September 2023
Craig McGilvray
Enjoying the challenges of a new investment strategy
Dame Judith Hackitt
Moral obligations of building safer facilities
Graeme Brown
Changing the security sector for the better
Rob Dennis
Meeting the challenges of the net zero journey
Fighting for the rights of environmental ninjas
hilst it is now less likely to see individuals being placed into groups of racial stereotypes, I’m continuing to meet those who could easily comply with the world view of English people and their ability to ‘keep calm and carry on’, regardless of the trials and tribulations continuing around them.
Rather than applying just to people from England, however, I’d like to quickly point out that this applies to people of all nationalities. Perhaps it’s a case that the FM industry is more attractive to and supportive of those of a more stoic nature?
The challenges that have emerged over the last three years have been unprecedented, ranging from the Coronavirus pandemic and several crises that followed and included rising inflation, national and international security issues, recruitment challenges and several others.
These have been further compounded by the constant negative headlines in the national media over the state of the UK economy, which has been labelled as the worst performing of the EU nations, along with other similar downbeat judgements.
It has been impossible to avoid these stories and it is noticeable that these have led to the view that if the UK economy is not currently in a recession, it’s only a matter of time before it sinks to that level, with the result that these statements have become accepted by even the most level-headed individuals.
Everything changed just a few weeks ago, however, when it was announced without any meaningful explanation that the UK economy had, in fact, been performing at a much higher level for the last 18 months and had recovered from the effects of the pandemic much quicker than originally reported.
The implications of these announcements are far more wide-ranging than my feeble imagination is able to consider, but even I can see the danger of believing the sweeping statements made by many of our official bodies, despite the inclusion of ‘facts’ to support them.
It’s very tempting to resort to the finger-pointing and name-calling approaches adopted by individuals and organisations when faced with examples similar to those described above, but I’m very pleased to report that I’ve yet to hear any of my FM peers stooping to this level.
Running businesses of any type will always be challenging in a number of ways and one of the many frustrations within this is that there is very little meaningful support from government bodies and industry institutions that claim to provide this.
The fact that the FM industry is able to ‘keep calm and carry on’, continuing to deliver excellent service and support in the face of the many and varied challenges, both existing and emerging, is something that that we should all celebrate and shout from the rooftops.
Everything changed just a few weeks ago, however, when it was announced without any meaningful explanation that the UK economy had, in fact, been performing at a much higher level for the last 18 months
DENNIS FLOWER MANAGING EDITOR
New BCC chair Delia Cannings describes her continuing efforts to raise the profile of cleaning staff and gain recognition for their frontline worker status
Increasing efforts are being made to encourage higher numbers of staff to return to their place of work on a more frequent basis
Considerable reductions in carbon emissions have been achieved by Medway Council through its highly effective partnership with SSE Energy Solutions
Great understanding of the challenges facing business to achieve net zero carbon emissions is resulting in better decisions on how to invest to reach this target
Insight from Charlotte Parr, director at Churchill, and Hazel Bedson, marketing and operations director at Service Works Global. Charlotte and Hazel explain the key points of the new flexible working law and how FM can support clients who may see increased flexible working in their workforces
Craig McGilvray shares how his company has entered a new world and different ways of working in the wake of a vastly different investment strategy
Gathering more than 40 attendees to the FM Business Daily fire safety event in July resulted in high levels of industry discussion
Further endorsing the many benefits provided to FM by ex-service personnel, Graeme Brown explains his journey from the armed forces to his current role
On the eve of Fire Door Safety Week, we are reminded of the vital importance of passive fire services
The opening of Chancery House has provided TOG with its largest shared workspace, ideally located in central London of largest facility
Kelly Dolphin relates her work experience to date, including her early introduction to the cleaning sector and value of passion for maintaining the highest standards
FM’s most recent media brand continues its expansion, as shown by its increasing number of followers for its LinkedIn page
Rapid growth enjoyed by Horizon Engineering Solutions in recent years shows every sign of continuing through its Azolla Software collaboration
The ending of PFI contracts is predicted to require considerable effort from all concerned, including full-time staff with specialist skills, while also continuing business as usual, says Emma Thornton
Matt Davies of Memco explains how telephone connections of lift alarms can be as an essential to your business as the alarm itself
Matt Davies says there is urgent need to address the issue of emergency phone lines in lifts ahead of the switchover from copper wire telecommunications in 2025
Nina Wyers, marketing and brand director at The Floorbrite Group, asks did you know, having an innovative and effective waste management service can support your business in reaching it’s ESG goals, achieving zero to landfill and reducing your carbon footprint, but how?
Insight from Sanna Atherton, Corporate Nutritionist, SuperWellness
66 Movers and shakers
reflect the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher and editor. The published material, adverts, editorials and all other content is published in good faith.
New BCC chair Delia Cannings describes her continuing efforts to raise the profile of cleaning staff and gain recognition for their frontline worker status
Throughout her long career dedicated to the UK cleaning sector, Delia Cannings tells FM Director how she continues to be inspired by the selfless acts and professionalism of her peers, which she has used to fuel her efforts to secure higher levels of recognition and support for all cleaning team members.
“I joined the industry when my boys were babies on the basis that if they were going to wear shoes, I was going to have to go to work to help my husband in supporting the family,” she explains. “The cleaning industry was a great place to hang your hat, as it was easy to get into, offered part-time evening work – everything that fits in perfectly with a working husband and small children.”
Her first work experience involved the cleaning of hospitals, for which she drew inspiration from her mother. “She had a cleaning remit for many years, did a really good job and loved her work, and always said ‘This cleaning business is a science, you know’. I entered the cleaning industry out of necessity but found my true calling in cleaning and I was inspired by my mother, and still feel that if I could do it half as well as she did, I would be very happy.
“She is Irish and a very funny lady and once described me as a ‘porcelain consultant’ before explaining that I was mainly cleaning toilets, but I realised what she was trying to do and I’ve always remembered that and spent my whole career on making cleaning more glamorous.
“I’ve always wanted to be like my mother, and would love to achieve half what she did. The reputation she had with her staff was just amazing and the positive energy she gave them to help them feel valued was incredible,” she continues.
These efforts have also resulted from Ms Cannings’s early experiences and the ways she was
referred to by others at the facilities she cleaning, including “the girl in the green overalls or the girl that cleans in the evenings. They very rarely used my name and I got to thinking ‘I’m actually providing a service that keeps you guys safe’,” she continues.
“They referred to me as a cleaner, which is actually a product that comes in bottles and doesn’t have a heartbeat and a pulse, I’m an environmental ninja, and I’m protecting the health and wealth of the nation,” she states. “I always remember how my mother made her team feel as though they were best thing since sliced bread, because the hospital could not function without them.
“She made sure they knew their role was instrumental in the recovery of patients and I’ve never forgotten that.”
Ms Cannings’s hospital cleaning experience went well and led to considerations for more work during the day. “This was in the days before nurseries, so I looked for work where I could take the children along and found that cleaning hotels during the day worked perfectly,” she continues.
Feeling comfortable in her choice of career, Ms Cannings began to search for formal qualifications and found a cleaning science course and enrolled on a two-year programme. “It was the best move I ever made and it proved beyond any doubt that cleaning was a science, and that the application of the correct technique would ensure longevity of fixtures and furnishings and that health and wellbeing would be ensured by the person doing the cleaning.”
She continues to use these lessons to raise the image of cleaning personnel by emphasising the number of skills required. These frequently range from mathematics to chemistry and biology to problem solving, she states.
I’m an environmental ninja, and I’m protecting the health and wealth of the nation
“I always tell people their skills base is massive and they must believe in themselves and have the confidence to say: ‘I am an environmental ninja and I’m protecting everyone around me.’ I’m still passionate about the people in our industry, who are the unsung heroes, the forgotten army,” she continues.
Her passion for the industry has been endorsed by and further encouraged by the people she has met throughout her career, which have “shared experiences, told me their stories and enriched my life”, she states. Although some industry peers have dismissed her views, others have supported Ms Cannings’s opinion that cleaning staff deserve much higher levels of recognition and education.
This positive approach was recognised by the college she attended, resulting in the offering of a teaching role that she initially questioned due to her lack of experience and qualifications. Having been encouraged by the college, Ms Cannings explains how she found herself teaching a class of 30: “I felt like the biggest fraud but managed to pull it off!”
The success of her efforts led to her accepting the offer of a full-time teaching role, from which she progressed to the director of vocational science. One of the main areas of concentration throughout her time at the college was the progression of her efforts to provide all cleaning industry peers with the chance to pursue as many opportunities as possible.
“One of the things we were lacking was a really good succession plan. There were a lot of really good supervisors and managers but when they retired there was no succession plan in place, so I made it my mission to gather all these lovely human beings and give them an experience that was a little bit different in terms of cleaning,” she continues.
Many senior personnel in the cleaning sector have been trained by Ms Cannings and she states her delight that she is able to see them and hear about their success. “I’ve trained thousands of people to be environmental ninjas over the years and it’s wonderful to see them work their way up to senior positions in the industry.”
As her educational career progressed, the frustration of lack of government support and funding led to her leaving to start her Environmental Excellence Training and Development business in 2010 to provide training to those most in need. “I then gathered all the people around me that the colleges didn’t want and showed them the training and the courses available.
“We looked around to see where we could get the funding and 12 years later my little business is doing quite nicely,” she says. “It’s been a fantastic journey and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.”
Although Ms Canningss has an established training facility in the Midlands, she finds she is often travelling around the country to assist with training and instruction. “We get calls from people and I find it quite hard to say no, sometimes, and feel quite privileged they’ve asked me to go.”
In addition to running her own business, she is involved with industry bodies including the United Kingdom Housekeepers Association, for
which she served as chair until June this year, while continuing her involvement with the Association for Healthcare Cleaning and Professionals as its lead for education and training, she serves as examiner for the Cleaning Science Degree programmes with Northampton University and she has also stepped up from her deputy chair role for British Cleaning Council (BCC).
“I’ve been a member of the BCC for a long time and then an opportunity came along to become the chair that I wasn’t looking for, but discussed it with my colleagues. They said there had only been a couple of other women to serve as chair and told me it would be good for me to take it, so on the 12 July I became chair of the BCC,” she states.
“It’s given me a great opportunity to voice opinions that a lot of people share but haven’t been able to express, and there’s also a lot of support for getting the government to invest in our industry. We’ve just come through a pandemic and it was the cleaning industry that helped us get there.
It’s given me a great opportunity to voice opinions that a lot of people share but haven’t been able to express
“The public want reassurance and they see cleaning in a different way now then they ever did,” she continues. And if the industry is expected to raise its performance it needs to be trained and that requires funding, so that will require the government to step up and meet this need.”
Ms Cannings’ main aims over the next two years of her BCC chair role include raising the profile of cleaning workforces and access to all for appropriate education and training. She further states that although the cleaning sector was fundamental in helping the nation through the pandemic, the government has failed to provide it with the recognition it deserves.
“A lot of people have left the industry because they felt they were not treated fairly. They feel disrespected and it was often the cleaners that held the hands of the hospital patients that died during the pandemic, because they were not allowed to have visitors, and yet the government didn’t even give us key worker status,” she says.
“The BCC is determined to help everyone to receive the necessary training and achieve ever higher levels of professionalism and we’re going to make sure that the government will give us frontline status, because we’re keeping the public healthy.”
Her views have been further endorsed by the Coronavirus pandemic and the high levels of recognition for the significant efforts of cleaning staff around the UK. She views the cleaning industry as a silent army fighting an invisible adversary.
“We couldn’t see our enemy because it was a virus, but we got it. Does that not tell you how canny, wonderful and good we are to kill an enemy we can’t even see?” she asks. “That’s your cleaning people, that’s why we’re environmental ninjas.”
She describes the current state of the industry as “fractured”, mainly due to the issues previously explained, but states that it is worth £59bn and one of the top five industries in the UK.
This is another good reason for the government to make up for its previous lack of support and begin to invest in educating and training the people that work in it, she states.
Another priority is to continue to press the government for more support for a cleaning industry apprenticeship. Having approved the apprenticeship for cleaning and environment trainees in 2020, which focuses on care environments, Ms Cannings states that a scheme for more general cleaning is now required and has asked the government to consider its options in supporting this.
“There was a lot of negativity and ignorance to overcome and they couldn’t have made it harder, but we went back time and time again and in the end they relented,” she states. One of the issues addressed is that of the Apprenticeship Levy, which many cleaning companies contribute to, but are unable to gain any benefit from because there is not dedicated cleaning apprenticeship.
“This was a priority of my predecessor, Jim Melvin, and I’m going to continue that. The BCC is very focused on its work to get a cleaning apprenticeship established and allow all the cleaning companies to see their Apprenticeship Levy money used for their benefit, because it’s their money and not the government’s.”
