see the move as something that gave them real potential to improve not only the service they gave to their organisation, but also their standing within it. They came out of the workshop invigorated and brim full of ideas encapsulated in a set of drawings, which were taken by the architects to interpret.

Although the architects then produced plans that were a little more appealing, the future occupiers of the space were so enthused with the potential of the new Resource Centre that they were not prepared to compromise on the plans, so Sparknow designers were asked to produce plans to better interpret the Countryside Agency's aspirations. Three options were sketched out and chosen from, and detailed plans were then drawn up, furniture specified and the plans taken through to construction.

"That's why I was so excited about Spark. I can see this time and time again - it's so easy as an architect if you're doing a space to look at the existing space, look at the existing criteria, maybe ask a few questions, just to see if anything's changed, and there would be maybe be a few minor changes, and then design a new space, but updated with new technology, and maybe mobile furniture so the space feels different - instead of pushing it that much further and saying - well how do you work? Have your ways of working changed as well?” ….because that is the ideal opportunity or time, but a lot of organisations don't think it's worth spending the money"- Project Architect

Impact

The result was a Resource Centre that fitted with the needs of the Countryside Agency and acted as a catalyst for change for the organisation and its approach to library services. Staff recognise with pride the Resource Centre as one that they helped to shape, and the process of shaping the new centre also helped them to shape the way that they work in it. Senior staff from other offices frequently use the centre as a base from which to work, to the extent that local staff will drop in on the chance of a serendipitous meeting. It is seen by the whole Countryside Agency as an example of best practice to the extent that when Agency employees at their re-locating Bristol office were asked how they wanted their new space, they asked for it to be modelled on the Resource Centre, which it was.

"Knowledge Management in the Countryside Agency is truly visible and recognised as more than just words, thanks to Sparknow who helped us develop and deliver a vision for a new type of working environment for CA staff. Through active participation of the key stakeholders, Sparknow led library and other KM staff along with Facilities management to develop a shared vision for a space that reflected our KM Strategy goals, and as a result delivered cultural change amongst the staff that worked in the Resource Centre and those that use it. It was proven to be a real stimulus for change, with many others aspiring to similar working environments and changes in working practices"" Head of Knowledge Management, The Countryside Agency

The Countryside Agency Resource Centre has since been recognised by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals as a benchmark public sector library.