Examination of Witnesses (Questions 6380
- 6399)
6380. Undertakings have been offered by the
Promoter relating to the mitigation of all of those matters because
it has been accepted that Mintel are a special case because of
the particular proximity of their building to the work site and
the substandard nature of the existing attenuation by the single
glazing on the property.
6381. The mechanism that has been offered, if
I may summarise it briefly just to paint the picture, is that
the Promoter has offered an undertaking to carry out the works
in the Lindsey Street work site in a manner that will mitigate
the omission of noise and vibration as far as reasonably practicable.
It has offered a noise and vibration mitigation package that will
be based upon noise limits that will be identified at a point
in the future, taking into account a number of factors, including
the particular usage of the site at that particular time and the
more detailed information that would be available at that stage
in relation to the design of the project.
6382. The basic purpose of the undertakings
is to identify a mitigation package which would then be introduced
to ensure that the noise and vibration from the construction would
not significantly affect business operation of the premises and
it is really the extent to which, as I understand, that that mitigation
package addresses their concerns is the matter at issue before
the Committee today. I think if that is sufficient I will sit
down and hand you over to my learned friend.
6383. Mr Newberry: Sir, one of the key
factors in this matter you have got to look at is proximity. The
building owned or occupied by Mintel is five metres from the works
that you have just heard about and, without being too precise
about it, I suspect five metres is about where the stenographer
is, so that gives you an idea of how close the works are and the
period of time which those works will take place is of the order
of four and a half years, so you are concentrating on what we
regard as a sensitive office user being at that level of proximity
for that amount of time and we regard that as a serious state
of affairs.
6384. The company, you will hear from the company
shortly, is a world leader, it is not just a market research company,
it is a world leader in its field, but that work requires a quiet
environment as the name "research" implies. The work
they do involves detailed analysis and is highly demanding to
meet their clients which are of an international variety. Sir,
the work that goes on in what is just described broadly as offices
is not only work of a highly demanding nature, but it is also
carried on from time to time in various languages, because the
clients are international, the staff are bilingual, many of them,
and therefore there are contractual negotiations concerned the
content of report all carried on in this building at one and the
same time, so I will be asking you to find in due course that
we do have a noise sensitive, vibration sensitive user in this
building which is not to be brushed aside by simply saying it
is an office user; it is an office user, but it is a very sensitive
one.
6385. The work contemplated, you probably heard
before, it obviously involves the demolition of the building opposite,
Hayne Street, as well as extensive construction involving banks
of escalators and then subsequently a three to five storey building,
so a long construction period and also doubling up, as I understand
it, as work site.
6386. Sir, so far as noise is concerned, the
outside noise level, I understand it, the figures are between
80 and 85 LAeQ and that is noisy. The internal level currently
is of the order of 60/63 and when we have that external noise
level Mr Griffiths will be telling you in due course that the
noise climate within the building is unacceptable, unless there
is some form of double glazing we have doubts as to whether or
not, if there were glazing, it could actually bring it down below
the relevant standard.
6387. So far as vibration is concerned, the
figures you will be hearing are 1.5-7 millimetres per second and
those are the Crossrail's own figures. Mr Griffiths will tell
you in due course that he has actually been in a building where
work was going on relatively nearby which achieved three, that
is under half what is contemplated here, and he will tell you
that that is frightening and that the building work was ordered
to be stopped, so on Crossrail's own figures they are contemplating
levels which are over twice what my witness will tell you was
a very disturbing and frightening level and it is accepted, as
I understand it in Crossrail's specialist report, that the threshold
of significance for screening purposes may be exceeded at the
building on Hayne Street, so they are accepting they are going
to exceed it.
6388. We do not feel that what Mr Taylor has
indicated to you as a package actually meets the problem. We are
sufficiently open-minded to be persuaded, but our current position
is that we do not think that a packet that is being offered will
get below a level which is acceptable both in terms of the building
and those that work within it.
6389. In addition you heard about Hayne Street
and I have indicated that is five metres wide and you have just
heard that it is going to be closed from one end. You will see,
in due course, that on Hayne Street is where deliveries take place
to Mintel. There are a considerable number of packages that come
into Mintel on a daily basis and we have concern over two areas.
First of all, if there is going to be work carried on of demolition
et cetera, we cannot see how Hayne Street is going to be kept
open or, if it is, how we are going to get our delivery traffic
down it. Secondly, Hayne Street provides the emergency exit point
from the basement of the building and we are concerned that the
level of activity contemplated on the site opposite that there
may well be difficulties getting out of the building, particularly
for those that may be mobility impaired.