One of her many career highlights was provided by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2003, from
whom Ms Canningss received an award for her services to the cleaning industry at Buckingham Palace. “It was one of the proudest moments in my father’s life and I still remember him saying in his western Irish accent: ‘Ah, she’s a grand lady, isn’t she?’”
She further states that he has felt somewhat daunted by requests for cleaning advice over the years, which she has dealt with by being honest and speaking from her heart and has found that this has always been appreciated. Her status within the cleaning industry has also led to television programme contributions, including appearances on Panorama, Newsnight, Homes From Hell and I Cleaned Your Home.
“I’ve found that if you have passion and you know the subject, you can explain it in a way that someone who perhaps doesn’t know the area quite as well can understand. I’m still getting asked to do TV work, typically on hotel mattresses and grimy toilets – I get all the good stuff – but I feel very fortunate to have been involved in some very high profile projects over the years,” she says.
Referring back to the highly positive influence provided by her mother, Ms Canningss says that this has been a major factor in her aims to provide all industry personnel with more recognition and improved opportunities. “I want the cleaning industry and the people in it to feel valued for their contribution to the health and wealth of the nation by keeping environments clean and safe,” she says.
I’m still getting asked to do TV work, typically on hotel mattresses and grimy toilets
– I get all the good stuff
Increasing efforts are being made to encourage higher numbers of staff to return to their place of work on a more frequent basis
ne of the most dominant themes of conversation around the workplace between clients and FM service providers is that of raising the numbers of staff attending their place of work.
There have been high levels of information and published articles discussing this issue over the last 18 months and although some businesses have reported improving attendance numbers as a result of their effort and investment, others are continuing their initiatives due to limited response from their colleagues.
One of the issues to address is the suitability of each job role for home working. There are numerous considerations to appreciate within this one strand of discussion, of course, including the circumstances of each person, the needs of the company and those of colleagues.
Each role that requires regular collaboration with colleagues is typically considered to be best completed in the office, allowing everyone to discuss their progress and work more effectively as a team. However, one of the impacts of the recent recruitment crisis is that higher numbers of employees are working for employers in entirely different areas of the country, making daily travel to the head office a difficult process or, in some cases, completely impossible.
Another consideration to be appreciated in the drive to see workplaces used more frequently is that the pandemic resulted in a unique situation where many businesses were forced to close, resulting in millions of people working from home with little or no preparation time. Having adjusted to this, many found the benefits of home working to outweigh those of attending their place of work.
The ability to spend more time with family and friends, improve their work and life balance and save the cost of commuting have understandably proved highly attractive to many. Industry experts reported that the pandemic had resulted in bringing home working to the fore 10 years faster than would otherwise be the case, resulting in the current situation and the considerations of employers in how to achieve the best outcomes.
On of the one hand, the majority of companies are keen to support their staff in order to ensure that they feel comfortable in completing their daily tasks. On the other, they need to ensure that everyone is working as productively as possible and supporting their employer’s efforts to remain profitable.
The need to avoid areas of conflict within these considerations is obvious, but that does not mean the situation is not complex, however, but it should equally be understood that neither is it impossible to resolve.
One of the most encouraging responses by employers is that of increased investment in their offices, raising standards of catering, improving the facility and upgrading the levels of assistance provided to staff members.
Following one of the early responses to the pandemic that predicted the end of the commercial real estate market, as high numbers of companies reported the ease with which their employees had adapted to working from home, this was quickly followed by the realisation of the effect of lower levels of collaboration was having on their business.
The ability to spend more time with family and friends, improve their work and life balance and save the cost of commuting have understandably proved highly attractive to many
The next prediction involved that of the wholesale readjustment of each company’s real estate investment, which proved to be more accurate than the demise of commercial real estate and resulted in numerous businesses adjusting their real estate presence.
The typical outcome within this has seen the downsizing of head office operations to adjust to the lower numbers of staff in attendance. This outcome has not been possible in every situation where less space is now required by the company, it should be explained, particularly for organisations that own their facilities or do not have other options available to them in their area.
Companies located in city centres or large towns are usually those with more choice at their disposal. Negotiations with landlords have allowed others to reduce their leased office space, with the best examples seeing increased investment and putting the savings achieved to good use.
Improved layout and interior design have been delivered in numerous locations, which has included the removal of permanent desks in the drive to make workplaces more open, adaptable and able to meet a wider range of requirements. One of the best examples of this is the Sodexo head office at One Southampton Row, London, at which the company generously allowed FM Business Daily to hold its lates Fire Safety roundtable discussion, sponsored by PTSG.
The event included 50 industry personnel attending to hear the presentation of Dame Judith Hackitt, explaining the details and requirements of
the Building Safety Act (turn to page 32 of this issue for a report on the event). Held in the main reception area of the Sodexo head office, this has been redesigned to include furniture on wheels that can easily be transformed to cater for events, including a high-quality, audio-visual system.
The facility additionally includes a variety of meeting room options, along with more casual spaces where less formal discussions can take place, or can be used by staff and visitors to complete work tasks. Further investment by companies has included upgrading the catering options available, with some additionally providing free meals as an incentive to attract more staff to attend.
One of the questions emerging from the efforts of many FM service providers to improve the workplace of their clients is whether a standard model has emerged to support the productivity of their clients.
Responding to this question, SGS security excellence and projects director Rob Whiffing says that in modern business, companies strive to enhance staff productivity to maintain a competitive edge. “But few organisations recognise the role that security officers can play in optimising staff productivity,” he continues and provides a number of examples to explain how the delivery of security services can enhance productivity in the workplace.
“People see security officers as the custodians of their safety and guards address potential threats promptly. By being proactive, workplace security services create an environment in which staff can focus on their duties, unburdened by concerns about personal safety. People feel at ease and focused, which lays the foundation for improved productivity,” says Mr Whiffing.
By being proactive, workplace security services create an environment in which staff can focus on their duties, unburdened by concerns about personal safety
Security officers take a proactive approach to preventing disruption, he explains. They carry out assessments, vigilantly monitor access control and rehearse their emergency protocols. When employees are secure in the knowledge that potential disruptions are being managed carefully, they are better positioned to channel their energy into productive work.
“Then there’s the role that workplace security plays in keeping the peace between employees. Nobody wants to be the person to intervene in a row about a ding in the car park, or disagreements over lockers. But trained security guards can de-escalate a situation with empathy and control.
“Effective management of conflicts fosters an atmosphere in which employees can interact harmoniously, promoting open communication and bolstering overall productivity,” he says.
When people know that the company they work for cares about them as individuals, they engage more fully in their work and they tend to stay loyal to that organisation. Companies that integrate security services into their corporate fabric send a powerful message to their employees: we value your safety and well-being.
“This message fortifies the bond between employees and their workplace. Staff members are more invested, motivated, and enthusiastic, and in turn they become more productive and perform better.
“Security officers bring more to an organisation than essential security. When organisations integrate security offers into their business, they can unlock the full multifaceted potential of a security workforce. A secure environment not only nurtures a positive
workplace ethos but also empowers employees to flourish,” says Mr Whiffing.
In addition to Mr Whiffing’s comments, the search for the best method to deliver optimum levels of efficiency for each company includes a multitude of options to consider. In order to achieve the best results, it is essential to include as many elements as possible, including the many and varied requirements of staff, expectations of the company and also those of facilities users, where this is appropriate.
Without these extensive efforts, it is unlikely that the best results will be achieved, resulting in companies running the risk of their hard work and –even more importantly, investment – being made in vain. This means that the FM industry, its clients and service providers are still considering whether there is a “one solution fits all” outcome that they can apply to their work settings.
There are, however, a number of positive outcomes that have emerged since the reopening of facilities after the Coronavirus pandemic, including those outlined above and a variety of others within the efforts of businesses to attract, support and retain the best talent. This means that facilities are now being refurbished or built with the above in mind, assisting offices to move away from their former battery hen image, with rows of desks replaced with far more attractive and adaptable designs.
While it is entirely natural for the interior design of the workplace to continue to develop, it is also appropriate that this will allow, and even encourage, changing attitudes to work. The most important overall message is that any change will assist workers to either improve their productivity or meet the expectations of their employers and others.
Effective management of conflicts fosters an atmosphere in which employees can interact harmoniously, promoting open communication and bolstering overall productivity
With a growing sense of unease around the topic of achieving net zero carbon emissions status within the UK by 2050 emerging over the last few years, this year has seen a notable rise in positive developments that provide a far more optimistic outlook.
One of the most recent of these is the work completed by SSE Energy Solutions on behalf of Medway Council with the aim of providing a 20% reduction in carbon emissions within 11 of its major public buildings.
With net zero now established as a common topic of conversation around the FM industry, responses ranging from complete cynicism to blind optimism have been recorded by FM Director since the launch of the magazine in September 2022. These have shifted
to a more positive tone in recent months, assisted by reports on how reduction of carbon emissions and support for companies in achieving their net zero targets is becoming an ever more frequent driver of new business deals.
Having received the green light to meet Medway Council head of capital projects Rob Dennis and SSE Energy Solutions engineering manager Bogdan Mert and view the considerable levels of success achieved at two of the council’s buildings in Gillingham, Kent, FM Director enjoyed exclusive access. Completion of the £3.2m project has seen significant levels of change delivered in both Gillingham Library, the nearby Medway Park Sports Centre and nine additional buildings within the council’s estate.
Mr Mert immediately affirms the SSE Energy Solutions approach through the use of data to show
the energy consumption of the Medway Council buildings by sharing the dashboard online view of energy consumption within the two buildings visited on the day. Many of the comments from Messrs Mert and Dennis additionally support the more prevalent view emerging within the topic of achieving net zero carbon emissions status, emphasising that the merits of each site need to be carefully assessed and appreciated to ensure the effectiveness of any investment.
“We completed a detailed overview of all the sites to understand the situation with each one before any work started for Medway Council,” says Mr Mert. “That led us to removing all the old oil boilers and gas heaters, so there’s now no fossil fuels being used and some of the buildings can even work off-grid for several hours every day.”
His opening comment will both pique the interest and support the views of the more inquisitive of our readers in the drive to reduce carbon emissions, perhaps even more so when it is understood that these efforts have included the removal of fossil fuel usage within sports centres that include large swimming pools. Opinion has been previously expressed that the high levels of energy required to heat large volumes of water is likely to present sports facilities with major challenges in the years ahead in achieving net zero status, with the Medway Park Sports Centre providing evidence to the contrary.
“We also looked at the baseline energy requirements of the buildings and these have been reduced where possible,” Mr Mert continues. “So for the library we’ve updated the windows to double glazing and fitted LED lighting.
“That’s been combined with the fitting of infra-red heaters in reception areas, which are often the most difficult places to keep warm in winter because the doors are constantly opening as people enter and let the cold air in. We’ve since had reports from staff saying they’re too warm, which is fairly easy to adjust, but that shows that everything is working as it was designed to.”
Having removed the oil boilers previously used to heat the Gillingham Library and located within its basement plant room, the company then installed four Daikin air-source heat pumps on the lower-level roof of the building. The issue of noise was initially considered but found to be irrelevant after the heat pumps were commissioned.
“We always have to be aware that works can affect local residents and with residential flats just a few metres away from the building, we thought we would have to look at sound attenuation,” Mr Dennis explains. “But the heat pumps are very quiet and don’t need anything to prevent them disturbing local people, which is very good news for everyone, including us as enclosing them to reduce noise can also affect efficiency levels.”
The installation of a PV solar panel system on the roof of the library building continues to provide another significant contribution to its carbon emission reductions.
We’ve since had reports from staff saying they’re too warm, which is fairly easy to adjust
With no further investment on the fabric of the building – that dates back to 1936 – apart from the fitting of double-glazed windows, it has replaced its carbon-intensive HVAC technology with renewable energy solutions to support the fact that these systems can assist older facilities on their net zero journeys.
Due to the issues with large swimming pools previously stated above, our next visit of the day to the Medway Park Sports Centre was even more keenly awaited. It quickly became apparent that, although the site had required more investment and effort, the highly positive results showed that these had been entirely justified.
Prior to the project, Medway Park Sports Centre and Medway Council’s Gun Wharf building together accounted for 69% of the total energy consumed by the 11 buildings included in the first phase of works. Similar to Gillingham Library, the removal of boilers and installation of heat pumps and a solar PV system had been completed at the Medway Park facility. Additional installations include a 100MW battery energy storage system that is regarded as the most important aspect to allow the facility to operate off-grid for up to five hours a day.
“The key to managing battery systems is to make sure that they don’t get completely drained or filled to maximum capacity on a regular basis,” Mr Mert advises. “The battery here is managed very carefully to make sure it never drops below 5% and that it’s only charged to around 85% of its full capacity.
