Principles

  • Our work will deliver sustainable capability within our customers’ organisations
  • We will share what we’ve done and what we’ve learned with all of our customers
  • We are always open to new ways and new tools to get the best outcome for our customers
  • We will aim to complement the capacity and capability of our customers, not replace
  • People are the most important thing. Everybody treats everybody as equals – customers, partners, associates and staff
  • The ‘So What?’ Principle – we always consider what impact the work we do will have on the service user

Vision

‘To enable Public Service delivery that most effectively meets the needs of the service user’

Mission

‘To use the skills, experience and tools of our team, our partners, our clients and their service users to design and support the delivery of the best public services’.

What our people say

Kim Wakelam

Business Consultant

‘Lots of very clever folk in 4OC without egos, who support and drive learning across the board and want to always make things better for everyone. Even more important – it’s always fun!’

James Mathew

Senior Business Consultant

‘It feels great to be contributing to work that makes a difference / does social good’

‘…good to work in a noncorporate, informal, and genuinely fun environment’.

Our Story

4OC has been running since 2012, started by the intellectual colossuses John Curran, Catherine Cross and Paul Marray. These three wise folk gathered each morning in a shared workspace to brainstorm ideas. This workspace was full of very glamorous start-up companies. And 4OC. (3 Owners, 0 Staff, 1 Customer)

One short year later, we moved from the rundown enclave of Piccadilly to the salubrious surrounds of Westminster Bridge Road, with a mellow soundtrack provided by our nearest neighbour, the London Ambulance Service. We persevered. We ran workshops. We made phone calls. And (very) slowly, we started to secure new work with new customers. And win friends. And influence people. (3 Owners, 6 Staff, 5 Customers) 

We remained here for three years. Until the water dripping down the walls grew to a steady flow. By this time, we had built some great working relationships with several councils, a very small bit of the NHS and one housing association.

After the landlords had allocated their annual maintenance budget for a new doorbell, we knew it was time to go. We packed up our laptops and coffee machine, jumped on the 133 bus and sailed off into the sunset. About 500 metres away, in another part of South East London. And so began the latest stage of our adventure. (3 Owners, 12 Staff, 18 Customers).  

We’ve been in Cole St since May 2018 and a lovely place it is too – it comes with an en suite bath in one of our meeting rooms, which is nice. Once we were settled, the founders decided it was high time we grew big enough to deliver on our vision.

We brought on a range of experts in a variety of sectors, including Health, Education and Housing to help us on our way. They’re also very nice. We did some really cool things in 2019 with some great and sometimes challenging clients, and we remain optimistic that we can deliver on that vision. (3 Owners, 25 Staff, 32 Customers) 

2020. What could go wrong? …

If you like what you hear

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