1. Defence Equipment & Support
Out with the old
and into the new
How North Tyneside Council realised an office
move ....
Add into the equation the surrendering of
leases on existing premises at the Centre for
Advanced Industry (CAI0 building, North Shields,
Northumberland Square, also North Shield and,
Davy Bank and Marine House, both Wallsend
“Fortunately for me, I had been invited to attend
an event hosted by the Ministry of Defence’s
Disposal Services Authority (DSA) some time
ago and had realised that the DSA’s ‘one stop
shop’ approach could provide a solution to all
our office move problems” said Alaric Pritchard,
a member of the council’s project team
The DSA has been operational since
1994; its mandate then, as now, is to
offer a completely managed service
for the re-use, recycling and then only
if necessary, the “disposal” of surplus
government assets. The DSA achieve
this by awarding competitively tendered
contracts to specialist private-sector
companies – of whom there are currently
some 30 or so – who are then tasked by the
DSA with whatever is required in order to
effectively and efficiently deal with whatever
disposal the DSA’s client requires.
It is not uncommon for the DSA to call in the
services of more than one of their specialist
contractors on behalf of a single client – as was
the case when they managed the relocation of
the Met Office from Bracknell to Exeter – but
in the case of North Tyneside Council the work
involvedprimarilyAzcomBusinessSolutionsLtd,
whose task was to remove and environmentally
dispose of office furniture and waste from the
four buildings.
Managing Director at Azcom is Steven Dove:
“Each of the four buildings had their own
challenges; two of them were quite old
with limited access and difficult working
environments – such as having either small
lifts or no lifts at all – which resulted in much
of the equipment and waste being carried
down stairs”.
“We provide an estimate to the DSA of the
market value of the assets being recovered
from their client. This amount is deducted
from the cost to carry out the task. We
then have to meet the timescales agreed
by DSA and their client to do the work in
order to avoid penalties”.
Moving home is stressful for anyone, but imagine the additional
headache when the move involves 900 people. That’s exactly what North
Tyneside Council faced as it restructured its office accommodation with
the opening of a new administrative headquarters to be at the centre of
a network of customer service centres.

2. “This means that
the client expends
considerably less
time and effort on the
management side of the
project AND they realise
a significantly lower cost
of disposal; truly a win-
win situation for them. “It is
then up to us to make the best
market value we can for what
we have recovered. Anything
we cannot re-use immediately
may be refurbished or broken
into constituent parts and sent for
recycling”.
“Finally, anything else that is left over is
land-filled at a cost to us; obviously it is in
our interests to keep this volume as low
as possible. Our target is always less than
10%”. The figures from the North Tyneside
task are as follows:
Item Weight Percentage
Resale: 18.60 tonnes 22
Scrap metal: 18.89 tonnes 22
Recycling: 40.11 tonnes 47
Landfill: 7.67 tonnes 9
“We cleared all four buildings in 22 working
days, which was within the agreed timescale;
the project was phased across all four buildings
and we had started to clear the first building
even before some staff had completed their
relocation from the other buildings!”
Like all specialist contract companies working
on behalf of the DSA, Azcom are about to be
accredited to the ISO 14001 environmental
standard, and Azcom are following on with 9001
for Quality and 18001 for Health and Safety.
About the Disposal Services Authority:
With its history of providing complete disposal
solutions for the Armed Forces, The Disposal
Services Authority (DSA) uniquely offers a
comprehensive portfolio covering everything
from advice and consultancy, to the provision of
a total managed service.
TheDSAisanintegralpartofDefenceEquipment
& Support (DE&S) and as of November 2007 was
recognised as a pan-government core shared
service.
Dedicated contractors not only supply a collect-
to-dispose service, but also offer a wide range
of refurbished items for sale.
To enhance your efficiency, release valuable
operational space, realise the value of unwanted
assets, and yet properly address environmental
issues, contact the DSA to find out more.
Business Development
Disposal Services Authority
St George’s Court
2-12 Bloomsbury Way
London
WC1A 2SH
0207 305 3238 / 0207 305 31030
query@edisposals.com
The Disposal Services Authority:
All you need to know.