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DTW helps secure Project of the Year award for Northern Spire

Chris, Karen and the Northern Spire team collecting the Project of the Year Award

Teamwork and collaboration are always at the heart of excellent communications. That’s why it was great to be alongside some talented partners to win a major award for one of our biggest client projects this week.

Sunderland’s Northern Spire bridge was named Project of the Year: Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure 2018, at the Association for Project Management (APM) awards in London on Monday (26thNovember).

We collectively beat off some stiff competition to win the award that recognises great project management. Northern Spire was up against a number of outstanding engineering and infrastructure projects from across the UK, including the Royal Navy’s new HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, medical research centre The Francis Crick Institute, Master Gas System Expansion Phase-1, by Saudi Aramco, and The Temperate House Project.

Karen and Chris from the DTW team have been working on site for the best part of three years, working alongside Atkins, Faithful+Gould, and AECOM, the Sunderland City Council team and main contractors Farrans and Victor Buyck, as well as numerous sub-contractors.

That has put communications and PR at the heart of the project and meant we have collectively been on the front foot when it comes to communication benefits and engaging with stakeholders.

Work began on Northern Spire in May 2015. During the three-year build programme, more than 2,000 people worked on the project, clocking up more than a million work-hours. It was built within its allocated £117m budget, two thirds of which was met by the Government and the remaining from Sunderland City Council.

During recent months, different aspects of the Northern Spire project have been recognised at award ceremonies up and down the country, from the design of the structure, to the methods used to construct it, project management and public engagement.

Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. Communications and PR has a part to play both internally and externally on big projects like this and we’re very fortunate that we get to work with some of the best in the business on this and other projects.

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DTW joins Northern Spire team to share tips on ensuring project success

Title screen from Northern Spire video, opened August 2018

The link between communications and PR and good project management is something we’re passionate about, so put us in a conference full of project managers and our ‘inner nerd’ starts to really show.

This week DTW joined the Northern Spire team at the Association of Project Managers’ Power of the Profession conference in Manchester.

Around 200 of the north’s leading project managers, from a diverse range of companies and sectors, including representatives from Shell, Northumbrian Water, the NHS and Transport for the North, gathered to share their best practice ideas on getting the most out of your people and processes in order to maximise production and success, and achieve greater outcomes for the community by managing projects more effectively and efficiently.

Key to the discussion was the importance of focusing on and communicating stakeholder and community benefits in project management, and the vital role stakeholder communication plays in ensuring the success of a project.

Members of the Northern Spire team from Farrans Construction, Faithful+Gould, Atkins and DTW exhibited, and presented to delegates on the importance of placing and communicating benefits at the heart of your project.

Here’s four DTW top tips for using communications to make your project a success:

  • Start with research and by listening to your stakeholders – communication is a two way street – make sure you listen to the concerns of your community – whether that is employees, customers, residents or retailers. Put yourself in their shoes, think about what their concerns are and make sure you address them.
  • Focus on benefits and tell your story – once you know where you are starting from because you’ve done your research and have clear objectives, take people on a journey and make sure your story focuses on the project benefits and outcomes at every stage.
  • Engage directly with people – be open, honest and transparent with your audience – even when you have bad news to tell them – and you’ll get the credit in the long run. It takes time, guts and sometimes broad shoulders, but remember that feedback is what you want – it will help you improve your project and deliver better outcomes.
  • Be a good neighbour – remember you are just passing through – projects are inevitably temporary, even if it doesn’t feel that way sometimes! You’re just dropping in as a temporary member of a real permanent community of residents, businesses or employees, and the project is for them, so putting their interests first is what it’s all about.

The communications budget on Northern Spire accounted for only 0.5% of the total project budget, yet the buy-in to community engagement, public and media relations from everyone, from Sunderland City Council, main contractor FVB Joint Venture, Atkins, Faithful+Gould, and sub-contractors on site, meant that communications ran through every fibre of the project.

Getting all of the project team on board took time and involved huge amounts of leg work at the beginning, however, the results far outweighed the budget and the effort, evidenced in the huge community pride demonstrated when the bridge was unveiled in August, and the 20,000 people who came to walk across the deck before it opened to traffic.

