ROYAL MAIL'S £1M TO KIT OUT NEW OFFICE

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -21108926/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EXCLUSIVE Expensive re-fit despite job losses

Royal Mail chiefs are splashing out almost £1million on furniture for their new HQ - as 16,000 postal workers face the axe.

Documents seen by the Mirror detail the exclusive designers the company's executives have suggested for the re-fit.

Bosses have given the go-ahead to buy £100,000 worth of Italian chairs for the office, where just 200 staff will work.

Also on the astonishing wish-list are £15,000 worth of bespoke seats for just a handful of their own executive's private offices and the boardroom.

Rival contractors have been told the firm will need a number of desks and suggest providing custom-made walnut items costing £6,000 each.

The exclusive Foster chairs, at £700 each, and the £2,000 Howe tables are also expected to shipped in for the central London office.

Union leaders last night described the extravagant spending as "disgusting".

The re-fit is taking place despite Royal Mail's plans for a UK-wide cost-cutting exercise, as revealed by the Mirror on Friday. We told how up to 16,000 workers may be axed in a bid to reduce the wage bill by £470 million.

We then exposed their lies over the proposals after chief executive Adam Crozier claimed he knew nothing of the scheme. Our latest revelations are yet another embarrassment for the £3million-a-year postal boss.

Sources claim the staggering furniture bill is just a quarter of the Royal Mail's total cost to kit out the new office.

Contractors were asked in January to submit tenders for the supply and installation of furniture for the HQ, which must be submitted by today.

Even more money will be spent on carpets, lighting and interior design for the office in the prestigious Unilever House building overlooking the River Thames.

Royal Mail brought in American architects HLW to design the layout of the office, snubbing rival British firms.

Bosses will move into the 30,000ft space, which they are renting for millions of pounds a year, from their current HQ in east London in May.

They want the office furnished with sofas by British designers Davison Highley, who made furniture for the BBC, and Swedish company OFFECCT.

Other firms on the list of suggested companies are Italian design gurus B&B Italia and German firm Kusch and Co.

A source said: "When you see the quality of furniture they want it's staggering considering they're cutting costs.

"How will the workers who lose their jobs feel when they discover their bosses are reclining on leather sofas?

"The designers they are suggesting are the best of the best, and cost the most.

Communications Workers Union deputy leader Dave Ward said Royal Mail staff would be "angry" at the bill.

He added: "It's disgusting that while postmen and women are being forced out of the business, this money is being spent on plush offices."

A Royal Mail spokesman admitted the furniture budget runs into hundreds of thousands of pounds but added: "We have reduced the size of our HQ team. It's now leaner and more efficient."

[borders]

do as i say , not as i do - springs to mind

[Geezer]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... iture.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail plans to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on designer furniture for its new riverside headquarters, it has been claimed.


By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 7:54AM GMT 09 Feb 2009
Uniliever House: Royal Mail splashes out on executive furniture
Around 200 Royal Mail managers and staff will move to the refurbished offices in Unilever House by the River Thames on the Embankment in central London in May Photo: MICHAEL CRABTREE/TROIKA

The news comes days after it emerged that the postal service intends to cut thousands of front line jobs, and has been condemned by unions.

The shopping list of items approved by Royal Mail bosses includes £100,000 worth of Italian chairs and walnut desks costing £6,000 a piece, according to documents seen by the Daily Mirror newspaper.

Boardroom seats each costing £700 for the service's senior executives have also been requested, it is claimed.

Around 200 Royal Mail managers and staff will move to the refurbished offices in Unilever House by the River Thames on the Embankment in central London in May. The 30,000ft space will replace the postal service's current headquarters in east London.

Documents sent to potential contractors include requests for high-end furnishings from designers including Davison Highley, Italia and Kusch and Co, the newspaper claims.

Last month the Royal Mail announced a jump in profits to £255 million – more than £900,000 day – for the nine months to the end of December, but the service wants to slash thousands of jobs as part of cost-cutting reforms ahead of its planned part-privatisation.

Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union said: "It's disgusting that while postmen and women are being forced out of the business, this money is being spent on plush offices."

A Royal Mail spokesman confirmed that it had set aside hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay for new furniture, but said that bosses had not been spared the belt tightening.

"We have reduced the size of our HQ team. It's now leaner and more efficient," he said.

[NWpostie]

I wonder how much Ivories cost these days, Im sure there is a few Quid set aside to build a Tower

[k979aaa]

Well extravagance over providence once again while we trudge through the snow and cold they now demand a new office but not just any office but a palace of an office with a £2000 table to write the redundancy cheques out and £700 chairs because it's hard work for them!. But wait have you seen the new sauna which they :lfo & :cfo relax in after their hard day's work i hear :mfo pop's in just too test the water for a full privatisation!.

[Broxi51]

Well extravagance over providence once again while we trudge through the snow and cold they now demand a new office but not just any office but a palace of an office with a £2000 table to write the redundancy cheques out and £700 chairs because it's hard work for them!. But wait have you seen the new sauna which they :lfo & :cfo relax in after their hard day's work i hear :mfo pop's in just too test the water for a full privatisation!.

They take turns at dropping the soap in the sauna allegedly

[k979aaa]

Well extravagance over providence once again while we trudge through the snow and cold they now demand a new office but not just any office but a palace of an office with a £2000 table to write the redundancy cheques out and £700 chairs because it's hard work for them!. But wait have you seen the new sauna which they :lfo & :cfo relax in after their hard day's work i hear :mfo pop's in just too test the water for a full privatisation!.

They take turns at dropping the soap in the sauna allegedly

Old boy's network for you and it's know wonder :mfo has no grasp of the fact's of royalmail and it's state with these two :lfo & :cfo snakes in the grass!.

[F0zziebear]

They planned to do this 4-5 years ago, but the RM Holdings Board blocked it for political reasons. It seems that they have decided to move ahead with this project of change since releasing strong operating figures.

As I've stated before any company/organisation paints the picture it wants.

This is what will happen. There is a holding group called RM Group (200 people) who then have 3 businesses. RM Letters, Post Office Ltd, and Parcelforce, and GLS. Each business has it's own board and head office. This will enable the government/RM Group to sell off individual businesses or part privatise them in terms of selling minority stakes to private investors. This will enable private investment to come.

I hope this explains the path to eventual privatisation of RM Letters and Parcelforce with probably POL staying in the public sector until it becomes a fully fledged bank!

F0zz