Newcastle International Airport

Newcastle International Airport has been the North East’s largest airport for over 80 years. Home to 16 airline partners, they connect the region’s leisure and business passengers to over 80 destinations. The airport are proud to have achieved growth and commercial success and are committed to decarbonizing, with a net zero target by 2035.

Like many other aviation hubs, Newcastle International Airport faces a myriad of challenges in managing its projects efficiently. Garry Bulmer, Project CAD Technician, oversees various projects at Newcastle International Airport, ranging from resurfacing car parks to refurbishing terminals and runways. With the airport being a bustling hub of activity, coordinating with contractors, subcontractors and internal departments was becoming increasingly complex. Especially as all documents and correspondence needs to be maintained for auditing purposes from the very beginning of the tender process in any project.

Garry explained, “There’s a lot of communication with contractors, subcontractors and different airport departments and email is a massive part of that. And it’s a high priority for us. If something goes wrong at an airport, the world knows about it, so we have got to be very dedicated to our admin and record-keeping.”

Amidst the challenges of COVID-19 disruptions and unforeseen events like birds nesting around the airport during lockdowns, Garry’s team encountered significant hurdles in managing project correspondence efficiently. Traditional methods of organizing emails through Outlook folders proved to be time-consuming and error-prone, especially in handling large volumes of project-related emails. 

Garry explained, “Previously, I would create another folder within my Outlook inbox that would be dedicated to a single project. And obviously when you’re working that way, you’re creating loads and loads of subfolders. The problem you then get with that is when you copy an email from Outlook into your project folder in the company’s internal drive, if you had a repeat of the title, ‘RE: street lights’ for example, you’d have to rename it. It was such a carry on. Very time consuming and frustrating.”

Recognizing the need for a streamlined solution, Garry’s team adopted Ideagen Mail Manager, a robust email management tool created by project professionals, for project professionals. Garry credits his line manager for recommending the tool, emphasizing its ease of use and effectiveness in organizing project emails seamlessly within Outlook.

Garry commented, “It’s a one-stop location, eliminating all the time-consuming admin tasks. Everything is in there, and it prompts you to save emails, making organization and communication seamless. When we’ve got a lot on, every minute saved on admin counts, so I’m 100% behind using Mail Manager – anywhere we can save time on a project is a massive help.”

Reflecting on Ideagen Mail Manager’s user-friendly interface, Garry shared, “I love the prompt feature. It reminds you to save emails to the right project folder, saving valuable time and ensuring nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Because of who we are and what we do, we need to make sure that all communication is kept up to speed. Especially with building regulations and British standards, we need to cover all bases because safety is paramount at the end of the day.”

Garry stressed the software’s role in maintaining thorough records for the Newcastle International Airport project teams. “With [Ideagen] Mail Manager, we have a record of every correspondence, making it easier to retrieve information when needed. It’s a brilliant organizational software.” He went on to explain, “Implementing Mail Manager has become a standard process for new team members. It ensures consistency and efficiency across the board.”

In the dynamic environment of Newcastle International Airport, Ideagen Mail Manager has emerged as an indispensable tool for project professionals. Its seamless integration, time-saving features and robust organizational capabilities have revolutionized project management, ensuring smooth operations and effective communication. 

When asked to summarize Ideagen Mail Manager in a sentence, Garry expressed, “It is definitely a worthwhile tool. It is great value for money, and helps with overall organization. I’ve come across people who are not organized at all, and they lose emails left, right and center. But Mail Manager takes all that away. It is seamless and really easy to use.”