With communications, a little really does go a long way, and taking the time to involve people can make the difference between perceived success and failure.

Six months after a project is finished, very few people will remember whether it was delivered on time or on budget, but they will know whether or not they like it.

So, don’t leave that to chance. Take the community on the journey with you and then you will all arrive at the desired destination together.

Thanks for reading.

Karen

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DTW fastest riser in Prolific North Top 50 PR agencies

Overhead view of a man drawing a big upwards arrow on a pad of paper

Let’s just start by saying that you always have to take any industry rankings with a pinch of salt, but this is one of the meaningful ones.

We’re very pleased that DTW has been ranked by Prolific North as #15 – and as the fastest riser – in Prolific North’s latest annual list of the Top 50 PR agencies across the north of England.

In a list dominated by Manchester agencies we’re classed as the largest in the north east, but more importantly than that, it shows the results of the really great creativity and hard work put in by the DTW team over the past year. Our focus is always on delivering results for our clients in our key sectors of infrastructure, government and membership organisations – so we’re really pleased.

As ever it’s a huge thanks to our team, clients and partners who make these things possible.

PS – Prolific North has a PR list, an integrated list and a digital list. Given that we operate across the increasingly blurred disciplines of PR, marketing, digital, design, video, animation and social media it’s always a bit of a head-scratching moment working out why you’re on one list and not another, but if you’re looking for strategic comms support please get in touch.

Thanks for reading

Chris

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Northern Spire: Hard hats and sequins – the secret to successful infrastructure communications

Aerial view of traffic crossing the Northern Spire bridge

Karen and Chris are heading back to Sunderland shortly to do a joint event with Sunderland City Council’s communications team about all things Northern Spire from a PR perspective.

If you like the sound of that you can book a ticket on the CIPR North East eventbrite site and read on below to find out more.

“It’s all about hard hats, sequins and having a narrative that can really engage the community.”

Successful infrastructure projects take years to deliver – so where do you start, how do you keep people engaged and what do you need to do to get your regional project in front of 11 million people on Strictly on a Saturday night?

Hear from the award-winning communications team behind the success of Northern Spire – Sunderland’s new bridge.

Karen Westcott from DTW will be joined by Paula James from Sunderland City Council to give a behind the scenes look at all things ‘Northern Spire’ and outline how the project team has engaged the local community, stakeholders and the media over the past three-and-a-half years.

Get the inside story on hosting William and Kate on a secret Royal visit to a live construction site, running a school site visit programme for 2,300 children, persuading construction teams to create 10-metre high media viewing platforms at a day’s notice, dealing with the Strictly team, and achieving 99% positive/neutral media coverage and all the other things you need to do to put communications at the heart of a major engineering and infrastructure project like Northern Spire.

DTW Managing Director Chris Taylor will also share his insight on devising and delivering long-term campaigns for major projects tackling difficult topics, looking at issues like strategic planning, engaging at Board level, partnership working and staying on track through good times and bad.

All that and a bacon sandwich with a view overlooking the 105m high Northern Spire, the north east’s tallest structure and newest landmark – what more could you want for a Wednesday morning!

The CIPR NE event takes place on 14th November at 8am at Liberty Browns just next to Northern Spire.

See you there!

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It’s a 10! When the project you love takes centre stage on BBC Strictly

Photo of Strictly's Giovanni Pernice and Faye Tozer on the Northern Spire Bridge

There are times in PR and communications when something pretty amazing happens – and for our Northern Spire team, and particularly me, that time has been this week.

After all, it’s not every day you manage to get your client’s brand new landmark bridge in front of 11million people on the biggest show on TV.

However, that is exactly what happened for Sunderland City Council tonight when its impressive Northern Spire bridge took centre stage alongside the stars of Strictly Come Dancing.

By taking a punt, and believing that with a lot of tenacity and a bit of good fortune the very unlikely can happen, DTW managed to arrange for actress and former Steps popstar Faye Tozer and her Italian dance partner Giovanni Pernice to rehearse their Foxtrot routine on the bridge deck before the cameras.

