Northern and Shell, West Ferry Printworks Case Study
Project One – Relocation

Founded in 1974, Northern and Shell Media Group has become a major force in British and worldwide news outlets, with a UK audience of more than 1.7 million. Titles include The Daily Express, Daily Star and celebrity magazines OK! New! and Star. The company operates in all major areas of publishing, with diverse interests in new media, print, distribution, investment and property. Synergys’ initial engagement with Northern and Shell began shortly after their successful acquisition of Channel 5.

Challenges

The team at Synergy were aware that the sites they already provided services for would be closed and relocated to the company’s headquarters at 10 Lower Thames Street, EC3. Synergy would be assisting with the successful termination of contracts at the previous sites.

Relocating their West Ferry Printworks to a new, state-of-the-art, five acre printworks located at the end of the Luton Airport runway.

Solution

The team at Synergy are frequently required to work closely with in-house IT departments. This relationship enabled the successful termination of contracts at the previous sites.

The effectiveness of this resulted in the group Head of IT, promising to allow Synergy to tender for future projects.
The decision to relocate their West Ferry Printworks provided an opportunity for Synergy to tender for a range of fully outsourced services, including; Hosted IP telephony, support agreements, Data Connectivity and a cordless DECT phone solution across the whole site, including ‘man down’ facilities.

The Outcome

Following detailed discussions with Northern and Shell, Synergy were awarded a long-term managed services contract for the Luton site. The project was completed on time and on budget.

Following the success before, during and after the project, Synergy maintained a strong working relationship with Northern and Shell, discussing working together in other areas of the business.