Following a review of its estates strategy, Sport England moved from its main head office at Victoria House in London to new premises on Bloomsbury Street.
The problem
When the lease expired on 1st June 2014 all HQ services had to be seamlessly transitioned to the new HQ location. The relocation affected a number of employees including all senior management and data centre services.
The solution
Having initially engaged Intercity in 2005 for its information security partner for perimeter firewall work and testing of a DR solution, Sport England subsequently selected Intercity in partnership with Virgin Media Business through competitive tender to provide comprehensive support and maintenance services across its critical communications infrastructure. This included their Cisco based LAN and perimeter security hardware, Check Point firewalls, Juniper remote access, and Meru wireless controllers.
With a proven history of working in close partnership, Intercity was instrumental in assisting Sport England in the planning and preparation phases for the relocation of information technology services to the new Bloomsbury Street offices. This involved the design and supply of the new infrastructure requirements and included all aspects of technical and project management professional services to ensure a seamless relocation.
Intercity also provided professional services for upgrades, changes and modifications to network and security infrastructure, as well as project based consultancy which has included firewall maintenance, penetration testing and review of disaster recovery options, and assisting in the roll out of a VOIP solution.Benefits
Sport England identified within the estates strategy review that significant cost savings would be achieved in the long term through the relocation to Bloomsbury Street. These annual cost savings represented an ability to increase investment into sport in England and ultimately provide increased funding into sporting programmes, including youth initiatives, and help develop the future of English sport on an international scale.
Next steps
Intercity and Sport England continue to work in close partnership having ensured the relocation and seamless transition of information technology services in spring of 2014 was a resounding success, measured by its users as they arrived at Bloomsbury Street to carry out their daily responsibilities of investing in sport in England.
