DLA COVID-19 Risk Assessment

As the long autumn shadows stretch across the courtyard at North Thirteenth Street, we are settling into a new term. We do so in a world where the pandemic casts an even longer shadow; one that most of us did not dare to contemplate back in March.

Now, thankfully we feel rather more certain of what we are dealing with, if not where all this may take us in the months and years to come. The DLA team are looking ahead and are more than ready to play a part in economic recovery, recolonising town and city centres, planning reform and building beautiful. DLA’s office in Milton Keynes remained open but with only a skeleton of staff during lockdown. Now things look a little more familiar; most of us are back operating for at least part of the time from the office.

We have had a really busy few months and surprised ourselves with the extent to which we have adapted to remote working, remote clients and remote decision making. Some new working practices will certainly stick but we also now know how much collaboration, professional development, invention and the celebration of what we do well, benefits from coming together for real. We have completed the refurbishment of our communal spaces and meeting rooms at North Thirteenth Street for this very purpose; the dust sheets are off but the timing could not have been worse.

For now we are just pleased to be able to allow those that want to get back to working in the office to do so, and to start to welcome clients and collaborators also. We are committed to making sure that working in, or visiting, the office is as safe and welcoming as it possibly can be. To this end we are now operating within the parameters of a Risk Assessment, which can be accessed at the link below. If you are heading our way, we hope you will find this reassuring, one of our risk management team will guide you through the essentials on arrival….and point you towards the shiny new coffee machine.

To read the risk assessment, click here