Farnham Maltings

Farnham Maltings is a multipurpose arts and community centre set in the heart of Farnham in Surrey, attracting more than 350,000 visitors a year. The centre caters for a whole range of arts and community events, ranging in scale from local mums and toddlers groups and book readings to international beer festivals, major comedy tours and live theatre, music and dance events. Recent big name stars who have appeared at the Maltings include Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre and Arthur Smith, while at the other end of the scale the centre also provides space for community events and local artists, jewellers and silversmiths.

Case Study:

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Left to right: John Merker, Auditel Consultant and Chris Maddocks, General Manager of Farnham Maltings

Chris Maddocks, General Manager of Farnham Maltings, first came across Auditel in late 2008 when consultant John Merker sent him some literature outlining the benefits of our unique Total Cost of Purchase® management service. As Chris says, “We’ve worked hard over the past few years to develop and increase the frequency of festivals which, along with investments in new digital technology enabling us to link into national live broadcast programmes with the likes of the National Theatre and the New York Metropolitan Opera, has increased business through the door. However, we are a registered charity and in order to continue providing the wide range of arts and community services we’re known for we do have to access funding from a number of government and lottery sources, so it’s important we also make every effort to ensure our costs are effectively managed. For this reason, John’s literature really struck a chord and I couldn’t see any reason not to investigate it further.”

After a couple of meetings with John, Chris decided to give the go-ahead on an initial project to investigate a couple of imminent energy contract renewals and the centre’s communications spend. Chris again, “Working with John has been a really good experience. He carried out a really thorough investigation, delving into all sorts of detail and paperwork, with almost no input from our side so we could just carry on with our day-to-day tasks with no impact on our workload.”

It quickly became clear from John’s audit that the incumbent electricity supplier had put the centre on a flat rate tariff, entirely inappropriate for an organisation operating outside normal working hours. By moving to an alternative supplier and a more suitable tariff John realised savings of 13% per annum. Moving to new communications and gas suppliers led to further savings of 26% and 13% respectively, while identifying and rectifying a long-term leak reduced the centre’s water bills by 13%. So impressed was Chris with both the savings and John’s efficiency that the project was rolled out to include other business cost areas such as merchant card fees (savings of 23%), franking machines (savings of 47%) and alarms (savings of 60%). John was also asked to join an in-house team reviewing the centre’s IT costs, infrastructure and future requirements and is soon to carry out a complete water and energy efficiency audit, including investigating options to use renewable energy sources at the centre.

Savings Achieved:

Electricity – 13% Saving

Telecoms – 26% Saving

Gas – 13% Saving

Merchant Card Fees – 23% Saving

Franking Machines – 47% Saving

Alarms – 60% Savings

Download a PDF copy of the case study.