Eldon Square

Eldon Square

Eldon Square is one of the North East's major retail and leisure destinations. Kerry Malia, Senior Digital Marketing Executive, joined the programme already confident in her own use of AI - but with a bigger ambition: to help the wider organisation build capability in a safe, practical and joined-up way.

Her key question was not whether AI could help marketing, but how colleagues across different functions - including operations, customer service and finance - could use it effectively within appropriate governance and risk controls.

At the outset, Kerry was already a relatively advanced user. She was confident with AI tools, thoughtful about responsible use, and clear that AI could support workflows beyond marketing. The challenge lay elsewhere: use across the wider team was uneven, and any approach needed to sit within existing governance led by Savills.

Through the masterclass and two follow-up 1:1 sessions, we focused on turning that interest into a practical internal plan. This included identifying the departments most likely to benefit, shaping a realistic training format for staff, and exploring what a light-touch AI framework might look like. Together, we developed an outline for hands-on sessions covering tools such as Microsoft Copilot 365, alongside core guidance on privacy, security, human oversight and responsible use. A key part of the discussion was how to ensure staff understand not only what AI can help with, but also where caution is needed - particularly around data protection, accuracy, intellectual property, brand reputation and the need for human review.

A key part of the work was recognising Kerry's emerging role as an internal AI champion. She was already using AI in her own role for drafting, reporting, learning and document-based tasks, and was well placed to model good practice for others. This matters not just in terms of confidence-building, but in helping to normalise a more responsible approach to AI use across the organisation: one where experimentation is encouraged, but within clear ethical and practical boundaries. The support therefore helped move the conversation from individual experimentation towards structured organisational readiness.

The impact so far is less about full roll-out and more about foundation-building. Kerry's own confidence strengthened further, and Eldon Square now has a clear, ready-to-use training concept that can be activated once budget is available. Just as importantly, AI is being considered not only as a productivity tool, but as something that needs to be supported by policy, shared understanding and leadership attention. There is now much clearer recognition that successful adoption depends on responsible use being built in from the outset, rather than added later as an afterthought.