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Amanda Townsend is a Transportation Planner from Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global consulting firm supporting clients to plan, develop, design, construct, operate and maintain critical infrastructure. Amanda's main focus is on sustainable travel and behaviour change. Monday - My week starts with a train journey to Godalming in Surrey, a walk down the lovely country lane, into the office and settle down at my desk. I usually start my Monday morning by checking my emails and prioritising the week's tasks. I am on the London 2012 Travel Advice to Business (TAB) Consultant Panel for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, for which specialised travel and transport consultants were chosen from across the country to provide Site Specific Advice to businesses. As such there are usually 8 or more companies at any one time that need help tailoring and launching surveys, deciding which potential actions are most appropriate for them and needing guidance on travel scenarios during Games time. This takes up most of my week at the moment, as well as the project management for it, but I squeeze a few other things in too... Tuesday - I am finalising a client's Travel Demand Management Toolkit and arranging several workshops to hand over and inspire some travel behaviour change, this time mainly around business travel. Getting lots of people in one room on the same date is a challenge, but we're particularly pleased because aside from some face-to face-focus groups, all of our other discussions and meetings have been via teleconference. All very sustainable! Wednesday - I have meetings at two companies in London for Olympics and Paralympics related Travel Advice to Business today. This morning I am meeting a new company, which involves introducing myself and my role, explaining the TAB process and finding out lots of information about the company, their staff and general travel culture. We share information with the company on travel through hotspot maps, graphs and our experiences, |
and ensure the companies understand the implications of travel to their operations, we then work with them to develop action plans that they can put in place during Games time. This afternoon at my second meeting with another company I will be going over the action plan we have developed together to make sure that they are ready to move forward with the initiatives. They have completed their survey and we have come up with lots of ideas from our discussions together. I answer any questions they have and make sure they have all the information they need to promote their initiatives, and also that they have researched their practical capability (such as IT) to facilitate these solutions. This evening I am going to Balfour Beatty's client and staff Sustainability Awards and film premiere. Thursday - A meeting with another new company, this time in Maidenhead near to Eton Dorney where Olympic and Paralympic events like rowing and canoeing are taking place during the Games. Some very interesting conversations with different parts of the company, including HR, marketing and business continuity. We discuss road and rail travel during this time and how the business might go about making sure they operate as efficiently as possible. There are some great ideas around staff travel as well as deliveries coming out of our discussions. I am looking forward to working on their action plan with them. I write up the minutes and complete the information checklist on the way back on the train. Friday - An all-day Technical Exchange Seminar at PB's London office where we are discussing our areas of expertise and what we have been working on recently. I met lots of people from across PB, a very diverse and interesting bunch. Many beneficial collaborations will come from this exchange. Home to Zumba class this evening and a relaxing weekend!
Amanda Townsend |
WINTER 2011
