Powell Dobson

The Powell Dobson Partnership (PDP) is a commercially aware architects’ practice, committed to good design and able to react with a high degree of professionalism, skill and urgency to meet client demands across a wide range of commissions. The practice was established in Cardiff in 1966, and later opened a second office in Swansea.

Case Study:

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Chris Baker, Auditel Consultant and Velta Kimber, Financial Controller and Company Secretary for The Powell Dobson Partnership

Velta Kimber, Financial Controller and Company Secretary for PDP first engaged the services of Auditel Consultant Chris Baker almost three years ago.

Velta explains, “We are a progressively versatile practice with inherent architectural expertise, but we do not pretend to be experts in cost management. By employing the expertise of people who know what is in the marketplace to find the best deal, we can concentrate on our jobs.”

It was agreed that Chris would first analyse the level of spend on communications. The original report that Chris presented to PDP in April 2000 led to a series of savings within this category. The investigation into landline expenditure led to a saving of 8% being achieved on system installation as well as a saving of 33% on call traffic. When investigating mobile phones, Chris negotiated an impressive saving of 52%.

Chris also carried out a comprehensive analysis into PDP’s level of expenditure on gas and electricity. His subsequent recommendations enabled savings of 18% and 19% respectively within these areas.

As part of the ongoing Auditel service, Chris has recently revisited the original savings that were made and has been able to further reduce the costs in certain areas. As Chris explains, “When I looked again at PDP’s expenditure on electricity, I was able to reduce the cost in this area by a further 16%, following a change of supplier. I have also recently negotiated a 33% reduction on the revised telecoms call traffic costs. On top of this, a recent transfer of all mobile phones to another network has led to a further 25% saving in this category.”

Savings Achieved:

Communications
– System Installation – 8% Saving
– Call Traffic – 33% Saving
– Mobiles – 52% Saving
Gas – 18% Saving
Electricity – 19% Saving

Download a PDF copy of the case study.