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Balfour Beatty Living Places re-branded by The Workroom

Posted by: The Workroom

Date added: Tue 24 Apr 2012

This week sees the re-brand of Balfour Beatty Living Places, with name, positioning, identity and visual language by creative agency The Workroom.

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This week sees the re-brand of Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP), with name, positioning, identity and visual language by creative agency The Workroom. The Workroom was appointed non-competitively, based on its multi-award winning re-brand of Balfour Beatty WorkPlace.

In 2011 Balfour Beatty Group decided to create a standalone operating company within the Group’s Support Services division to focus exclusively on the Local Authority business sector. BBLP has traditionally focussed on highways term maintenance and street lighting services for Local Authorities and associated public sector bodies. Growth in the Local Authority outsourcing market place and expansion into further service provision has enabled BBLP to draw on the strength and breadth of the entire Balfour Beatty Group to provide and manage wide-reaching integrated solutions. Increasingly, BBLP is working in partnership with Local Authorities and local communities on strategic longer-term commitments that support regional development, regeneration and inward investment planning.

The aim of the re-branding is to create a unique and stand-out positioning as a lead player in all areas of managed services for Local Authorities and public sector organisations, which is reflected in the name, visual identity and all communications, both internal and external.

Following a series of internal workshops and enriched by external interviews, The Workroom defined a brand positioning model including the brand’s vision, values, essence and promise to customers. This promise is encapsulated as ‘Inspiring Change’ – BBLP’s customers want to revitalise their communities and BBLP shares that ambition to make inspiring ideas a reality, going the extra mile and a half to get the job done, and delivering beyond client expectations.

The name Balfour Beatty Living Places is a natural extension of the brand’s promise – it resonates with Local Authorities, shows the business understands their world, and reflects its desire to enable improvements in local communities.

Terry Woodhouse, Managing Director at Balfour Beatty Living Places said: “In considering our new brand positioning we wanted to invest time and thought into clearly defining what we stand for and the process has allowed us to articulate our vision, our values and our promise to our customers and wider community, as well as our own people. It is the best possible starting point from which to achieve our goals and grow our business.”

Although the logo design needs to follow Balfour Beatty Group’s own corporate guidelines, it’s the unique visual language that truly brings this brand to life. The Workroom has created a core visual property, known as the Lifelines. These ‘lines’ or ‘arteries’ represent what BBLP stands for and offers as a business. Not only does BBLP provide an arterial network literally, but it creates connections and provides continuity throughout communities.

Brigid McMullen, Founder and Creative Director at The Workroom, said: “BBLP’s skill is made up of many strands that come together to create a whole, dynamic picture of change and progress. From the strategic vision to the practical, nitty gritty of delivery, the new positioning and creative execution demonstrate that everything BBLP does is connected and transformative.”

Taking the Lifelines idea one step further, The Workroom created a series of illustrations to help BBLP tell its brand story in a succinct way. The ‘Transformation Tree’, which is the primary illustration, represents the transformation BBLP brings to both urban and rural communities.

BBLP is currently adopting the new positioning and identity for all its communications, based on guidelines and templates provided by The Workroom.