Hints:

Giles Milton

Operations Director

National Weather Centre

Oxford

Ipswich

Plymouth

英式拼写

对话人之间以换行区分

最后一句话到logistics为止,之后不写

And our studio guest today is Giles Milton, Operations Director at the National Weather Centre. Giles, welcome. Thank you. Giles, firstly, most people will know the Centre provides weather reports for TV and radio stations, but they're not your only 'customers', are they? Not by any means. The Centre started out 150 years ago, largely serving the shipping industry, but now it provides a whole range of services. We've been helping supermarkets for some time to predict when to buy more stocks of ice cream, for example, when a heat wave's approaching. Our forecasts for administrators of health authorities help them predict when flu outbreaks might occur. That's something we've only just got off the ground. And there's also our long-standing industrial advisory service for farmers, fishermen and airlines. A real industry, then. Two years ago, the Centre announced its plan to relocate. What brought about that decision? Well, our first premises were near London and were leased to us by the government, and we'd always expected to stay there. But the site offered no scope for desperately needed development, and we had to do something. Although we were initially reluctant to borrow money to finance a relocation, there was no other choice. Did it take long finding an alternative site? Over a year, which looking back seems excessively long, as we only seriously considered three locations: Oxford, Ipswich, and Plymouth, which was the one we eventually chose. All three places had a good labour supply and running costs were comparable, although guess Plymouth is slightly cheaper while being the furthest by road and rail from London. I think, in the end, we realised we could do our work just about anywhere. The data we deal with are all received and sent out via computer, after all. And you were sure staff would be happy to make the commitment of moving permanently to such a nice part of the country? Well, yes, but this is different from tourism. We rely on the expertise of specialist IT people and where we were before, there are hundreds of businesses in the same position. We think there'll be less demand for their services here. Didn't you have to offer them more money to relocate? We decided on a generous relocation package, and that seemed to be enough. Are staff who relocated to your new base happy they made the move? So far, yes. We thought they'd be most impressed by the beautiful countryside, but all they've said is how pleased they are they can now afford to move up the ladder in terms of finding a place to live. Accommodation costs near London have shot up in recent years. And they're finding Plymouth has the same amenities they were used to before, so no complaints there. Did the Centre receive any local government support to relocate? Yes, and that was enormously useful. We didn't have to buy land from the local council, and our offices were purpose-built according to our specifications. We were liable for business taxes from day one, but our first rent isn't due until the site is fully developed, in about 12 months' time. A big incentive, then! Yes. We're very pleased we've established such a good relationship with the local government. There's a range of generous incentives in this region, and they are available equally to local and national organisations. They see us as a nationally high-profile organisation which, by moving here should attract a number of London-based companies to the region. So, is there any other help available, from local business agencies, for example? We've been offered various things, one agency provided a consultant to advise us on the initial design phase. We've just signed an agreement with the local employment agency, whereby they're prepared to pay 50% of the cost of sending our technicians on external computer courses. We could have benefited financially from another scheme if we'd been able to take on school leavers, but our openings are only for experienced workers. Quite. Tell me about the logistics.
今天我们录影棚的贵宾室吉尔米,国际天气协会的执行总监。吉尔,欢迎您。 谢谢。 吉尔,首先绝大多数人都知道你们中心为电视和广播之声提供天气预报,但是他们不是你仅有的客户,是吧? 当然不是。本中心开办于150年前,大规模为船业服务,但现在业务范围扩大。我们有的时候帮助超市预测什么时候买进更多冰淇淋存库,比如说,当一个天气要变热之际。我们为卫生当局管理员预测,帮助他们知晓什么时候会爆发流感。那些都是我们做过的事情。而且我们还为农民、渔民和航空公司设长存的产业咨询服务。 那真是一个产业了。两年前,你中心宣布计划迁址。是什么让你们作出这个决定呢? 好吧。我们的原址是在伦敦附近,由政府租用给,以我们长期租用为条件。但是那个地方没有我们亟需的发展前景,所以我们必须做点什么。尽管开始不太愿意贷款负担迁址费用,但也没有别的办法了。 你们花了很长时间找合适地点吗? 超过一年的时候,现在回顾感觉太长了点,因为我们只郑重考虑了三处:牛津,伊普斯威奇,普利茅斯,最终选择了后者。这三处都有充足的劳动力而且运行成本也差不多,尽管想不到普利茅斯离伦敦公路、铁路最远,相较而言却略显便宜。我想,最终我们才意识到我们随处都能工作。毕竟,我们处理的数据全只靠由电脑收发。 ——译文来自: 第三班车