Busman’s holiday: How I use my project skills at Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust

I got involved with Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust (GVVT) because I’m a bus enthusiast and love all things to do with buses. I have been the Chair of GVVT for nearly seven years, a role that requires the full gamut of project professional skills. My application of them has helped professionalise GVVT by running it more along business and project lines.

GVVT is a small charity, run by volunteers. It is based at Bridgeton Bus Garage in the East End of the city, where it keeps a collection of 130 commercial vehicles, mostly buses. The garage was built by Glasgow Corporation in the 1960s to house some of its bus fleet, so the building itself has its own transport heritage.

One unique way GVVT contributes to the local community is through its social inclusion programme, Back on the Road, which works with those in recovery from substance abuse, which is particularly important given the numbers of drug and alcoholrelated deaths in Scotland are among the highest in Europe.

How to buy a bus garage

GVVT had been leasing the garage from City Property, an arm’slength organisation of Glasgow City Council, for many years. The lease was coming to an end and the draft terms of a new agreement were unaffordable. GVVT decided it needed to buy the garage to secure its future and to sustain and develop its activities.

We set out a business plan to do this where I acted as the lead author. I headed up a team to handle all aspects of the purchase and was accountable to the Board of Trustees for its delivery. As Chair, I also provided leadership and direction. The project faced a period of uncertainty: GVVT was not in control of the outcome, the landlord was. Commercial rates on a new lease would be unaffordable. We would have had to find alternative accommodation, likely breaking up the vehicle collection in the process.

The level of risk associated with the situation, and the prospect of a small charity taking on such a large building, was very significant. There was no way of determining how negotiations would go. The landlord had no intention of selling the building and had proven very difficult to engage with initially. GVVT was required to secure funding to complete the purchase, and it wasn’t clear whether a lender would be prepared to provide this or not. Early signs weren’t good. Fortunately, a specialist arm of NatWest called Social and Community Capital provided a sizeable loan. Finally, the COVID19 pandemic hit and its impact had to be determined to allow a revised baseline to be set.

A broad remit

I was responsible for:

defining and executing the strategy to buy the building
carrying out stakeholder identification, building the engagement plan for them and owning key relationships
developing and implementing a funding strategy, including negotiating with potential funders
carrying out affordability assessments
scenario testing and working with the legal team to negotiate the purchase.

A challenging part of the project was the wide variety of stakeholders involved, all with different perspectives, roles to play and often with competing interests. These included trustees, members, vehicle owners, building subtenants, council officials, elected representatives at local and national level, City Property, potential funders, visitors to our events, legal teams, local and trade press and other heritage organisations.

A springboard for future development

Happily, Bridgeton Bus Garage is now fully owned by GVVT. Since the purchase completed, GVVT has gone from strength to strength. Visitor numbers to our events have increased, as have our passenger numbers. As this has gone on, the membership of GVVT has grown, which in turn has grown the volunteer base. Supported by more promotion and publicity, and undertaking more events and community activities, the visibility of GVVT has greatly increased.

This, in turn, has grown our opportunities to collaborate. We now have a patron, the legendary broadcaster and DJ Ken Bruce. He is helping us raise our profile and reach new audiences. Another notable person is Sir Brian Souter, one of the founders of Stagecoach. GVVT shares his passion for encouraging engagement with young people. Due to his support, we now have a state-of-the-art bus simulator at the garage for would-be drivers.

The Back on the Road programme has also reached new heights. For the first time in over 15 years, it's fully funded by grant-awarding bodies and not GVVT. In terms of where we will go next, a business case is in development that will cover how GVVT can create a visitor centre alongside its operational garage. Between now and then, it will continue to develop what it currently does and broaden its reach.

What has involvement in GVVT given me?

I’ve learned that soft project management works best at GVVT, not overwhelming people with Gantt charts, spreadsheets and metrics. Use these tools in the background to help do the work, but ensure information coming from them is more digestible for general consumption.

A people focus is also vital in all activities. Much effort is needed to cajole and encourage volunteers. At other times, you need to harness their enthusiasm. In a practical way, volunteering with GVVT helps with my continuing professional development. Lots of the work I do for GVVT helps satisfy this requirement.

I was also able to use the garage purchase as a project for my Chartered Project Professional application. I have found this leadership role and application of my skills as a project professional very rewarding and often much more wide-ranging in scope than I experience in my actual career.

You can see the immediate impact of your actions in small voluntary organisations. You can deliver benefits and exert influence in a way that is less likely in a corporate environment. To me, that’s fulfilling, satisfying and often fun. I’d highly recommend it. If you’re thinking about volunteering, then stop thinking and just do it!