NEA

Saving time and money makes sense for campaigning charity

National Energy Action (NEA) campaigns to eradicate fuel poverty - defined as households that have to spend more than ten per cent of their disposable income on energy costs. Many households face the choice between heating or eating - and not heating homes can lead to a wide variety of health and well-being issues. Over the past few years the charity has seen dramatic rises in gas and electricity prices and as a result, it is stepping up its campaigning and operational activities.

The charity employs around 70 staff, most of whom are based at NEA's headquarters in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. However, having a professionally-run central London office with easy access to meeting rooms is essential to their work.

Kelly Lee, Operations Director (London) explains why: "We're working on several projects that all involve meetings with industry stakeholders such as the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Energy Saving Trust and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. We also run large quarterly fuel poverty forums for other key stakeholders, such as local authorities, suppliers and installers. At our old premises, there were no support services, so the staff effectively ran the office. A big benefit of their move was the package of services that CAN Mezzanine offers. Previously we were having to hire meeting space, whereas now it's included in our monthly rental. We bring stakeholders into our offices rather than always going out to local cafes. That makes for a more professional operation."

CAN Mezzanine provides a full package of back-office service support covering IT, reception, kitchens and cleaning, as well as free meeting rooms. "And all in a much nicer environment," says Kelly. "This holistic service approach has had a huge impact on NEA.  Simple things like the intranet system for booking meeting rooms takes just five minutes, compared to the effort of having to ring around different venues, compare costs and issue invoices.  This means that a whole load of administrative tasks have been cancelled out, which means we can spend more time delivering our work programmes."

On top of all that, the team of four loves the atmosphere in ‘The Mezz'. "It's really positive - very friendly. It's nice to be able to have conversations with people and get to know what they do; making links and using those networking opportunities. It's a great working environment."

National Energy Action moved from our London Bridge office to our Old Street office in August 2010. For more information on the work they do visit http://www.nea.org.uk/