“If you avoid the constant draining and refilling to maximum capacity, battery systems will last a lot longer than the 25 years that manufacturers often state as a guideline. You also need to be aware that
although their performance can reduce over time, it’s unlikely that this will see a drop of more than a few percent in efficiency.”
He additionally explains that reductions in efficiency are likely to take place over the course of many months, if not years, and allow sufficient time for effective remedial action to take place, if this is required. In addition to removing its reliance on fossil fuels and reducing its reliance on the National Grid, the sports centre project now also requires less annual maintenance.
One of the additional areas of activity within the sports centre, compared to the library building, is that water storage has been reduced by a third from 3,000L to just 1,000L. The installation of new shower heads –with the new system mixing air and water to reduce the volume without impacting quality – and waterless urinals in the men’s facilities has assisted in reducing storage levels and ensuring that less water is used.
“While it’s good to reduce the amount of water we use, which will help to reduce cost, the best part of this is that we’re not having to heat so much water as we did before the new system was installed. That’s a major part of how we can run the centre for several hours a day without needing anything from the grid,” says Mr Dennis.
Another important factor within the growing list of successes in the partnership between the two companies is explained as we continue our tour of the sports centre and is highly relevant to many of the UK’s existing buildings. The majority of these include HVAC plant that is designed to provide much more output than the building is ever likely to need.
The key to managing battery systems is to make sure that they don’t get completely drained or filled to maximum capacity on a regular basis
“You see this in so many buildings around the UK and many of these are consuming far more energy than they need to, because they haven’t been designed or sized correctly. We need to move away from this and it’s so easy to work with accurate data these days to show what’s required,” says Mr Dennis.
“It’s so easy to look at the power consumption of systems these days and I can even see it on my phone or any device,” says Mr Mert. “And anyone with the right access can make the necessary adjustments to the system or react to alerts to get issues solve before they become a major problem, regardless of whether they are in the office or on a beach somewhere.”
Yet another important aspect within the phase one project is that nine of the eleven buildings have benefited from smart upgrades and equipped with an Internet-of-Things (IoT) embedded controller and server platform to deliver integrated control and supervision capabilities. The accompanying building management system, referred to by Mr Mert and available to view on any electronic device, monitors all heating, ventilation and airconditioning (HVAC) services, ensuring the building operates at maximum efficiency.
Having viewed two of the 11 buildings included in the first phase of the Medway Council decarbonisation project, there has obviously been
a considerably greater volume of work successfully completed. The two partners continue to engage in regular meetings to view the progress of their efforts to date and plan for phase two of the project.
The partnership has seen vital community assets such as libraries, theatres and leisure centres undergo a range of energy-reducing measures including the installation of rooftop solar, energy storage systems, air-source heat pumps, demandcontrolled ventilation, and LED lighting. The work will deliver cost-savings of 35% for the local authority, based on 2019 rates.
This includes forecasted savings of a reduction of 476.5 tonnes of CO 2 emissions, which is the equivalent of taking more than 2m miles of car journeys off the roads every year. Phase one of the project represents a significant step in the Medway Council drive to achieve net zero carbon emissions status by 2050 by addressing the CO2 emitted by its buildings, which account for 60% of its total output.
Medway Council has taken an important first step in its net zero journey and the success of its various exercises, combined with the many valuable lessons learned, places it in a highly positive position for the future. With considerations for future works continuing, these can be applied using the knowledge gained to date to ensure any further investment will be even more effective than the impressive initial results achieved through its partnership with SSE Energy Solutions.
Anyone with the right access can make the necessary adjustments to the system or react to alerts to get issues solve before they become a major problem
Great understanding of the challenges facing business to achieve net zero carbon emissions is resulting in better decisions on how to invest to reach this target
Having spoken to FM industry suppliers, consultants and clientside FMs throughout the various ups and down of the Coronavirus pandemic, the consensus of opinion was that the majority of projects intended to reduce carbon emissions had been paused or cancelled, indefinitely in many cases.
That situation seems to have been reversed over the course of this year, which has resulted in large numbers of announcements for project completions or beginnings aimed at reducing carbon emissions. It is fair to say that the situation began to change 12 months previously, as evidenced by reports of high levels of enquiries for renewable energy solutions received by equipment suppliers.
Those hoping for more positive developments from the government have received unequivocal statements from experts including Lord Rupert Redesdale and public statements that not only has it failed to implement any net zero legislation or assistance, but there are also no plans to do so in the future. Commentators adopting a more understanding approach have referred to the various problems experienced by the government in recent years, including the rapid appointment and demise of several prime ministers, to explain its lack of support.
These announcements have been met with a certain level of irony, however, particularly by those with long industry experience having seen the long list of government incentives designed to increase the levels of interaction with renewable technology that have largely proved ineffective.
Although it could be argued that the results of the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) exceeded expectations, it could additionally be said that this was never a sustainable option and was cancelled by the government at short notice when the allocated funds were quickly used up, causing considerable disruption in the market.
It is always easy to be wise in hindsight, of course, and several experts previously expressed the view that renewable energy would never become popular until energy prices increased dramatically. The current increased levels of interest in renewables coincided with the significant rise in energy prices last year, proving the wisdom of comments shared more than a decade ago.
Industry commentators are now more likely to bemoan the lack of interest or support from the government, with no major new schemes announced or planned to encourage businesses or householders to reduce their carbon emissions. No doubt government ministers will point to existing schemes such as the Salix Energy Efficiency Loan scheme and others as proving the previous statement wrong, with the reality being that the majority of these have been in existence before the UK signed up to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and therefore not designed to support this.
Despite the lack of meaningful assistance from the government itself, an increasing number of positive examples of carbon reduction achievements are being announced by local councils around the UK. One of the most notable of these is the example of Medway Council, which continues to announce highly impressive results in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions in its buildings (turn to page 16 of this issue).
Not only has [the government] failed to implement any net zero legislation or assistance, but there are also no plans to do so in the future
Having formed a positive and effective partnership with SSE, the council has not only transformed a number of ageing buildings on its estate and recorded considerable reductions in carbon emissions, it has also addressed the issue of repeating these successes for a sports centre containing a large swimming pool.
The difficulties faced in heating large amounts of water without the use of fossil fuels has been discussed at length by industry experts for some time, making Medway Council’s achievement even more notable.
Regular readers of FM Director will have seen previous positive examples of the ongoing efforts of local authorities to reduce the carbon emissions of their estates, including case study articles featuring Camden and Monmouthshire councils. It appears that the considerable in-house expertise of local authority FMs and estate managers is being complemented by the services provided by highlyskilled service providers such as Ergro and SSE.
The comments of SSE Energy director Tunde Olaoye included numerous commonsense statements that will help many businesses in forming effective carbon emissions reduction strategies, for example, including their investment in technology. His advice to companies unable to make the step to the use of renewable energy in a single sweep is particularly relevant.
Rather than take the expensive step of paying for facilities to strip out all fossil fuel equipment, he proposes considering the installation of micro-CHP engines that will generate electricity at the same time as they burn gas. This will then generate the savings that can then be reinvested in the facility and allow it to work towards the installation of carbon emissions-free technology within the 15-year life cycle of the engine.
Having achieved notable success in their emissions reduction efforts, perhaps one of the most positive developments within this is that local councils are additionally keen to share the details of these projects with all interested parties. In the drive to achieve net zero carbon emissions, the adoption of an open and honest approach to help everyone understand the challenges and potential solutions available is highly likely to be far more effective than any amount of government assistance, particularly if it follows the examples of previous administrations as outlined above.
Another important message within the net zero carbon emissions debate is the high level of expertise that exists within the UK’s suppliers of hard services. This was one of the points emphasised in the first FM Business Daily roundtable, held in January this year at the London offices of KI Europe.
In addition to client-side FMs and consultants, the discussion included senior representatives from large, medium and small hard service providers and provided fascinating insight to the net zero debate.
The current increased levels of interest in renewables coincided with the significant rise in energy prices last year
One of the more concerning points raised was the disinterest displayed by a number of clients in reducing their carbon emissions, particularly in cases where the client or their staff had little understanding of the plant and equipment within their facilities.
However, with increasing efforts being reported by larger companies to achieve net zero emissions and the urgency of achieving the legally-binding 2050 deadline, this is likely to drive more interest and action in the years ahead.
One of the most urgent requirements appears to be educating all responsible persons about the reasons why they need to increase their understanding and provide them with clear guidance on how to reduce their emissions.
The vast majority of clients will already be working with hard service providers and this provides the most effective option to increase their education, with the added benefits derived from working more closely typically including improved results for all subsequent actions.
While it is impossible for client-side FMs to be experts in all the aspects of the running of their facilities, the best of these will understand how they can work with their service providers and receive the most effective results from applying the expertise of their service chain partners.
Another positive example of the above is provided by our case study of the Twickenham rugby stadium earlier this year, following FM Director’s meeting with England Rugby head of venue facilities David Hewins. His previous work experience on the service provider side of the industry has proved invaluable in creating an honest and open relationship with his current service chain, leading to everyone working together to achieve the aims of the client, while avoiding the ‘parent/child’ relationship attitude adopted by many FM customers toward their service providers.
In addition to allowing Mr Hewins and his colleagues and supply chain providers to gain greater understanding of the Twickenham facility and achieve considerable reductions in energy use, the continued close working between all stakeholders is far more likely to also result in further reductions of emissions in the future.
Yet another increasingly important factor within the net zero carbon emissions debate is the influence of the environmental and social governance (ESG) movement. Possibly one of the most clear and positive examples of this is the way it has influenced major businesses in their day-to-day operations, with global real estate management business CBRE leading this discussion with its clients and supply chain members.
The comments of the company’s global ESG director Amy Brogan in the August issue of FM Director further emphasised the reasons for its focus on this area and the changes implemented throughout its global operations. It is also highly relevant that colleagues of Ms Brogan reported the record levels of enquiries for renewable energy installations received by the business last year, which have been used within the opening comments of this feature.
Having adopted a highly responsible approach to the delivery of sustainable actions, designed to assist clients in achieving their business aims while additionally protecting the environment, the example of CBRE seems likely to influence the approach of its supply chain members and their partners and competitors. One of the most positive messages within this is that it is proving to be one of the best means to step aside from the negative practices adopted by some businesses.
If the UK is to achieve its net zero carbon emissions ambitions by 2050, it will have to move away from the short-term thinking adopted by both government and business in the past. Without the implementation of well-planned and long-term investment projects, the UK is highly unlikely to achieve the necessary reductions in emissions.
Although a quarter of a century may seem more than enough to provide sufficient time to make the necessary adjustments to remove carbon emissions from the UK, the scale of the projects required to deliver this is providing industry experts with considerable concern. Those with a more in-depth understanding of the level of expertise that exists within UK service providers, however, are more likely to take a positive view of how the UK will achieve its net zero carbon emissions status in the future.
If the UK is to achieve its net zero carbon emissions ambitions by 2050, it will have to move away from the short-term thinking adopted by both government and business in the past
Insight from Charlotte Parr, director at Churchill, and Hazel Bedson, marketing and operations director at Service Works Global. Charlotte and Hazel explain the key points of the new fl exible working law and how FM can support clients who may see increased fl exible working in their workforces
On 20 July, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 received Royal Assent, meaning the bill is now law.
The new legislation makes provisions to the existing law with regards to the “rights of employees and other workers to request variations to particular terms and conditions of employment, including working hours, times and locations”.
Key parts of the new legislation are:
All workers have the legal right to request flexible working from day one of their jobs.
Workers can request flexible work twice per year (instead of one).
The employer must respond to a request within two months.
The employer must consult with the employee if they decline the request (this is currently not a requirement).
The law has been adapted because of the flexible working boom that we have experienced in the last three years. There are of course plenty of roles where flexibility will always be limited (for example, a teacher will still need to teach during school hours), but employers now have an increased duty to agree to flexible conditions or have a good reason not to.
As we have already witnessed with current hybrid working patterns, there is a two-way impact for the FM sector. Flexible work can impact service provision, but the sector can also take a proactive approach and support clients to manage their buildings as efficiently as possible.
This monumental change with the implementation of the flexible working bill means that the state of flux the FM market has been adapting to is very much here to stay. Since the pandemic, FM providers have been working hard to create flexible solutions for our clients that meet the everchanging demands of the office, but one thing is for certain: now more than ever, we must play our part in creating destinations of choice.
Modern working is about so much more than the 9–5, it’s about creating workspaces that give people the freedom to create, to feel safe and comfortable and to increase their performance.
We are working hard at Churchill to create sustainable destinations and a future-proof environment, which means more collaboration with service partners and building users alike and creating the same sense of community you would feel in your hometown, all while looking at data trends and working with service partners on flexible delivery solutions.