It was an amazing opportunity for Sunderland to showcase its new bridge to a huge national audience, and I have to admit that it was an incredible personal experience for me, too.

You see, I’m a massive Strictly fan. I never miss an episode, follow them all on twitter, and go to the live shows when they tour. My poor husband and three sons all know, and accept, that Saturday night (and part of Sunday) is ‘Strictly night’. I start singing the theme tune from about 5pm onwards and make sure tea is out of the way early.

So, having the opportunity to work with the crew and host Faye and Giovanni at Northern Spire – a construction project I have absolutely loved – was beyond exciting.

The hardest thing was keeping the whole thing under wraps, as directed by the BBC’s production team.

It all started back when the bridge opened at the end of August. We were busy promoting the opening on social media and we noticed that a certain Faye Tozer was taking an interest in the bridge and liking and sharing our posts on Twitter.

I knew that Faye had just been announced as a celebrity contender on the 2018 show, so set about trying to establish her link to Northern Spire.

To be honest, it wasn’t difficult. A dig around the internet told me that Faye was married to a Sunderland businessman, and they lived fairly close to the new bridge – so her interest was purely as a local resident.

What a result! What if we could actually get Faye and her yet-to-be-announced dance partner to rehearse on Northern Spire. How fab would that be?

It took a few attempts to make contact with Faye’s agent, but once we did, it was wheels in motion, and soon I was liaising with a Strictly assistant producer.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Filming on Tuesday, for me, at least, was a surreal experience. Faye and Giovanni came to the construction site, got ready in one of the meeting rooms in the staff cabins, had a chat over a cup of coffee and biscuit, and were a total delight.

Using my iron and ironing board (which I had been requested to take to site), a costume assistant prepared their outfits for the shoot. Meanwhile, Faye put the final touches to her make-up and Giovanni stripped down to his underwear to change into his costume – that was a treat I wasn’t expecting.

Photo of Karen, Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice on the Northern Spire bridge
Photo of Strictly Come Dancing's Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice on the Northern Spire bridge
Photo of behind the scenes at the photo shoot with Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice on the Northern Spire bridge

I loaned Giovanni my high vis jacket, in case it got cold between shoots on the deck, (the sun came out and it wasn’t needed) and I watched as Faye’s beautiful red satin gown and his shirt/underwear combo was ironed on MY ironing board.

We talked sparkle and glitter, what it’s like to be in the middle of the Strictly bubble, the media attention, and their busy training and TV schedules. It was all very laid back and normal, whilst being remarkable at the same time.

Of course, both Faye and Giovanni said they loved Northern Spire and rehearsing on the deck, while the crew, delighted with the footage they had captured, said their visit to the bridge was likely to be one of the highlights of the series for them.

Success all round.

So, it just goes to show how great things can come out of the blue from seemingly unlikely opportunities.

I guess the message for us all here is take every opportunity that presents itself, and don’t be afraid to take a punt, no matter how much of a long shot you think it is. You never know, you may just pull it off.

Keep dancing………….

Karen Westcott

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Northern Spire to provide inspiration as DTW MD joins speakers at project management conference

Photo of the Northern Spire Bridge illuminated at night

DTW MD Chris Taylor will be speaking at the Association for Project Management conference in Manchester on 7th November.

Chris will be joining Duncan Ross Russell, Regional Director at Faithful+Gould, to showcase Sunderland City Council’s award-winning Northern Spire project and pass on lessons learned to other project managers from around the UK.

Chris and Duncan are speaking as part of the conference’s Smarter Thinking stream. It is all about inspiring project professionals to review their approach and mindset to deliver projects that provide broad benefits, including social, environmental and economic impact.

Northern Spire is a £117 million project to build a stunning new bridge at the heart of Sunderland’s new strategic transport corridor.

Chris said: “Project managers need to focus on improving people’s lives and their role in delivering investment and economic benefits. That means creating a team ethos and a narrative that puts outcomes and real people at the heart of the scheme from day one, and that’s what we all did as a team in Sunderland. I’m looking forward to the APM event as there are some great speakers and it should be a fascinating conference.”

