Shanice the £12,000 hologram assistant installed at the new Civic Centre has received widespread publicity and not a little controversy. Some have hailed it as a 21st century innovation while others said if Brent Council was really concerned about local unemployment rates they should have employed a real person - and not on a zero hours contract.
Others have been scathing about the basic lack of signs at the Centre. On Monday evening strategically placed security men had to guide us to the boardroom where the Executive meeting was being held. There are no signs to these rooms where meetings, ostensibly opn to the public to ensure transparent democracy, are held.
Every new building has its teething problems and the Brent Civic Centre is no exception.
Unusually you are instructed to keep your finger pressed on the button to summon the lift and once inside you must kept your finger pressed on the button to ensure you stop at the requested floor. I am not sure what happens if you lift your finger off - perhaps the lift stops between floors or whizzes back down again.
Staff have complained of feeling hot and cold due to what appears erratic climate controls and the automatic ambient light sensors don't always give enough light to enable comfortable reading.
The one fault that has resulted in farcical scenes is the poor mobile phone signal (staff are equipped with mobiles for their hot-desking). This has resulted in the open plan offices in a cacophony of shouted telephone conversations reverberating around the room leaving staff with splitting headaches at the end of the day.
Not to mention the IT...
But the restaurant does now serve tap water, albeit slightly warm if they don't run the tap first.
Others have been scathing about the basic lack of signs at the Centre. On Monday evening strategically placed security men had to guide us to the boardroom where the Executive meeting was being held. There are no signs to these rooms where meetings, ostensibly opn to the public to ensure transparent democracy, are held.
Every new building has its teething problems and the Brent Civic Centre is no exception.
Unusually you are instructed to keep your finger pressed on the button to summon the lift and once inside you must kept your finger pressed on the button to ensure you stop at the requested floor. I am not sure what happens if you lift your finger off - perhaps the lift stops between floors or whizzes back down again.
Staff have complained of feeling hot and cold due to what appears erratic climate controls and the automatic ambient light sensors don't always give enough light to enable comfortable reading.
The one fault that has resulted in farcical scenes is the poor mobile phone signal (staff are equipped with mobiles for their hot-desking). This has resulted in the open plan offices in a cacophony of shouted telephone conversations reverberating around the room leaving staff with splitting headaches at the end of the day.
Not to mention the IT...
But the restaurant does now serve tap water, albeit slightly warm if they don't run the tap first.
