Clare Kingswood

Said the following about Sleeper Lounge Project:

“Great Western Railway (GWR) is one of the biggest rail franchises in the UK, part of the First Group of companies, operating the Western network since 1996, rebranding ourselves as GWR in 2015. We employ over 6000 people across our network and we carry more than one and a half million customers over two million single journeys on 10,000 services every week. People are at the heart of our business and our ethos is that we are 'greater together'.

The project team who delivered and now operate the new Sleeper Lounges at Paddington, Penzance and Truro thoroughly deserve an award. The team worked well together, through regular meetings on and off site. The team overcame geographically challenging distances - they were literally working in both Paddington and Penzance - and the level of teamwork and communication was excellent, and allowed them to set high standards for each other and deliver high standards for the customer through the project. They overcame many issues along the way, causing them to not accept low standard in health and hygiene (mice!), safety (see below) and showing an attention to detail that was incredibly customer focused.

Petr Mikyska / David Whiteway – Commercial Development Managers:

Petr and then latterly David helped drive the project from early vision and funding agreement with Cornwall Council, into reality. They stepped into the Project Management role during several changes in PMs (see below) to make sure the project continued to move forward on time. The passion that both Petr and David shared for high standard finishes meant that they went over and above and influenced the design of the lounges to make sure Cornwall’s vision was reflected in the investment. This included influencing the materials design and finishes throughout the lounges. The tiling, flooring and fixtures and fittings were changed mid-project to provide a feel befitting a GWR sleeper lounge – and the shower doors were upgraded from wooden fire door to glass and chrome shower unit doors, thanks to a flash B&Q clearance sale (through a recommendation made to the design and build contractor)! Great care was taken on the furniture procurement to ensure that customers had a long lasting but comfortable and usable offering, that gave the lounges are hotel style lobby feeling. Regular feedback was sought with the funder Cornwall Council throughout the design and construction of the project to make sure that what was delivered, met expectations.

Lee Goodson – West Cornwall Station Manager:

Went out of his way to take ownership of the project and understood the importance of making it a quality service reflecting Cornwall’s investment. Lee made sure our recruitment matched the vision (targeting receptionists from up market hotels etc.) and had them trained and ready to go, so that staffing would not delay the opening of the lounges. Lee made sure the Station Team were engaged on the project at all times, attending site and project meetings personally, which helped shape the future service. He was always available to attend whenever contractors needed access to either Truro or Penzance and went out of his way to accommodate any needs they had to make sure the construction could be completed without delay. Lee took responsibility for overseeing the “into operation” of the Penzance lounge and attended morning and evening to make sure the customer experience ran smoothly, helping staff understood their roles and be on hand to resolve any problems. Despite his demanding role, Lee has been often found in the lounge, with a broom in his hand, helping the Lounge Hosts clean up after service.

Sharon Holloway – Assistant West Cornwall Station Manager:

Sharon was given the task of putting the new Sleeper recruits through their required GWR training courses, and played a crucial role inducting them into the GWR family. She oversaw the into-operation of Truro lounge, attending morning and evening to help make sure the customer experience ran smoothly, helping staff understood their roles and be on hand to resolve any problems. Sharon covered for Lee seamlessly whenever she was called upon – whilst Lee was on leave, she oversaw a successful visit of the Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling to both lounges prior to opening.

Cathy Lester – West Cornwall Stations Team Organiser:

Cathy was given the task to help get the lounges into operation as smoothly as possible, to the standard we needed and Cathy went far beyond her remit to help. As well as sorting out the training and recruitment administration of the new Lounge Hosts, Cathy was tasked to make sure the Lounges had everything they needed when they opened; she spent her evenings researching potential Cornish food / drink / toiletries that might be able to be offered to customers, as per Cornwall’s vision; she made several trips to local retailers to stock last minute finishes which matched our upmarket brand. Cathy was the glue that made sure the Lounges were ready to go as soon as construction was completed and her can do attitude and passion for the new lounges was reflected in their successful transition from construction to operation.

Abu Siddeeq / Julian Richards – Customer Experience Managers:

Abu and then latterly Jules helped pick up the project transition from construction to into operation, looking out for the needs of our customers in the design and delivery of the new lounges. They brought together the wider project team across all three lounges in Cornwall and Paddington to make sure that nothing was missed as the lounges went into operation. Jules sourced Coffee machines from a local Cornish provider in Redruth for the two Cornish lounges and arranged the logistics for the start-up offering of food and drink from Rail Gourmet to Truro and Penzance. Jules has also helped shaped the finishing touches to the lounge that allow it to be a comfortable environment for passengers.

Vicky Quince / Ethan Victor / Demelza Burton / Matt Johns / Nina Lorusso / Kath Dodds / Paul Ogers - Sleeper Lounge Hosts:

The Sleeper Lounge hosts have had the daunting responsibility of operating the lounges each shift as lone workers and had the challenge to turning our product idea into operational reality. There have had to learn this from scratch, as they business hasn’t done something quite like this before, as it’s much more hands-on than a First Class Lounge. Since opening the doors, they’ve attended to 830 sleeper customers in the first 4 weeks of operation and those customers have been bowled over by their friendly and attentive service they’ve received, generating on average 2-3 customer compliments on social media each week for the work they do.

Some comments have included:

“Full marks for the new sleeper lounge at Penzance… Staff (Nina) particularly excellent in offering all the facilities”

“Loving the new facilities (and staff) at Sleeper Lounge… whole experience was really first class!”

“I would like to say how friendly the lounge attendant was at Penzance this morning… she gave us a warm and friendly welcome and was very chatty and friendly…”

A team as successful as this cannot function without strong relationships - the team, from across different departments, supported each other, covered for each other and the project was delivered in a timely way, on budget.

The dedication in getting the product right, and delivering it well extends across the whole team. Their drive is all about setting standards that exceed customer expectations.

The safety focus of the whole team was tested when a [ORR/HMRI] visit identified an issue with the contractor and the team were able to work very closely with Property Services, the Fire Officer, Safety and each other to ensure that actions were swiftly implemented and in doing so avoid any formal improvement notice. This was noted in Exec Safety Group and was a real learning experience for the team, who didn't accept the issue lying down - they made sure to meet the higher standards to make sure that safety remained the most important thing.

The key stakeholder from Cornwall Council has been making a point to tell industry colleagues "what a success the [sleeper upgrade and] lounges have been"; to acknowledge that David Whiteway deserves recognition. Nigel Blackler from Cornwall Council also sent a text to the GWR Commercial Development director saying "Went to Penzance sleeper lounge yesterday - great reception from GWR staff (Nina) who reported very positive feedback from customers- DfT very impressed".“