Flexible working gives people the freedom to choose where they work best, and as an industry, we stand on the edge of a new evolution of workplace experience – what an exciting time to play our part.
While the new legislation is undoubtedly a huge leap forward in terms of inclusivity for employees, the potential of more staff requesting flexible work could create challenges for business leaders that are unprepared for fluctuating levels of office occupancy.
Smart technology and data will be critical tools for leaders that want to understand how and when their spaces are being used. The benefits are numerous, from improved sustainability by only using energy when and where required, through to cost savings by scheduling cleaning and maintenance schedules around quiet times in the office.
Tools can be extended for employee use for tasks such as a desk and room booking. Even if more employees opt for flexible work, they have an expectation of their workplace and technology can ensure that is met, making their day run much more smoothly.
At Service Works Global we have been supporting clients with their hybrid policies for many months and expect to see demand for data insights increase in light of the new law.
Regardless of the services you offer, clients benefit most from FM partners when we flag industry news and provide proactive suggestions. This new law has not been widely publicised, so bringing this to the attention of your clients, ensuring we are future proofing our industry together. All while offer advice on how you can provide support and adapt our service should there ever be further building occupancy changes.
The law also bears some consideration for our own companies. Flexible work isn’t just about location – it can mean hours or other conditions of employment. Our sector can set an example by showing how we can offer flexibility to our employees without compromising on service.
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When speaking to senior management representatives there are a number of shared attributes that can frequently be quickly identified, with one of the most evident of these being experience.
It should be explained that this has not necessarily been within the FM industry, although many have this as a supportive element, but can be in any sector. One of the most important lessons to learn is that attributes such as problem-solving, dealing with and managing people, communicating with colleagues and clients and various other skills can – and most certainly should – be applied to their FM roles.
Speaking exclusively to Amey managing director Craig McGilvray, FM Director found that the attributes described above and many more are applicable to his work ethics and adaptability. Having led the business through the recent years of low-risk operations, this has paved the way for the company’s next phase following its transfer to new ownership at the start of the year.
There is now a more dynamic approach to the company’s FM service delivery, which Mr McGilvray is very clearly enjoying, while further proving the comments above that his long work and industry experience is proving invaluable in supporting this.
“While the business was looking for a new owner, it was very much of a case of keeping everything stable and meeting our obligations. We were working in a risk-averse methodology and that also meant we didn’t explore many new opportunities,” he explains.
There were some significant developments during this time, however, including the company taking over the running of its previous joint venture defence contract with Carillion after the latter went into liquidation in 2018. This was then followed by the numerous challenges within the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’ve always run a tight ship and that helped us to deal with the pandemic, in many ways, as we continued to focus on our relationships with our clients and meeting their expectations. That also meant that we didn’t place any of our staff on furlough at any point in the pandemic,” he continues.
“The company has also continued to invest in its systems, including its CAFM system, to make sure that we’re able to operate in the best way,” he continues.
“This proved essential in assisting the company to remain operationally effective, including the vital task of ensuring that contracts remained profitable while also ensuring that high levels of service were maintained.
“After we divested our utilities business last year the wider Group was able to execute a successful sale and we began operating under new ownership from 1 January this year.
“This has seen us transition from our previous necessary risk-averse operation to a new culture that is very ambitious and dynamic.
“All of these services are underpinned by our inhouse consultancy arm which allows us to assist clients to improve their data management and analysis in a drive to manage their facilities more efficiently.
“There’s much more awareness around the industry of the benefits of adopting a more analytical approach to data management and the skills required to deliver this.
“We’re also applying our skills and long experience to help us understand the challenges of our customers in reducing their carbon emissions,” Mr McGilvray continues.
Another key area of focus has seen him and his colleagues devote considerable effort to appreciate the challenges being faced by the company’s clients in tackling energy transition and Net Zero. He states that this has led to the creation of a study of the best practices to employ for facilities such as schools.
“This includes zero cost, no regret items such as turning the freezers off in the summer holidays when they’re not being used,” he explains. “And then there’s replacement of assets to consider, which might not be ready for lifecycle replacement, but have become inefficient.
Craig McGilvray shares how his company has entered a new world and different ways of working in the wake of a vastly different investment strategy
We’ve always run a tight ship and that helped us to deal with the pandemic, in many ways, as we continued to focus on our relationships with our clients and meeting their expectations
“So if these are replaced with modern and more efficient versions, there are a lot of gains to be made, and that’s also the same for any schools that are poorly insulated or have single-glazed windows, although that doesn’t apply to the more modern schools. But then you get to the heavier-lifting stuff that may include replacing the boilers with renewable energy options.”
The aim of the exercise is to create a simple menu of areas to consider, including improved behaviours to ensure equipment and lighting are turned off when not being used, to the fitting of LED lighting and more involved projects, such as replacement of heating systems.
“It’s a case of doing the blindingly obvious things first then considering what the options are for more improvements, such as heat pumps or solar arrays in the car parks. We’ve focused on the energy use of the physical infrastructure, while my consulting colleagues are also interested in the broader carbon challenge including the transport to and from the school and the waste it produces.”
More analysis is possible through taking the data from mobile phones, all of which is anonymous and unable to be traced back to owners, to show how individuals travel to school. This has not been applied as yet, but Mr McGilvray states that it is much easier than he expected it to be.
“We’re now working with three or four authorities to complete Salix Decarbonisation Scheme grant applications, which need to be submitted by October, to get some of the projects up and running. We’ve got the schools on energy monitoring, so it will be relatively simple to show how the investments have benefited them and reduced their carbon emissions,” he continues.
“We weren’t thinking in this way four years ago, quite frankly, but we’re now seeing this take effect in more areas of our business, including one of the 63 prisons we look after. We’re also looking at the best ways to deliver maintenance with the money that’s available, while also working towards a plan to decarbonise the prison.”
He further explains the benefits of taking a realistic approach to each facility that will deliver improvements while avoiding significant increases in cost through more efficient use of resources. This becomes much easier when effective levels of data are available to both provide an understanding of the current situation and show the effectiveness of future actions.
In addition to the advantages this approach provides the company’s clients, there is significant potential to use it to explore more commercial opportunities for the business itself, he states. Another positive element within the company’s aims is that many of its engineering skills can be easily transferred or adapted to its carbon reduction service delivery model.
Mr McGilvray further explains how the company’s new owner is encouraging the business to further develop its environmental and social governance strategies (ESG) and involvement.
“As a government supplier we’re already supporting a number of things, including levelling up, carbon reduction and prisoner rehabilitation, but I think further engaging with ESG will pull us into a much tighter framework, that will reassure our investors that we’re involved in all the right areas, including social value,” he says.
Among the various examples of social activities carried out by the company include its Head Start initiative, which has followed on from the government’s now discontinued Kick Start scheme, to assist young people in finding employment.
As a government supplier we’re already supporting a number of things, including levelling up, carbon reduction and prisoner rehabilitation
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This has since led to the creation of the Restart initiative, which is designed to assist more mature people to find work.
“We’ve had great success with the youngsters, 80% of whom have gone on to take apprenticeships, and we’ll see how we go with the older generations.”
Further to the above, Mr McGilvray explains there are considerable ongoing efforts to work more closely with all divisions within Amey. “This has seen us transfer one of the senior managers within our consulting business so that they understand more about the challenges we face and how these can be met with the expertise of our other divisions,” he explains.
As a result of these efforts, the company is now considering how to inspect buildings with options such as drone technology to avoid the use of scaffolding or cherry pickers, along with a number of additional considerations. “We’ve done very well in project frameworks and have picked up a number of contracts for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), but we haven’t had the same level of success for core maintenance work, so there’s a lot of effort going in to ensure that everyone is focused on this area for the next 24 months,” Mr McGilvray continues.
He states his belief of the increasing number of opportunities emerging within the company’s core market that will see his company increase its activities with existing clients and additionally see agreements signed with new customers.
One of the most encouraging aspects of his aspirations for the future is the level of support provided to all Amey colleagues, allowing them to achieve their career aspirations that frequently results in job vacancies being filled through internal promotions.
“Amey is very good at this and although it can be a weakness if not delivered correctly, there’s an excellent culture in the business that supports colleagues and clients alike to allow everyone to achieve the best results,” he states.
One aspect of the company’s culture particularly appreciated by Mr McGilvray is its post-graduate employment scheme, which allows each individual to look at all aspects of the business to see which area or job opportunity is most attractive to them. He states that he feels highly protective towards these new recruits and always tries to support them in finding the best position in the business.
“I’m always surprised that our graduates are not encouraged to develop their presenting skills until they come to us,” he continues. “That’s a major part of the job, especially if you have the ambition to work your way up to more senior roles, so we regard it as an essential part of their development.”
Another potential new development being considered for the company is to explore its options for gaining work outside its current public sector focus, following further encouragement from its new owner. “There are a lot of common areas of service delivery that will allow us to engage with more private sector clients,” he continues.
“When you talk to estate managers of private sector facilities, they often say they’re not entirely sure they’re 100% compliant and that must be a very difficult place to be.
“But that’s another of our core areas of focus and we look at each contract regularly to make sure that everything’s on track and being managed property. We have a winning set of skills and attributes that will allow us to expand our private customer base by a small number.
“We’re not a high volume business and we believe that we can bundle more of our skills on data and energy, etc, to help the customers to meet the challenges they face. There are various ways we work with our colleagues and their skills to be more efficient, avoid waste or use our resources better and show customers what compliance looks like.”
Mr McGilvray states that in addition to the company’s many areas of successful operation, these are being complemented with concentrated efforts to improve its skills and capabilities in the drive to increase its areas of operation. These efforts are very much line with the expectations of its new owners and key to the gaining of new business and additional investment in the medium- and long-term future.
“We’re in a very good place and enjoying the new challenges and dynamic approach of our investors and everyone in Amey is being supported to focus on the tasks ahead to continue the company’s growth and expansion. It’s a very exciting time and we’re all looking forward to engaging with all the new developments,” he concludes.
We’ve had great success with the youngsters, 80% of whom have gone on to take apprenticeships, and we’ll see how we go with the older generations
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Gathering more than 40 attendees to the FM Business Daily fire safety event in July resulted in high levels of industry discussion
One of the most notable developments within the FM and construction industries in recent memory has been the introduction of the Building Safety Act, which has been described as providing the most notable changes to working practices within the last generation.
Many of the new and updated requirements within the act have resulted from the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017, that resulted in the loss of more than 70 lives and a similar number of injuries, many of which were classified
as serious. Among the numerous responses and developments that have followed are the Hackitt Report, authored by Dame Judith Hackitt, who has also been instrumental in many details of the Building Safety Act.
Following her interview, published as the front cover article for the April issue of FM Director, Dame Judith kindly agreed to present to the group of FM industry professionals attending the FM Business Daily fire safety event that took place at the Sodexo head office located at One Southampton Row in central London. Opening the event, FM Director
managing editor Dennis Flower welcomed all attendees before introducing Dame Judith to describe the details of the Building Safety Act and its various requirements.
Among the many changes included in the act is the need for all facilities of more than 18m in height, a minimum of seven floors and at least two residential apartments to be registered with the building safety regulator by the end of this month. Those failing to register their facilities will be at risk of substantial fines or imprisonment, says the government.
“This is the next task that everyone should be focused on in their efforts to comply with the Building Safety Act,” says Dame Judith. “Of course there are many more areas to consider and a lot of effort will be required to make sure everyone is compliant with the act.
“Having examined the response from the industry, there is obviously a lot of work to do before we can say that everyone is compliant. The latest figures show that the situation is improving, but everyone needs to realise that the level of additional legislation included over the next few months will be considerably more stringent if the regulator decides that the industry is not complying with the act,” she continues.
One of the issues addressed by Dame Judith was the reluctance shown by some companies in complying with the act, which has been frequently accompanied by the statement that they would wait for all the details to be confirmed. Referring attendees to her previous comments about how the level of engagement with the act and building safety regulator will influence the degree of additional legislation, she further illustrated the mistake being made by those waiting for more information.
Not only will this approach result in raising the amount of new legislation added to the act, it is also highly likely to see the mistakes that led to the Grenfell Tower disaster continue, she continues. “Every individual and company have a moral duty to ensure that the mistakes made are never repeated and that levels of fire safety are improved,” says Dame Judith.
She further states that the Building Safety Act should not be regarded as simply another piece of industry legislation with which companies will be do the minimum to comply. “The intention behind the act is ensure that no more lives are lost in the same way as Grenfell and that our buildings are significantly safer and entirely fit for the purpose they are designed for,” she says.
The overriding message with Dame Judith’s presentation is that anyone who continues to employ the same practices that led to the Grenfell Tower disaster should be held accountable for their actions. Construction and FM industry professionals are now required to work to much higher ethical
and professional standards to address the areas of bad practice that have been allowed to become acceptable, despite the fact that safety standards are being compromised.
