Lanes teams move into innovative Customer Solutions Centre

Lanes Group plc’s Utilities Division has moved into a new Customer Solutions Centre to work alongside Thames Water colleagues delivering ground-breaking wastewater maintenance services to 15 million customers.
Five new regional customer solutions teams, made up of Lanes and Thames Water staff, are working in the centre, planning, scheduling and overseeing 1,000 drain and sewer blockage, surveying and repair jobs carried out every day.
Lanes Group Technical Director Andy Brierley said: “Our Customer Solutions Centre has been designed for the digital drainage age. We’re bringing together innovative practices and new technologies fully-focused on enhancing the customer experience of our service.”
The building, on the Slough Trading Estate, in Berkshire, has been recycled – it was moved from another site and rebuilt. The interior is fitted out with ultra-modern styling and staff facilities, making it one of the most exciting utilities HQs to work in anywhere in the UK.
Lanes Group is Thames Water’s wastewater network services partner. The Customer Solutions Centre is designed to act as a springboard for major service innovations over the next five years.
Andy Brierley said: “This gives us a workplace that our brilliant teams deserve, with innovative and bright work space, high quality rest areas, and excellent facilities. This will help us attract and retain the best employees in what is a highly competitive recruitment environment.”
The new joint regional teams are based on a pilot project called One Desk that tested and developed the concept in one area of the Thames Water region during 2015.
Lanes Group’s Thames Water Framework Director, Conrad Ashby, said: “For us to continue to develop a truly customer-focused culture, we needed the right space and support systems for our staff, and the Customer Solutions Centre gives us that. Importantly, we can now support our field operations teams more effectively, so they will also benefit hugely from this investment as well.”
Reflecting Lanes Group’s position as an award-winning innovator in sewer and drainage maintenance, at the heart of the new building is digital media command centre, where its entire operation can be monitored and analysed in real time.
The two-storey building is also home to Lanes support teams, including health and safety, transport and HR personnel to ensure a focused and bespoke service to Thames’ customers.
It has creatively-designed meeting, break-out and relaxation areas where teams can work together flexibly, or take a break. There is also a staff restaurant, serving Starbucks coffee, and a themed diner.