DTW was appointed by Sunderland Council to deliver strategic PR and stakeholder engagement support alongside the three-and-a-half year construction programme. Faithful+Gould were the project managers for the scheme on behalf of Sunderland Council.

DTW has won awards for its work on Northern Spire from the CIPR, PRCA and UK Public Sector Communications Awards body.

You can see more about Northern Spire at www.northernspire.co.uk.

 

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Client survey feedback – it’s good for your ears, your soul and your business plan

Word cloud of positive desciptors of DTW

[Every year we do a client survey – one of those jobs it’s easy to put on the back burner or forget about. To put it simply – make sure you don’t!

We get client feedback all the time – whether that is anecdotal whilst ‘on the job’, more formally in client review meetings, or a quick mention on social media. It’s all important, and all welcome – good or bad (though I’m pleased to say we get a lot more of the good).

Feedback, research, insight. Call it what you will, it is hugely valuable. In today’s always on, permanently plugged in social media world, there is no shortage of feedback, and there can be a danger we close our ears and switch off.

Anyway, back to the DTW survey. It sounds a bit like we’re blowing our own trumpet (we are!). In addition to the questions, we also asked our clients to sum us up in three words – so here’s what they said.

Graphic depicting client survey result that 100% of our clients would recommend DTW to others
Graphic depicting client survey results 2018
Word-cloud of comments from client survey

If you are one of the clients who responded then huge thanks – it’s because of you that we are able to do the work that we love.

If you’re reading this and would like some PR and marketing support then just give us a call on 01287 610 404 or email me at chris@dtw.co.uk and we can have a chat about how we can help you.

Thanks for reading

Chris

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DTW MD Chris Taylor re-appointed to CIPR Council

CIPR logo

Hi – Chris here – I’ve just been appointed to the council of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (no election needed this year). The CIPR is an important body that leads the PR profession, not just in the UK but across the globe.

A copy of my CIPR candidate statement is below. All comments and feedback welcome – whether you’re a member or not.

We’ve got a great new President-elect in Jenni Field and a strong line-up on Council for the next two years to take the public relations profession forward.

Strategy. Leadership. Ethics. These are the cornerstones of the CIPR’s new-look chartership assessment day. I can’t think of three better words to sum up what the CIPR must focus on for the next two years.

Strategy– I’m a huge supporter of the drive to position PR as a strategic management function – otherwise the robots will take our jobs. Our skills are in demand, but never has there been more people (or machines) who think they can ‘do PR’.

Leadership– we’re suffering from a lack of effective leadership in public life. Now that ‘the experts’ are fighting back, the CIPR has a real opportunity to carve out a position for the UK as an international centre of excellence for the PR profession with the CIPR at its heart.

Ethics– the CIPR has always led the way in promoting ethical standards. We need to maintain that by continuing the drive to professionalism. Truth, transparency and authenticity have never been more important or more challenged and our profession has to lead the way.

Our core commitment remains the same – PR is the discipline that looks after reputation. That means speaking truth to power, saying the unsayable and always using our eyes and ears to understand before opening our mouths to give professional advice.

If I am elected to Council I will:

  • ensure the CIPR keeps its focus on professionalism, making a modern, meaningful and responsive CPD system at the core of our work.
  • support the leadership team whilst ensuring that the needs of ordinary members remain at the heart of the CIPR’s mission
  • help ensure the CIPR maintains its high ethical standards in a challenging and fast-moving environment
  • ensure a strong voice for regional and sectoral groups.

To become a predominantly chartered profession we must engage with decision makers and people outside of the industry to showcase the value that PR, and CIPR members in particular, bring to society.

We’re getting there – we’re increasing the numbers of people doing CPD, becoming accredited and, crucially, getting chartered status, every year.

I’m a Chartered Practitioner (if you’re thinking of doing it – go for it and #getchartered). I fell into the CIPR family 14 (gulp!) years ago because my new boss told me it was a good idea – he was right.