“We have to move away from our past mistakes and make sure that everyone is fully accountable,” she continues. “This means that everyone needs to start the journey immediately or run the risk of falling foul of the regulator, and also having to deal with ever higher levels of legislation until they adopt the necessary behaviours.”
Above: Mike Grimmel from Sodexo spoke at the event
Below: Attendees at the event held in July
Opposite: Andrew Dack, Tanya Matthews, Shaun Caddick and Andrew Stiller from the PTSG Sales Team
Following Dame Judith’s explanation of the Building Safety Act, the reasons for its creation and the requirements it places on the industry, attendees were invited to continue the discussion on their individual tables with their PTSG hosts.
Principal accountable people, or the principal accountable person who has been authorised to act for them, are now required to register their talk building.
The government has created an online service which will allows them to: apply to register the building continue an application you started previously
The principal accountable person is the organisation that owns or is accountable for the building’s safety.
If the building has more than one accountable person, the principal accountable person is the one who is responsible for the external walls and structure of the building.
The government advises that a high-rise residential structure has: at least 7 floors or is at least 18 metres in height; at least 2 residential units.
A high-rise residential building can contain one or more high-rise residential structures.
Applicants can apply to register two or more structures as a single building which are connected by either:
a walkway, lobby or basement, that contains a residential unit; an internal wall containing normal use doors.
This session also included the serving of a buffet lunch, generously provided by Sodexo and adding more value to the event.
Each PTSG table host facilitated the discussion on the Building Safety Act and its impact on fire safety best practices, before sharing the results of their debates with their fellow attendees. The wideranging responses ranged from concerns voiced for the level of change required to appreciation of the need to improve safety levels and the quality of facilities.
Working in reverse order, the final group to provide its views was positioned on Table 1, hosted by PTSG group sales director Andrew Dack. He said: “This was a fantastic event and PTSG was delighted to be the main sponsor. Dame Judith Hackitt was a great speaker whose work will make buildings safer and save peoples’ lives... and not just because legislation says it has to be done, but because morally and professionally it is the right thing to do. Her synopsis of the new Building Regulations captivated the audience in what was a compelling presentation and a lively debate.
“Having been asked by the then Home Secretary to undertake an independent review of Building Regulations, and in particular their impact on fire safety, Dame Judith said she quickly established that: ‘the current system of building regulations and fire safety were not fit for purpose and that a culture change was required to support the delivery of buildings that are safe, both now and in the future.’
“Following her recommendations, On 1 October 2023, new fire safety guidance will come into force for all buildings regulated by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO).
Applicants are required to provide the following information: the number of floors at or above ground level; height in metres; the number of residential units; the year it was originally built; its address or addresses.
If a building is made up of more than one high-rise residential structure, applicants must provide the information for each structure, along with details about the principal accountable person and any other accountable persons. To complete the application, a charge of £251 has to be paid for each building.
The fee can be paid online or via an invoice through a bank account before the regulator will assess the application. Applicants that take too long to pay the fee will have their applications rejected.
The deadline for submitting registrations and payments is 30 September 2023. Those submitting applications will be asked to provide more detailed information about the structure and fire safety of the building. The information provide is designed to help applicants when they start to assess their building’s risks later, as part of the safety case.
Applicants can save their applications and return to them at any time.
This guidance is part of Phase 3 of the Home Office’s fire safety reform programme and forms an important step in strengthening fire safety in all FSO regulated premises. Dame Judith raised concerns, however, that not all duty holders are ready for the new guidance ahead of the October deadline.
“PTSG provides a full range of fire prevention and suppression solutions and tailored security systems in public and private buildings. We can support organisations in meeting the new requirements. Please contact us if we can help you with anything at all. We are continuing to provide support across the UK.”
Responding to the comments shared by PTSG table hosts, Dame Judith provided further explanation of a number of points made in her opening comments and reminding attendees that all information about the Building Safety Act, Building Regulations and advice on how to register and comply were easily accessible on the government’s website. In response to those continuing to voice concerns about complying with the new regulations prior to the official start date of early 2024, she provided clear and incontrovertible response: “To anyone who is delaying changing their working practices to align with the new act until they see the full requirements I have to ask: where is your moral compass? We have to change the way we construct buildings, there is no doubt about that, or live with the consequences when lives are lost as a result,” she said.
The closing presentation of the event was provided by Sodexo director – FM Platform UK & Ireland Mike Grimmel, who explained how the company’s head office has been transformed using its Vital Spaces concept. This combines the use of data and analysis to work with clients and create the best workplace for their businesses and employees.
Employing data-driven monitoring, it applies this to the management of spaces, providing the most effective environment for employers and their staff. The company states that it uses a variety of tools and technologies to gather intelligence and provide actionable insights to help its customers optimise their total cost of occupancy, while also meeting employee expectations.
The One Southampton Row facility is used to demonstrate the potential of its Vital Spaces concept to allow clients and their employees to work in the best environments.
Mr Grimmel said: “Keeping our people, clients, customers, and members of the public, safe and healthy is fundamental to Sodexo’s mission which is why we were pleased to host FM Business Daily’s s Fire Safety in UK Facilities and Estates event at our London head office.
“We have a team of FM and HSEQ professionals focused on governance, standards, compliance and audits, assessing risks and opportunities so our teams can deliver services safely and compliantly. We know how important this is for our own business and that of our client’s businesses whether a school, hospital, office, factory, military barracks or prison.
“Dame Judith Hackitt delivered an insightful keynote on the Building Safety Act and in particular fire safety and its impact on the FM industry. As service providers the health, safety and wellbeing of those we serve is of utmost importance and discussing this in detail with like-minded peers was a great opportunity to share our challenges, our successes and learn from each other.
“Thank you to the team at FM Business Daily for organising such an important event,” Mr Grimmel concluded.
Where is your moral compass?
We have to change the way we construct buildings, there is no doubt about that, or live with the consequences when lives are lost as a result
Further endorsing the many benefi ts provided to FM by ex-service personnel, Graeme Brown explains his journey from the armed forces to his current role
This year has seen a number of interviews published within FM Director with ex-services people now working in senior FM roles, emphasising the long list of transferable skills that support the views of many employers that they are frequently the best candidate for their position.
Further endorsement of this view is provided by Sentinel Group Security (SGS) managing director Graeme Brown, whose wide experience within the armed services continues to support the forming and delivering of strategies in his role. After he joined the Royal Marines at the age of 16, his military career spanned a period of 23 years.
“Having completed my commando training I then took on some new challenges in the years that followed, mainly associated with intelligence,” he says. This led to risk mitigation roles, many of which placed national security as a high priority, providing numerous links to his civilian career and paving the way for his transition to working in the private sector.
Mr Brown’s military career also included being made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his extensive efforts. “I feel very honoured and privileged to have received this but have always said it was very much recognising the efforts of everyone around me, so I feel I collected this on their behalf,” he states.
“My first job in the private sector was with Carillion, the huge FM and construction service company that went into administration five years ago. It was a great place to work with some brilliant people, but some of their plans didn’t work out the way they wanted,” he continues.
When the company ceased trading in early 2018, Mr Brown states that he was faced with finding another job and initially wondered if this would be possible. After receiving a number of job offers, however, he states these were mainly from large businesses seeking to take over the Carillion contracts with little consideration for utilising his personal skills.
He had previously corresponded with SGS and was pleased to receive the offer of work from the business, which he found to be of particular interest. “Their business model was different to what I’d become used to, and I then spent three days looking at this and meeting the team to understand how they were set up to understand if the relationships could be mutually beneficial.
“They were family owned, which was a different model than I’d become used to. I have to say I was absolutely blown away by the people and the work they’d done, so I was very happy to accept their offer,” he states.
Mr Brown describes his impression of the security sector as being mainly reactive, with a lack of professionalism in some areas, leading to him forming the view that the industry needed to become more proactive. “To my mind, there was a lot that could be done to improve the security industry. It had some great people but was not necessarily well set up in terms of processes and recognised standards,” he says.
The journey to achieve his ambitions for SGS has “not been without its challenges”, which has required Mr Brown to increase his knowledge of the industry. “And I’m finding it, even now, just as fulfilling as my time in the military. The people I work with are fantastic, their energy and attitude are brilliant,” he states.
At the time he joined SGS, the company was turning over around £3m a year. “They were doing OK, but I only accepted the role on the basis that I had complete autonomy to run the business top to bottom, implement changes and run the company in the way I felt better represented the interests of end users and the industry as a whole,” he says.
In order to achieve this, Mr Brown conducted a three-month, in-depth review of the company and its operations and culture. He found its focus on teamwork, respect, integrity and professionalism to be one of the best parts of the business.
To my mind, there was a lot that could be done to improve the security industry
Upon accepting the offer of employment, he has made further extending the SGS culture one of his main priorities. “It’s a great culture and it’s essential that this applies to all areas, including the supply chain and all industry partners, so that you treat everyone the same to create meaningful partnerships.
“So we looked at all of our policies, processes, our clients and their partners, all areas of corporate social responsibility and sustainability programmes and we put together a five-year plan based on that three month review,” he explains. Mr Brown is keen to emphasise that this involved all members of the SGS team.
“My team knows that they can shape my thinking and I’m not someone that’s set on a path and I’m very comfortable with listening to other opinions and ideas. We can then create a plan that includes all those great ideas and make it as relevant and effective as possible,” he says.
The SGS five-year plan was formed to be as sustainable and objective as possible and additionally defined the company’s target markets. This included intimate knowledge of the FM sector, its supply chain and challenges, while taking into account client perceptions and all issues within the security industry.
“It’s worked really well for us and has allowed us to look at corporate finance and banking, health, construction and other areas. We’ve also created five divisions within the business to help us deliver on all of these,” says Mr Brown.
In addition to security, including front of house and concierge services, the company established its Technologies, Skye Guarding and Academy divisions. “For our Technologies division, we had developed some software – which I thought was a tremendous achievement for a medium-sized, family-owned company – and was selling this into the market. Having its own division, with its own five-year plan, has allowed this to focus on increasing sales of the software.”
The Skye Guarding division continues the aims of the company’s founder, Zafar Choudary, of supplying qualified security personnel to the industry on a supply and demand basis, which Mr Brown was keen to maintain. In addition to respecting the success this had achieved, the creation of the division shows respect to the aims of the business while meeting its ambitions, he states.
Investment in the Academy division provides support for all SGS colleagues, described as “the most important part of the business. They’re the ones that deliver the hard yards every day and the rest of us are just there to help them to have the skills, competence and confidence to deliver to existing and potential customers,” says Mr Brown.
The company’s five-year plan included a number of objectives explained in considerable detail to all colleagues, designed to be simple and understandable, including becoming a top 30 UK company. “That was quite a bold aim, as we were not even in the top 800 at the time,” he continues. “I also wanted us to become known as a pacesetter business and among the top 15% of companies.”
This led to the second objective of becoming an influential business that would assist the industry in adapting to meeting its challenges, Mr Brown continues. “This was not about vanity or just making money, it was about improving the industry and taking responsibility for delivering better outcomes for our customers.
“Five years later we’re now delivering a turnover of nearly £13m, with strong margins, and we’ve also come through the pandemic without any major issues,” he continues. In addition to supporting the company’s growth, his efforts also showed areas of the business where different approaches were required, resulting in the recruiting of some new management personnel.
In addition to its head office in Essex, the company has opened a dedicated call (operations) centre in Manchester, with its Technologies division housed nearby, which has assisted the launch of new software offerings such as My Central (My Sentinel). The company is continuing to offer a range of user-friendly packages to support the completion of work tasks throughout the FM sector, including lone worker support and assistance.
Security is a challenging sector.
Not all companies share our values but we’re happy with our progress
“All our efforts have been devoted to allowing us to focus on our specialist areas of service delivery,” Mr Brown continues. “We also look at each customer’s requirements and challenge the rationale based on their existing service model.
“We work on a collaborative basis and I often tell our clients that if you want the best security service you’ve got to invest in the same way you would anything else. We ask them to look at where they want to be as a business and help them to achieve to achieve that by giving them an effective and future-proof, quality service and deliver meaningful outcomes,” he explains.
These collaborative efforts frequently include investment from SGS, including specialist training courses within its academy to assist frontline staff in meeting the client’s expectations, or adjustments within its CSR programme. The company continues to work with charities and local and national government to deliver charitable initiatives of all types within its CSR initiatives and those of its customers.
Sustainability has also increased its profile within the business, with every purchase subjected to the same process to understand the impact on its carbon footprint and ensure this meets all objectives. Mr Brown further explains that a process to explain the company and its objectives to all supply chain members has been established, helping it to understand the aims of each company and work together in a more cohesive fashion.