6390. It is on that basis that we say that four
and a half years of constant activity involving high levels of
both noise and vibration, we do not feel that a noise sensitive
user should be exposed to that for that period and we think that
the best way forward is to re-locate us at an early stage.
6391. Can I just correct Mr Taylor? We wish
we were the freeholders, but we are not, we have a leasehold interest
which may, in the context of re-location of course, represent
less of a bill but, having said that, we do recognise that the
request for re-location does involve public expense and we take
that into account in considering whether or not we should be asking
for it and we feel, in the circumstances, the impact on a world-class
business is sufficiently adverse to ask you to recommend that.
6392. Mr Newberry: Against that background
can I call Mr Jason Thomson who is the company representative?
Mr Jason Thomson, sworn
Examined by Mr Newberry
6393. Just before we start going through your
presentation, Mr Thomson, can you tell the Committee who you are
and what position you hold within the company?
(Mr Thomson) My name is Jason Thomson and I
am Director of IT at Mintel. I graduated from Newcastle University
with a Master of Engineers degree in Microelectronics and Software
Engineering. I then went on to work for British Telecom and from
there I went on to work for Reuters, and in 1997 I joined Mintel
as Director of IT. I have been a member of the executive team
since that time. When I joined there were 70 people in the offices
in Long Lane. There are now considerably more. In my position
as IT Director I have overseen from an IT perspective four expansions
overseas in America and several expansions in our office in Long
Lane.
6394. Just looking at your presentation, can
you take us through these points?
6395. Chairman: For the record, this
is A74.[25]
6396. Mr Newberry: Just take the Committee
through these points. First of all, tell the Committee who Mintel
are.
(Mr Thomson) Mintel International are a global
provider of market research. We cover 98 per cent of consumer
markets. A consumer market is an industry where the businesses
are selling to consumers, so things like toothpaste, shoes, cars,
credit cards, bank accounts, insurance. In any business transaction
between a business and a consumer we cover 98 per cent of those
industries. We have global coverage in some of the products and
services that we provide. We have offices in London, Chicago,
Sydney and Shanghai. The Shanghai office is a relatively new office.
We opened that earlier this year. There are only two people there
at the moment but we are anticipating significant growth there.
We have over 400 directly employed staff at Mintel. In addition
to that we have a network of field associates around the world
whom we sub-contract to do surveys for us, to do audits, to pick
up products from supermarkets and so on. We also have a team of
freelance experts, freelance writers, that we use to help us with
our report writing. We have repeatedly been voted a business superbrand
by peers within the business community, and if I can just read
you the criteria for being voted a business superbrand, "A
business superbrand has established the finest reputation in its
field. It offers customers significant emotional and/or tangible
advantages over its competitors which consciously or subconsciously
customers want, recognise and are confident about investing in".
We consider that we offer tangible benefits rather than just emotional
benefits. We are the first market research company to be awarded
this. To give you an idea of the other people who have been given
these awards, they are people like IBM, KPMG, Microsoft—Microsoft
are on the opposite page to us. We have a daily presence in the
press. Yesterday there was an article on the BBC website talking
about exploitation of immigrants in domestic help, and they used
some of our research to back up that report. They took some information
from our British Lifestyles Report 2005, and that report told
them that one in 10 households in the UK have some form of domestic
help, whether it is gardeners, cleaners, things like that, and
that the market is worth three billion pounds. Another article
that you may have seen recently, which has been extensively covered
in the press, is about the Impact of Terrorism and Natural Disasters
Report that we put out a couple of weeks ago, and the thing that
people were picking up there was that two-thirds of Britons, two-thirds
of consumers in the UK, are not deterred by terrorism from travelling
abroad. That is the kind of information that we provide. We were
given an award by the British and American Business Council for
our work in Chicago and they gave us an award in 2004 for "our
enviable customer focus and innovation" and our ability to
provide a unique overview of a market's dynamics and prospects.
We were numbered six in last year's Marketing magazine's
league table of research companies in the UK and we are still
experiencing significant growth, so we are a very successful company.
6397. Just on that point about significant growth
and its relevance to the impact of Crossrail, what is your average
level of expansion in terms of staff?
(Mr Thomson) It depends on which location.
In the US we are expanding more quickly than we are in the UK
because it is a bigger market and our focus for making money is
in the US. In the UK it is currently running at approximately
five to 10 per cent a year.
6398. You have 400 directly employed staff?
(Mr Thomson) Yes. There are 200 employed in
the UK.
6399. So you are looking at adding between 20
and 30 jobs a year?
(Mr Thomson) Worldwide, yes.
25 Committee Ref: A74, Mintel Presentation. Back
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