Since then I’ve been Chair of the North East group for three years, and been a Council member for the past eight.

For the past two years I’ve also played an active role on the Professional Development and Membership Committee.

As for my day job, that is Managing Director of DTW– we’re a strategic PR consultancy based in the north of England working in the infrastructure, public sector and membership organisation sectors. If you want to know more about me catch up with me on twitter @dtwchris.

It’s 14 years since I joined the CIPR. The world has changed a lot since then. As CIPR members we need to lead the way and set high professional standards. I’d like to continue to play my part.

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Colourful fund-raising for Teesside Hospice

Photo of Chris and Lorna covered in coloured chalk after taking part in a colour run

Chris and Lorna decided to take a colourful approach to fund-raising this weekend.

They were each joined by their daughters to raise money for Teesside Hospice as part of its annual 5K Colour Run in Stewart Park in Middlesbrough on Sunday morning.

As you can tell from the photos it was a quiet, uneventful day full of shy retiring people!

Chris Taylor, MD of DTW said: “Teesside Hospice is a great cause and the colour run is loads of fun. It’s one of those occasions where you just need to have fun and dive right in!”

Teesside Hospice offers palliative care for people over the age of 18 who are living with a life-limiting illness when a cure is no longer possible. Its care is provided 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year and reaches thousands of local people. If you want to help the team continue this great work, you can donate online to support what they do.

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Northern Spire opening hits the heights

Photo from a drone of traffic crossing the Northern Spire Bridge

Last week was quite a week for team DTW, and a career highlight for me, personally.

After three amazing years of working with Sunderland City Council and contractor Farrans Victor Buyck Joint Venture on the city’s new impressive cable stayed bridge, Northern Spire finally opened to traffic.

Our role throughout had been to use our knowledge and experience in working with large infrastructure projects to provide support around community engagement, media and public relations, education, social media and video production. It was an enormous task, but one we did with gusto – embedding ourselves with the on-site team, sometimes working extremely long hours, providing education sessions to more than 2,000 children, and even travelling overseas to capture key moments in the project.

Construction being what it is, since work began in May 2015, the whole project team has been striving towards reaching the end, and when the final opening came last week – first to pedestrians on Tuesday and then to vehicles on Wednesday – it was everything, and more, we had hoped for.

It is estimated that a staggering 20,000 people came out to take a stroll across the bridge deck during the pedestrian walk-over. We had children cartwheeling under the pylon, countless selfie-takers, a busker playing guitar and cycling and running clubs trying us out for the first time. We even had a naked cyclist. The weather was warm, the atmosphere holiday-like, and the whole experience quite magical. You could see hardened members of the engineering and construction team, who have worked all over the world, become visibly moved and humbled by the response from the community.

Throughout the two days, a large contingent of print and broadcast media were also based on site, with Northern Spire dominating every North East news broadcast on TV, radio and in newspapers. All in all, it was an incredible, rewarding and exciting week, albeit long and tiring, but something that the DTW team will cherish.

I can’t lie, from a PR and video perspective, Northern Spire has been a dream project to work on, with so many captivating, awe-inspiring, moments to capture along the way. Add in Sunderland City Council’s desire to engage, educate and excite the community, and we were given countless opportunities to showcase what we do best.

DTW feels incredibly proud and privileged to have been part of the Northern Spire team. We have worked with so many talented and experienced engineers from across the world, who, thankfully for us, recognised the importance of great communication and went out of their way to help. Whilst the DTW team have topped up our knowledge on bridge building and construction, both with Northern Spire and the Mersey Gateway Bridge, which opened in Cheshire last year, hopefully some seasoned engineers have also learned much about PR and communications, too.

Now, it’s onwards and upwards for team DTW. Here’s to our next big infrastructure challenge!

Karen Westcott,
Senior Strategist, PR, Engagement & Public Affairs

See how Sunderland’s new Northern Spire bridge came to life, from start to finish, with the Story So Far video:

Watch the great unveiling of Sunderland’s new Northern Spire bridge, first with a pedestrian walk-over day, followed by the opening to traffic:

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