“We’re far from perfect and there’s a lot more we can do to and we’re having regular conversations to see how to progress, but the level of engagement from clients, colleagues and supply chain members has improved considerably,” he continues.
Many of the objectives of the company’s five-
year plan have been achieved, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is now recognised as a pacesetter business, it is also fully accredited in all all areas and continuing to add to these, and it has made significant progress to achieve recognition as one of the UK’s top companies, currently listed as number 54.
“We’ve done OK and security is a challenging sector,” he states. “Not all companies share our values but we’re happy with our progress.”
Mr Brown has become a member of the British Security Industry Association and is an active member of the Guarding Section: I am a big supporter of the BSIA team and some of their new objectives. For example their new major national campaign People, Property & Places Professionally Protected that aims to increase the profile and awareness of the crucial work that security officers carry out 24/7/365.
Looking back at the considerable progress made by SGS, Mr Brown explains how the many changes implemented have resulted from his personal fear of failure. “But I always said when I took the job I would stand or fall based on my own decisions. We’ve implemented a business model that we thought would succeed and that’s been the case.”
These efforts are continuing as the company considers implementing its new Work Alert business model, designed to assist the supply of resources to clients through a largely automated and simple to use system that will match individuals with work requirements. This will initially be offered to the private health care sector in South East England before being rolled out to the wider UK health sector and all other areas of business.
Mr Brown states that he is delighted to be working for his company and with his colleagues and is looking forward to meeting the challenges of the business, their clients and the security industry in general.
We work on a collaborative basis and I often tell our clients that if you want the best security service you’ve got to invest in the same way you would anything else
This year’s Fire Door Safety Week runs from Monday 25th to Friday 29th September. Its aim is to focus attention on the critical importance of fire doors in saving lives and protecting buildings of all kinds in the unfortunate event of a fire.
Fire Door Safety Week (FDSW) is owned and managed by the British Woodworking Federation (BWF), and supported by the BWF Fire Door Alliance.
Research conducted in 2022 by the British Woodworking Federation as part their Fire Door Safety Week campaign ‘Close the Door on Fire’ found that over 30% of those asked believed that a fire door that was propped open with a wedge or a fire extinguisher was safe. This is a shocking statistic.
Not only was a propped-open fire door incorrectly deemed as safe, but 15% believed that keeping a fire
door closed stops it performing, highlighting a lack of understanding around the role fire doors play in the event of a fire.
As the experts at Fire Door Safety Week state, the issues around fire door safety don’t just exist in high rise, high-risk buildings. They are prevalent in pretty much any sector and building type that you think of, from care homes and hospitals to schools and specialist housing.
Fire Door Safety Week is an ideal time for Dutyholders to choose a certified fire door specialist to help with their fire door strategy.
It is widely known that in the UK, the Grenfell tragedy redefined fire safety measures for tall
residential buildings. The Grenfell fire soon got out of control largely because of the building’s flammable cladding – and there followed a ban on the use of combustible materials in and on the external walls in a wide range of buildings from December 2018, not just residential. However, if there had been a sprinkler system in Grenfell Tower, the fire would have been deluged before it got to the cladding, and people would have had time to leave the building.
In retrospect, a comprehensive approach to fire safety could have prevented the fire altogether. This would include clear fire safety instructions and wayfaring signage for residents; fire doors throughout – with information on their correct use; a sprinkler system; non-combustible external cladding; and regular checks on all fire safety equipment.
Premier Technical Services Group Ltd (PTSG) states on its website that fire safety must be the foundation upon which all buildings are constructed. Fire safety assets should be part of every building’s design and these assets must then receive rigorous regular testing and maintenance, ensuring compliance with the latest industry regulations.
PTSG works with building owners and managers to reduce their risk by providing specialist fire safety equipment and services.
The Group’s services help them to meet their compliance obligations, supported by industryleading reporting, delivered to the latest UK standards. This is complemented by first-class fire suppression equipment and services to ensure that in the unlikely event of a fire, there is the best possible chance of keeping damage to an absolute minimum and protecting lives.
The new Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into effect on 23rd January 2023. They were introduced as a direct result of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, following the Grenfell fire. The regulations make it a requirement in law for responsible persons of high-rise and multi-occupied residential buildings to provide information to Fire and Rescue Services, fire safety instructions to residents and actions regarding fire doors.
The specific requirements of Dutyholders are detailed on the government website. PTSG ran a campaign earlier this year detailing how its Fire Solutions team can provide expert help in this area.
PTSG employs LPCB, BM TRADA and Firas certified experts who specialise in the inspection and remediation of internal timber doors and front entrance door-sets. Its certified technicians provide assurance that every aspect of a building’s fire doors are functioning in accordance with fire regulations.
PTSG’s comprehensive fire door inspection service has been designed to meet third-party certification standards, providing assurance and evidence to the responsible person that fire doors perform as they should in the event of a fire, protecting lives and properties. Its certified fire door service provides assurance that fire safety risk is being managed and that its clients’ fire doors and door sets work as intended.
To comply with both the Building Regulations and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) which say the responsible person must manage and reduce fire risk, independent third-party certification provides proof of the fire doors’ ability to hold back the spread of smoke and fire in the event of fire. Third-party certification verifies that fire doors have undergone a rigorous audit to prove they are fit-for-purpose and are operating to the same specification and quality as that originally tested. And the responsible person is provided with visibility and traceability of the lifespan of their fire doors including information manufacturer information.
PTSG’s fire door service offers:
Risk based recurring inspection service, the frequency of which to be determined based on door type, building characteristics, use, and occupancy rates
45-point Inspection performed to third-party accredited inspection standards (LPCB LPS 1197 and BM Trada Q Mark)
Instant access to inspection records through QR codes attached to each door show date of last inspection and a PDF evidence-based Inspection report
Certificates of conformity confirming inspections have been completed to third party certification standards
Essential operations and maintenance data comprising digital floor plans with annotated fire door locations
Prioritised cost estimates for any repair or replacement works
Repair/ replacement works completed by competency proven fire door technicians
Ongoing access to Neo systems to monitor the date of next inspection due and Current certification status
Ongoing responsive repair service supporting the responsible persons duty to maintain compliance between inspections
PTSG works with clients from all sectors; this includes working extensively with social housing providers and other public sector organisations to deliver fire door services as well as a range of other passive fire services to ensure social housing residents are as safe as possible in their homes.
There are a number of events taking place from 25th to 29th September to enable those in the industry to further their understanding of the critical role that fire doors play in protecting lives and property. https://www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk/events/
Fire Door Safety Week is an ideal time for Dutyholders to choose a certified fire door specialist to help with their fire door strategy
Located above the London Silver Vaults market space, Chancery House has benefited from an extensive retrofit project to create an impressive, shared workspace facility that includes a wealth of sustainable elements within a stylish and relaxing environment.
Many of the original features of the building have been retained after it was rebuilt in 1953. This was required after it sustained extensive damage during the
bombing of London during World War II. FM Director was provided with an exclusive tour of the building by The Office Group (TOG) associate senior design manager Fidel Saenz de Ormijana. He confirms that the building was purchased by TOG in 2019.
“It’s our largest workspace to date and includes 130,000 sq ft of Grade A workspace and it’s also our largest CapEx project to date, as well,” he says. It is the company’s second major opening this year in London, following the reconstruction of The Black
and White Building in Shoreditch (see FM Director February for full report).
In addition to continuing the TOG focus on providing high quality workspaces, Chancery House further emphasises the company’s commitment to incorporate sustainability in all areas of its operations. When approaching the building from its Chancery Lane main entrance, the impressive dimensions provide an instant overview of the considerable effort devoted to the provision of an impressive facility.
The building’s exterior and interior design is the result of a collaboration between dMFK Architects and Norm Architects, with influence taken from the London Silver Vaults – including numerous metallic fitments – and from both Scandinavia and Japan. When entering Chancery House, the generously proportioned reception area adds further confirmation of its sustainable and wellbeing credentials.
“We used dMFK Architects for the structural aspects of the building, with Norm Architects mainly responsible for the interior design, and the two companies worked really well together. We’re very pleased with the end result,” Mr Saenz de Ormijana continues. “The interior has been created to be both stylish and relaxing, with minimalist design features throughout.”
It is the ninth time that TOG has commissioned dMFK and there have been numerous benefits and compliments received for its collaborative efforts with the Norm architectural practice. Possibly one of the most notable of these was the project’s 33% embodied carbon saving versus the LETI benchmark.
The LETI guide was originally formed as the London Energy Transformation Initiative, incorporating a voluntary network of 1,000 professionals with the aim of assisting the capital to achieve net zero carbon emissions status. Further achievements included raising the energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of Chancery House from D to B.
“The project included the fitting of 80 solar panels on the roof and secondary glazing to reduce energy demand, whilst allowing windows to be opened to reduce the demand for cooling in the summer,” Mr Saenz de Ormijana says. “The building now uses 100% renewable energy to strengthen our BREEAM Excellent application, which is the best you can get for a retrofit project.
“There’s a wildflower meadow on the fourth floor of the building, and you can also see excellent features such as bug hotels, log piles and bat boxes. We’re now planning to move a beehive in for a client, so we could be producing honey on site, too,” he says.
“We also use a rainwater-harvesting system for the flushing of toilets around the building and to water all the plants, and that’s another major part of the new sustainable focus of the building.”
He further explains that the Chancery House sustainability credentials have already resulted in it receiving WELL Platinum accreditation (the highest possible score) for its ground and lower ground floor areas. It is also progressing its application for BREAM Excellent for the entire building, he states, which will further endorse the considerable efforts included within the extensive retrofit project.
The long list of health and wellbeing attributes within the building include 10,500 sq ft of outdoor space, as evidenced by the large, exterior garden space on the north side and terraced areas on all floors. “There’s a large roof terrace on the third floor and two terraces on the ground floor,” Mr Saenz de Ormijana continues, “and another two courtyards on the lower ground floor, which was dug out as part of the retrofit project, and our garden on the ground floor that used to be a car park.”
The Chancery Lane building additionally incorporates a gym – the largest within any of the current TOG premises – run by Manor Wellness that provides both general and individual exercise areas, free daily classes run by qualified instructors (ranging from pilates to yoga and breathwork), a treatment room, showers and infra-red saunas.
Good connections
Facility users choosing to cycle to work are provided with 222 storage and parking spaces for bicycles, two of which are classed as accessible, along with the inclusion of changing facilities, lockers, showers and a fresh towel service. The building’s central London location means it is also easily accessible via public transport.
Those working within the building have an extensive choice of locations to use, including formal, informal and collaborative. The nine floors of office space incorporate nearly 1,500 desks, along with a variety of individual chairs, sofas and benches that incorporate indoor and outdoor spaces and ensure that all working requirements are catered for.
In addition to the above, individual booths for those requiring private areas are readily available, along with 17 bookable meeting rooms and dedicated event spaces, including a conference room. Lounge spaces are included on all floors and facility users can also readily access wellbeing/ parenting rooms, as well.
There is extensive use of natural products throughout the facility, ranging from wooden chairs and tables, sustainable fabric for upholstered seating and even the inclusion of seaweed lamp shades.
The influence of the London Silver Vaults can also be seen in the use of fittings and fitments in all areas, while complementing the use of natural materials.
Some of the building’s new cladding and paving is made from waste materials, including a minimum of 60% recycled waste from construction sites, and sourced from StoneCycling. TOG further explains that all materials used in the refurbishment have been selected for quality and durability to maximise the longevity of the building.
Flooring ranges from large format ceramic tiles to brickwork and timber, the majority of which are presented in light tones to further complement the relaxed and airy feel of all areas and further enhance the effect of the tasteful interior design. The on-site café serves an Ottolenghi-style daily buffet breakfast, followed by a lunch menu, with all meals cooked daily within the kitchen and including fresh produce and healthy eating choices.
Renovated, remodelled and revitalised Chancery House has been extensively renovated, remodelled, extended and revitalised by TOG and the success of its efforts are plainly evident throughout. It provides one of the best examples of the many aspirational features discussed by FM industry experts in the ongoing discussion of how to encourage more members of staff to return to their office.
Further to Mr Saenz de Omigana’s comments, those of his colleague lead architect Sophie Werren provide more input to the company’s ambitions: “Our first instinct is to refurbish and reposition existing buildings where we can.
“We’re always ambitious with each project and the scale of Chancery House presented a wonderful opportunity to create a building that is beautiful and has an exceptional range of amenities. Full of challenges along the way, it needed a true collaboration with dMFK Architects and Norm, both of whom were closely aligned to our vision,” she says.
Additional explanation of the aims of the project is provided by dMFK director Ben Knight: “By opening up the building and enhancing its relationship with its context, we were able to create interesting views to green spaces, bring natural light into the interior and lower floors with carefully planned courtyards and lightwells, and give the building a new lease of life. The result is calm, considered and people-centric – it embodies everything that TOG and dMFK Architects believe in,” he says.
