In light of the rapidly evolving situation and disruption caused by COVID-19 (Coronavirus), I would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that Montagu Evans is using, and will continue to do so, all measures at our disposal to maintain continuity of service. Below is a brief update on the procedures and infrastructure in place to enable us to continue to provide the high quality service expected of us and to minimise the risk the virus poses to colleagues, clients and contacts.
Like many of you, our priority is to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our people and our clients. We have taken a number of precautionary measures to minimise the risk of further contamination. These measures are informed by the most current guidance from leading health authorities and experts, which we are monitoring.
“Cobra” team
We have an established business continuity plan and a designated leadership team in place to regularly review policies and plan accordingly. Currently, we are pleased to tell you our operations are unaffected.
Working from home
From Tuesday 17 March all of our staff have been advised to work from home as part of the government and senior health officials recommendations to increase social distancing and ending unnecessary travel.
All of our offices have been closed from Wednesday 18th March until further notice. Our Cobra team will review week on week to decide next steps in line with health official advice. Our Property Management team who work at client sites will continue to be responsible for providing services at those locations.
All planners, surveyors and support staff are equipped to work from home with access to our secure systems and databases. We have been in continuous communication with our people in anticipation of the need and feel confident this is the right decision and in our ability to seamlessly maintain operations.
- VPN and Citrix access ensures those with and without business issued laptops can work from any computer via a secured server login
- Webex provides conference calling and video conference facilities for all meetings (BT Conference calling acts as further back-up)
- Webex internal messaging system allows for easy team communication and document sharing
- Our externally hosted email server provides 24/7 support
Should we need to attend important meetings in person, we will do our best to ensure someone is in attendance until the Government request/require otherwise.
Resourcing
As part of our business continuity plan, we also have protocols in place to ensure that clients with active or time sensitive matters will continue to receive full team support. We are prepared to deploy resources, as necessary, from all four of our UK offices (London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester) to maintain service.
Please know that our priority is, and always will be, to protect our people and our clients whilst ensuring we continue to provide the first-class service we consistently strive to deliver. The kindness, support and collaboration I have witnessed under these challenging circumstances makes me proud to be part of this partnership and I hope you won’t hesitate to contact any member of our team(s) for any questions or concerns you may have. If you have an issue you would like to speak with me directly please feel free to call or alternatively, send me an email.