Oxford architecture practice Gray, Baynes & Shew has overhauled its IT infrastructure with a suite of technologies from OGL, to boost business productivity and protect its business while maintaining its position as an award-winning architectural partner. Based at St Thomas House on Becket Street in Oxford, Gray, Baynes & Shew (“GBS”) took advantage of a free network appraisal which uncovered some concerning weaknesses and cyber threats. The firm works across a range of business sectors including education and healthcare to create buildings for learning, healing, resting, playing or for worshiping. It is on Oxford University’s Capital Projects Framework and has completed projects at a number of colleges including Corpus Christi and Lady Margaret Hall. Poor IT is the last thing any business wants, but it’s especially true of architects that use high-intensity CAD software (computer aided design) for their design work, which demands a powerful, well-managed and well-maintained infrastructure. Realising that its incumbent supplier was not proactive or delivering the level of IT service the practice required, GBS asked OGL to conduct a free network appraisal. This audit is used to establish a company’s baseline security and identify where gaps lie, which is how OGL uncovered some concerning weaknesses and cyber threats. The network appraisal examined every one of the firm’s network assets, from physical servers, virtual servers, network-attached storage (NAS), to firewalls, workstations, printers and much more. The result was an extremely detailed and valuable third-party perspective for the firm’s IT team. “I knew our infrastructure needed work following the shift to more home-working during and since the pandemic, but I was shocked to be shown the extent of its weaknesses and gaps. To hear that a relatively simple check by OGL uncovered our login credentials and passwords had been compromised and were on the Dark Web was a huge eye opener,” explains Tony Stewart, IT Project Manager at Gray, Baynes & Shew. GBS appointed OGL as its IT partner after discovering that its legacy IT infrastructure needed an overhaul and recommended a suite of technology products and services that included server configuration, Synology storage and cloud sync, firewall security, anti-virus, SaaS backup, remote monitoring and patch management. The patch management service is now the firm’s first line of defence. It blocks unwanted traffic, whether that’s protection from emails with very large file sizes or executable files which autorun. While Synology storage helps GBS to manage, secure and protect its data. “IT and cyber security is so important these days, it must be resourced and financed accordingly. Tony was realistic about the work needed to get the network to a good, robust place, following years with an IT provider that didn’t appear to be pulling their weight any longer,” concludes Matt Thorneycroft, Business Development Manager at OGL.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has unveiled a new COVID Workplace Champion scheme, which seeks to recognise those who have continually gone above and beyond to keep their colleagues safe during the pandemic. Nominations are being sought to recognise those individuals who have not only made their workplaces safe, but in doing so indirectly protected hundreds of thousands of people and their families. RoSPA, known for its prestigious health and safety awards which impact on the working lives of more than seven million employees, is now seeking to highlight the contributions of those who have used their expertise, passion and unwavering commitment to help limit the transmission of COVID in workplaces.  “We know only too well the huge effort that has been required to keep workplaces functioning over the past 18 months. We also realise that this vital work must continue for the foreseeable future. Importantly, for each and every one of us, there are COVID Workplace Champions out there and this recognition scheme is for them. We simply want to say thank you, and keep up the great work!,” said Errol Taylor, RoSPA’s Chief Executive. “All businesses and organisations, big or small, have people who are working tirelessly to keep us safe – and often do so in the background and with little or no recognition. This is why we want to say to them: we see you; and we want to celebrate you. “Making a nomination is free and anyone from a CEO to a caretaker can be put forward as a COVID Workplace Champion. We would like to see nominations from all sectors, irrespective of whether they are small businesses or large multinationals, from the public or the private sector, it’s time to show our gratitude to the people who are keeping us safe every day.” Through the RoSPA Champion scheme, anyone can nominate a colleague or someone in their professional network, who they think deserves praise for keeping employees COVID safe during the pandemic. It is completely free of charge to nominate someone and RoSPA welcomes submissions from anywhere in the world.  Successful nominees will receive a certificate and will be invited to attend a celebratory event in 2022. 

Award-winning housebuilder, The Hill Group and its joint venture partner Marshall have secured full Reserved Matters planning for the second phase of the landmark Marleigh development, which will deliver a further 421 new mixed-tenure homes alongside a variety of new public spaces in Cambridge. This new phase will run in conjunction with the current phase of the scheme, which aims to deliver 547 new homes and a wealth of community facilities, including a primary school, a nursery, a market square and a community centre over the next five years. “We are delighted to have secured planning for the delivery of more homes and community facilities in this exciting new neighbourhood in East Cambridge, which has attracted a broad mix of buyers already. We have an unwavering commitment to supporting the wider Cambridge local economy, and it has been excellent to see our efforts supported through this latest approval,” said Andy Hill of Hill Marshall LLP. Construction will start on-site to build the homes in early 2022, when a mix of private and affordable apartments and homes will be delivered as part of the long term masterplan. The properties have been designed to feature active frontages and views overlooking open landscaped spaces, helping to improve the indoor-outdoor connection and encourage people to have a better relationship with nature. In addition, every new home will feature a range of energy-saving and carbon reduction features, including fabric first designs, air-source heat pumps and photovoltaics. The master plan for the Cambridge development has been guided by a strong landscape-led narrative and designed as a place where the city meets the country, offering higher density homes with easy access to the Cambridge countryside. As such, Phase 2 seeks to embrace this interplay between urban and landscape living with exceptional green spaces at the heart of the neighbourhood. These spaces encourage healthy lifestyles with a particular emphasis on creating a range of accessible outdoor areas, prioritising pedestrians and cyclists over cars. This will include The Titch, a new garden square that will sit at the heart of the community for easy access by residents. It will provide amenity space, play areas with naturalistic play equipment appropriate to the setting, and SuDS features in landscape corridors to enhance the site’s biodiversity gain. Phase 2 has been underpinned by the vision and essential placemaking principles set out in the Design Code, created for the wider master plan. As a result, the material palette has been carefully chosen to comply with the Design Code and features a diverse range of high-quality brickwork in a range of colours and textures. These materials establish an exciting street scene and integrate with the emerging character that has been developed in Phase 1. Extensive cycle parking provisions have been incorporated for all residents, including the apartment buildings, each with a dedicated secure bike store close to the entrance.