The many successes of the project not only provide and endorse a clear statement of intent by the company of its aims to deliver more highly sustainable facilities in the future, but also enhances the views of many design, construction and FM professionals of the value in delivering high quality buildings that will further support progress towards net zero carbon emissions in the future.
In September 2022, TOG and Fora merged under the parent company, The Office Group. The combined group comprises 73 premier locations totalling over 3.1m sq ft across London, Cambridge, Oxford, Reading, Bristol, Leeds in the UK and Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg in Germany. Current TOG and Fora tenants include bp, GSK, Ocado, British Fashion Council and Peloton, among many others. Founded in 2003 by Charlie Green and Olly Olsen, TOG continues to explore the possibilities of assisting companies to reimagine, shape, and improve the way people work. The first flexible workspace by TOG was located on City Road in London and opened to members in 2004.
September 2023
With efforts being devoted throughout the FM industry to raising the standards of professionalism in all areas, improved levels of support for staff members is one of the many positive developments within this.
Further explanation of the benefits of these actions are provided by SBFM people and culture director Kelly Dolphin during her exclusive interview with FM Director. Her personal journey has provided significant levels of experience in dealing with colleagues in lower-paid roles, which has assisted her appreciation of the significant contributions made to each business on a daily basis.
“My first job after leaving college was in recruitment, mainly for blue collar workers, and I’ve worked with a lot of low-skilled, low-income people that were not always treated that well,“ she explains.
“Having attended a private school through a scholarship grant, Ms Dolphin further states that she can empathise with those that feel disadvantaged.
“I didn’t really feel I fitted in at school and I had to take a part-time cleaning job to support my studies. But this provided a brilliant introduction to FM at an early age and the two ladies that taught us had a real passion for cleaning and making sure that everything was done correctly,” she continues.
“My first introduction to FM came when I took a cleaning job at the age of 17 at a local hospital. We were taught by two ladies who had an absolute passion for cleaning and making sure everything was done right. It was a great introduction and I’ve always remembered how great they were,” she says.
Although only one of a few of her classmates that needed to work in order to fund her studies, Ms Dolphin states that her early experiences have been fundamental in allowing her to empathise with and support colleagues throughout her career to date. One of the most important aspects of her extensive work experience is that it has always been focused on providing varied and in-depth support to other people.
“It was a little uncomfortable for me at times at school because I didn’t always fit in with everyone else, but I took that opportunity and made something of it. It’s not everyone that gets access to those opportunities, so a big thing for me since I’ve worked in FM is making sure that there’s equity of opportunity throughout,” she says.
“Support for all team members has been a major focus for Ms Dolphin, including engaging with the government’s Apprenticeship Levy from its launch in 2017 while working for Aktrion. “At Aktrion we got ahead of the curve and set up as a recognised training provider, then created a team to self-deliver our apprenticeships.
“That helped a lot of people that worked for the business already to help them upskill and also for the new, younger people that were joining the company,” she says. These actions tied in with government aims to both reduce young unemployment numbers while assisting those already employed to gain more skills and experience to support their career paths.
“I really felt that I found my feet in the funded learning sector and having joined Aktrion, this was purchased by Atalian Servest and I was then offered the role of head of learning and development. I worked in that role for around four years, then group chief executive officer Colin Shute approached me to ask if I’d like to work for SBFM.”
Before leaving her former employer, Ms Dolphin began working with Matthew Chapman who
is now the SBFM CEO, which led to the launch of a number of initiatives to assist and support colleagues to feel more engaged with and valued by the company. “When people work on site, they often feel more connection with the client than with the people that pay them, because they spend their day there. We’ve got nearly 7,000 people working for us, so it’s not always easy to keep everyone feeling that they’re a valuable part of the business and I think that’s a general issue within the industry,” she continues.
Another wide-ranging issue within FM is the lack of diversity within senior management teams, says Ms Dolphin. “We’ve got one of the most diverse board of directors in the industry, however, and we’ve also launched our Evolve initiative, which supports sustainable job opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds,” she continues.
“We work with a lot of impact partners, such as a number of charities and we’ve also signed the Armed Forces Covenant, and Colin and myself sit on the employment advisory board for the government, including helping ex-offenders back into work. We’re about to present to Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation Damian Hinds at one of the prisons we’re a main supplier for, to hear about all the successes we’re having with Evolve, so that’s really positive.”
We’ve got one of the most diverse board of directors in the industry
Looking at the SBFM operation in more detail, she uses its contract with Pure Gym to explain the numbers of opportunities available for those aiming to progress their careers: “So we have 1,000 cleaners on the contract, and we have 15 area managers, three regional operations and an account director, which adds up to 19 professional routeways per 1,000 people.
“Not everyone wants to be a manager, but for those that want to progress we do all we can to support them. We’re also working with clients and impact partners to help everyone engage with the clients’ culture and help them become a part of their team and talent pipeline.”
This has led to successful developments such as ex-offenders joining the company and receiving benefits such as free Pure Gym membership, a free training academy place – which is worth £2,500 –and provided with the opportunity of retraining to become a physical training instructor.
“We recognise that there are a limited number of professional routeways within our business, but we should be able to attract and retain people for the good of our clients and our business. If we can give them a positive experience of FM, then that’s good for them and for the industry in general,” she continues.
“We really hope more FM service providers will get involved in these initiatives, because there’s the potential to include hundreds of thousands of people. With Evolve, we aim to recruit, develop and progress people, with the end goal being that they then go on to work with one of our Evolve client partners.”
The company currently works with more than 30 impact partners and is continuing to add more to this number. A total of 18 of the company’s customers have signed up to the Evolve scheme for its launch and the company is additionally aiming to sign up two service provider businesses this year, with more to follow in 2024 and beyond.
“We really think that Evolve is already providing opportunities to people that wouldn’t otherwise have access to them and there’s lots more to come from this in the future, so we know that we’re doing the right thing,” she continues.
The company’s Evolve initiative is based on the three main topics of recruit, develop and progress.
Staff members can benefit from choosing the best working arrangement from part- or full-time, paid work placements and apprenticeships and scholarships.
Further development options include coaching and mentoring, pastoral care, mock interviews, partner training options, legal and CV writing support.
Those wishing to progress further have more options such as Evolve partner introductions, including the opportunity to apply for permanent positions of employment with clients, specific work experience and the sharing of personal, inspirational life experiences.
Impact partners include a wide range of organisations from government departments, city councils, leading charities and major businesses.
The list of Evolve partners includes an impressive array of renowned names, from industry leaders like PureGym, to prominent players in the retail, corporate, and leisure sectors.
At the time of speaking to FM Director, SBFM had achieved or exceeded the majority of its targets, including the creation of a diverse board of directors, recruiting 920 impart partners against a target of 200, 18 partners against a target of 10, 132 partner evolvers against a target of 20 and 70% towards its target of retain 90% of these.
The next aim within the Evolve initiative is to recruit two industry allies to adopt the principles and further extend the advantages provided throughout the FM industry.
make everything so easy”
Further confirmation of the value of the initiative has been provided by the IWFM Impact Awards, which has included the SBFM entry as a finalist in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative category for this year’s event.
“If we’re going to change the industry for the better, we need to get more people involved,” Ms Dolphin continues. “I spoke to someone recently who said other companies should be called ‘worthy rivals’ rather than ‘competitors’ to encourage everyone to work together to make the world a better place.”
Continuing efforts are also being devoted to supporting all colleagues to meet the demands of the high levels of inflation seen in the UK over the last two years. The company is currently working with external suppliers to develop a unique publicity initiative to raise awareness of the impacts this is continuing to have and the ways that support can be provided, due to be launched in the spring of 2024, with more details confirmed nearer the time.
“We try to give two options to clients when agreeing budgets, one of which includes paying the Living Wage rate and the other a cheaper option.
“We can’t always impact the pay rate and we try to avoid the race to the bottom, so offering free education to help them progress to another role, with the end goal being to allow them to access better opportunities,” she says.
Yet another area of development has seen SBFM create its Optimise platform that has received an enthusiastic reception from clients, due to its wideranging coverage and ease of use, which includes star ratings for company employees. These are based on attendance, experience, performance and other factors, which are then combined to create the star rating for each person.
“We use this to identify where more training could help someone to improve their star rating and also to show clients that they have the best people working at their premises,” Ms Dolphin explains. “It’s people and tech focused and although my main area is to work with and help people, I can see how the tech is helping our colleagues at work and socially.”
She further explains how many of the company’s supportive initiatives have helped staff both within their working environment and their lives in general. “We’ve had people come to us who don’t speak a word of English and they’ve had free lessons through our education scheme, so socially the impact on them has been huge.
“So they’ve improved their language and digital skills and not only has that helped them with their work tasks, they’re also now able to communicate with everyone around them much better and use the same technology as everyone else, too. It’s also really helpful to parents, too, because their children will be learning English at school and it helps to make it all worthwhile when they report back to us about all the benefits,” says Ms Dolphin.
“It’s the same with technology, too, because it’s all very well to keep introducing new systems, but you have to do the training and all the things that come in between for the people to help them to use it in the best way, otherwise it just won’t work,” she concludes.
Regardless of whether her colleagues are military veterans, ex-offenders, from disadvantaged backgrounds or foreign nationals, Ms Dolphin displays genuine enthusiasm and passion to providing the necessary levels of assistance in helping them to achieve their ambitions. The personal benefits are perhaps the most obvious among these, with many others that will assist their employer, clients and their customers and facilities users.
Other companies should be called ‘worthy rivals’ rather than ‘competitors’ to encourage everyone to work together to make the world a better place
FM’s most recent media brand continues its expansion, as shown by its increasing number of followers for its LinkedIn page
Launched early last year, the FM Business Daily brand continues to enjoy expansion in all areas and particularly that of its LinkedIn page, which has now amassed more than 4,000 followers.
This is impressive from a number of perspectives and particularly notable for exceeding the numbers of followers of other FM media brands that have been in existence for considerably longer periods of time.
The FM Business Daily LinkedIn page is now regularly listed as the fastest growing in its sector, adding further evidence of the value provided by its regular updates of industry-relevant information, and this was confirmed again just a few days before our follower numbers reached the 4,000 mark.
Having been quickly accepted by the industry,
FM Business Daily added various aspects throughout last year following the launch of the www.fmbusinessdaily.com and daily newsletters in the first half of last year.
Last September saw the launch of FM Director magazine, which continues to see 72-page issues produced on a monthly basis, and was followed by the launch of the FM Recruiter service last October, complementing the Marketing and Director services also established.
With the first half of this year focused on consolidating the brand, the latest development has been the appointment of head of sales Andy Shields.
He is a highly experienced sales professional and has worked in sales manager roles for some
of the leading London and regional trade media organisations.
Plans for further expansion include the recruitment of more journalists and sales professionals to support all aspects of the brand and its continued growth, which will include the staging of more live events of all types and size.
The publication of supplements within FM Director magazine is another consideration that will be explored as the team recruits more people.
FM professionals wishing to hear more about the industry’s latest and fastest-growing media brand are invited to contact managing director Cheryl Ellerington (cheryl@fmbusinessdaily.com) or Andy Shields (andy@fmbusinessdaily.com) in the first instance.
Rapid growth enjoyed by Horizon Engineering Solutions in recent years shows every sign of continuing through its Azolla Software collaboration
Rapid growth enjoyed by Horizon Engineering Solutions in recent years shows every sign of continuing through its Azolla Software collaboration, says operations director Joe Clancy.
When speaking to FM clients in all areas of the FM industry, one of their most important requirements is seeking effective partnerships with reliable service providers able to offer the necessary levels of technical expertise.
While this applies to all aspects of the industry, it becomes even more essential for the delivery of hard services to allow the client to keep pace with existing and emerging legislation, in addition to reducing cost – particularly with the recent increases in energy charges – and guiding customers in their net zero journeys.
Service providers and consultants able to assist in these areas are now in great demand and irrefutable evidence of this is provided by Horizon Engineering Solutions.
The company has enjoyed rapid growth since its launch in 2015 as a provider of mechanical and electrical (M&E) consultancy services. In just eight years it has expanded its operations considerably. Horizon Engineering Solutions operations director Joe Clancy explains its progress to FM Director in a recent exclusive interview.
“We developed our training centre fairly recently, which means we’re the only high voltage/low voltage training academy in Northern Ireland,” he continues. “That means we can offer M&E training, including
bespoke training for customers, and offer a onestopshop for all our clients.”
The well-publicised difficulties experienced by companies in recruiting sufficient numbers of skilled engineers means that Horizon Engineering Solutions’ training courses and services are in high demand and likely to remain so for some time.
To its credit, the company has had the foresight to further extend its offering to include options for clients seeking FM services.
“We pride ourselves on being a best-in-class FM company, and deliver FM services across all business sectors,” says Mr Clancy. “We work with some very well-known companies, predominantly in pharmaceutical, aerospace and on the larger, industrial sites, rather than the traditional, more commercial places.”
Another major strand of Horizon Engineering Solutions delivery of specialist services includes its increasing focus on the provision of carbon management expertise.
“Within that, we’re looking at circular economy solutions, ensuring the best value for clients and their management of waste while embedding zero carbon into an FM offering, so you can see the three main streams of the business work really well for everyone.”
“Having seen the positive response from customers to the company’s expansion, Mr Clancy says this is likely to see further developments and additions to its services in the future. These will be based on the needs of clients and ensure they are as supportive as possible, he states”.
One of the most important aspects of the company’s growth has been its engagement with Azolla Software, which has allowed Horizon Engineering Solutions to enjoy its rapid growth in the provision of bestin-class FM services. “We recognised very quickly when we moved into providing FM services that it was really important to get a great maintenance management system,” Mr Clancy continues.
“I’ve worked with quite a few systems over the last 25 years, but I received a recommendation for Azolla from an industry SME service provider, who had worked all their lives in maintenance management and with all the best systems. We conducted a detailed analysis of a number of systems, to make sure we made the right choice in the end, and that saw Azolla identified as our preferred maintenance management system,” he says.
The company’s analysis considered aspects including cost, ease of use, flexibility, cloud-based data input and creation of customised reports, all of which saw Azolla Software identified as the leader in each section. “Their use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology allows you to build in proactive maintenance or efficiencies for clients, which is perfect for longer-term contracts and delivering value over the duration, from long-term, condition-based monitoring through to eliminating repeat failures and the right-first-time approach.”
Mr Clancy further states that two of the company’s most recently mobilised FM contracts have seen very positive response from clients, despite the fact
these have only been implemented over the last three months.
In addition to seamless mobilisations, the customers have also responded enthusiastically about how the Azolla system has allowed them to validate invoices, with more appreciation expressed for customised reports, availability of meaningful data and the tracking of tasks.
“Everything is consolidated in a very simple way. We were so impressed with the Azolla system we’ve signed up to be the agreed distributing partner for Northern Ireland,” he continues. “So we’ll be actively promoting the system and supporting the mobilisation for other clients.”
Further proof of the confidence of Horizon Engineering Solutions in the Azolla Software system is that it is planning to use it in more of its contracts, including the management of its electrical maintenance service provision deals. These typically cover essential maintenance of high voltage supplies, including transformers of up to 33kv, down to low voltage equipment and all electrical supplies and equipment in between.
“We’ll also be working more closely with the Azolla Software development team to build in more improvements and can see that this will see our partnership with them become even closer over the next number of years,” says Mr Clancy.
Horizon Engineering Solutions continues to include a major focus on its provision of in-depth electrical services, which provides numerous options for further growth, especially through the application of Azolla Software in a variety of ways. Mr Clancy additionally explains how all clients are seeking to improve their compliance with the relevant legislation as a basic requirement, leading to more wide-ranging aspirations around sustainability, which can easily be managed and measured through the application of the Azolla system and providing benefits to both Horizon and its customers.
“We are the only City and Guilds, High Voltage approved training provider for Northern Ireland. All our courses are CPD accredited. We are also ISO-accredited; 9001, 14001 & 45001. If you add our partnership with Azolla Software to that mix, you can see we’re well on the way to becoming even more important to our clients around the UK through providing them with the best services and levels of expertise,” Mr Clancy concludes.
We’re looking at circular economy solutions, ensuring the best value for clients and their management of waste while embedding zero carbon into an FM offering
The ending of PFI contracts is predicted to require considerable effort from all concerned, including full-time staff with specialist skills, while also continuing business as usual, says Emma Thornton
PFIs are large, complex contracts with multiple stakeholders and influences. Many people work in the sector to provide long-lasting positive impact to communities around the UK who benefit from these crucial infrastructure projects.
The sector provides unique opportunities for professional development, as projects span several years and the complexity requires input from many people with a wide range of expertise, from estates management to legal professionals. Many in the
sector have taken the opportunity to create extensive professional networks that benefit them to the end of their careers and allow them insight from various industries which they can use in their role.
Bringing young professionals into this mix will diversify the sector more. Young people will benefit from working with experienced professionals on complex contracts with a steep learning curve, as well as taking on a role with direct impacts on lives
and communities. Rightly, people in the industry are concerned that as PFI contracts sunset the sector becomes more and more unattractive for new professionals.
Vercity operations director Jon Brazier makes the positive case for young professionals and newcomers to the sector. “The PFI model is winding down,” he acknowledges, “however there will still be a requirement to deliver FM services, administer asset management and lifecycle programmes, and manage further projects post contract expiry.
“The human skills, knowledge and expertise built up over decades of provision is as critical an asset as the plant, equipment and information systems handed back.”
Additionally, the PFI model is far from over. Many contracts still have 30 years until expiry, making PFI a stable choice for young professionals. A guaranteed 25+ year career is a strong lure for many school leavers and early careers professionals who see the future of work as very uncertain. Fifth per cent of generation Z employees say they feel insecure in their current job, according to a study conducted by ADP Research, so providing a career with longevity and stability should attract people to the sector.
One of the benefits of coming into PFI for young people in the short-term is that there is still some on-the-job learning to be done around how best to work through the hand back process. They will be able to get firsthand experience with specialists in the field including those who helped to set up the original projects. Young people will bring new ways of thinking to the hand back process, feeding into the databank of best practice guidance and solutions for the sector. This will give them direct involvement and influence over the future of PFI. Project hand back experience on these large PPPs will be really valuable in the initialisation of new JVs (joint ventures) and in other projects across various sectors.
To those who work on PFI hand back now, the role is all about learning. “You have to understand the contract,” says former Apleona director Brian Jenkinson. “People think it’s about having particular skills or understanding buildings, but you need to understand the contract and the people you’re working with far more than the air handling units, electrical systems, and so on.” All parties need to be willing to learn what the others need and what the contract requires to bring a workable solution to the table.
“Entering the PFI sector requires a holistic skill set that combines financial prowess, legal acumen, communication finesse, project management skills, and more.” Adds Semperian Assurance Services sector head - Semperian Handback Tom Dewar. “Professionals of all backgrounds have a place within this dynamic arena, as long as they are willing to cultivate these skills and embrace the sector’s unique challenges. By doing so, they can not only contribute meaningfully to the development of critical infrastructure and services but also forge a rewarding and impactful career path within the sector.”
It is crucial that businesses within the industry are working towards bringing people in with a view that they will likely require at least some training within the role, be it developing technical skills or grasping the intricacies of PFI. Even at the senior, experienced level, each PFI contract is unique and any new starters on the contract will need time to review and understand the nuances of the new contract they are working on.
The human skills, knowledge and expertise built up over decades of provision is as critical an asset as the plant, equipment and information systems handed back
The learning curve can be steep. As Vercity commercial director Patrick Hamill explains, “if you think about an SPV, it’s like a multi-million pound business – with a complex supply chain, institutional investors and a significant revenue stream. The people working in the SPV executive team are getting exposure to a range of different situations. It’s not easy, but those are senior roles with responsibility for a multi-million pound business with a big impact on the community where it is based. That gives great opportunities to develop your skills and gain new experience. There are people out there doing that by the time they’re 30. Where else will people in the early stages of their career get that opportunity, other than PFI?”
Mr Hamill continues, “as an industry we don’t always do enough to sell the scale of the work we do, the positive impacts it has, and the variety of situations people can be exposed to. We don’t talk in that way because it’s day-to-day for us, it’s normalised, so we don’t use that language.” But for people outside of the industry, it’s an education piece to show the opportunities in PFI. The responsibility in the role is not just to the contract and the authority, as well as other stakeholders, but also to the local community and the asset users. This gives people a sense of doing work that adds value, whilst also being responsible for large budgets and estates.
That sense of value is central to work in FM says Mr Brazier. “I’ve had more rewarding experiences in FM than I ever got in manufacturing. I think the message is, it’s not just bogs and boilers, what you get involved in is significant.
There is a genuine emotional feeling here that if you ask people, ‘Who do you work for?’, they won’t say the service provider’s name, they’ll say ‘MoD’. Because you are part of something bigger. And you absolutely get that in an FM environment like a hospital, a school, or anything like that.”
A PFI estate is inherently tied up with the local community, offering a great opportunity to young people interested in social value. The contract provides a basis for people at every level of the FM provision to interact with others delivering the community need, be it healthcare, education or any other. The FM work has a tangible real-world impact through the maintenance of critical services which require monitoring, strategy, and implementation without disruption to the essential work being carried out on the estate.
PFI also carries opportunities in built environment sustainability, as the decarbonisation of the public sector estate is essential. Many buildings under a PFI contract are undergoing ‘green retrofits’ in order to meet ambitious net-zero targets – particularly in the NHS estate. According to Jenkinson, “these netzero targets are going to have a profound impact on the remaining lifecycle plans. Some very stable projections retained over many years may well go out of the triple-glazed window.
The result is likely to be multiple new projects and variations required over what was anticipated (in the original plans) to be a stable, low-risk contract period.” Thus, there are crucial conversations taking place across this area, including how to finance EV charging and net zero critical infrastructure, use of renewables, data centres, and engaging with offshore transmission.
As an industry we don’t always do enough to sell the scale of the work we do, the positive impacts it has, and the variety of situations people can be exposed to
For young professionals, this can be the start of a really purpose-driven career as energy targets are changed and future-proofed, leading to a good deal of innovative project work in the coming years.
“Working in PFI, especially in MSA providers or consultancies that support the SPVs, gives you a real opportunity to develop, hone, and expand your skill set,” identifies Mr Hamill. “And even if you only do that for 5 or 10 years and then decide to pursue a different opportunity – and there are other infrastructure projects and models out there – you will end up with a huge bank of transferrable skills.” Many people in the industry have cut their teeth elsewhere and then moved into the sector, and the same will be true when PFI wraps up by around 2050 and people move out of the sector with the wealth of skills they’ve built up in it.
But that still leaves the next three decades. “There has never been a better time to consider PFI as a career choice,” observes Bellrock SPV director Tim Cooper. He suggests there is a gap in the market for generalists: “seasoned and experienced players with an operations background who understand the demands of the multiple user groups on a contract, as well as the people pressure of running operations. I know a few shining examples of this type of operator and no two of them are from the same background. This opens up the opportunity in PFI for talent from all career paths to enter.”
And if you trained up in PFI and did not want to move out of PPPs, there are many other opportunities out there in property and infrastructure. Many in the PFI sector agree that some sort of mutually beneficial partnership between the private and public sectors will continue to be vital for the long-term growth and improvement of the UK’s built environment. This will require the same broad range of skills that are currently available in PFI, as Mr Hamill puts it: “One of the things I really enjoy about working in PFI and what makes it interesting is the range of different backgrounds you come across – construction, consultancy, manufacturing, legal, public services, accountancy, surveying, etc. You’ve got all sorts of different people involved and that brings different perspectives.
“And that’s precisely because the requirements of PFI contracts mean you don’t need just one type of person with a fixed skillset, you need different approaches and ideas in the team.”
This means as an industry, we can start having those long-term conversations about funding and improving infrastructure with the young professionals who will be implementing and creating the next lot of projects for the next 30+ years. Having a new, diverse group in the sector now will benefit partnerships down the line, and will support the long-term UK infrastructure strategy, including updated estates in healthcare and other public sector areas, large-scale innovative public transport options and alternatives to driving, wiring and national grid upgrades, broadened broadband provision, existent building stock decarbonisation and more.
As a sector, we need to be prepared for newcomers, as there aren’t enough people with the necessary skills for PFI handback who also already have PFI experience. And if we’re looking at bringing those people in from other sectors anyway, we need to also be thinking about how we can bring young professionals in as part of that drive for new talent.
Mr Dewar puts it this way: “The benefits of young professionals entering the sector extend far beyond their personal development and career growth. By bringing fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the table, those in early careers contribute to the overall advancement of the sector. Their contributions enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of projects, positively impacting infrastructure development, public services, and economic growth.”
Employers have a part to play in facilitating this exchange of perspective and expertise, and they need to be prepared to support and train people through their probation and into their role, and to help them to make the transition into PFI. But that will only go so far. What will really benefit the industry is a concerted effort from all stakeholders to share positive industry stories and successes, and share widely the sense of value one gets from a career where you can really make a difference.
Emma Thornton is the marketing manager for 300 North
Because the requirements of PFI contracts mean you don’t need just one type of person with a fixed skillset, you need different approaches and ideas in the team
Matt Davies of Memco explains how telephone connections of lift alarms can be as an essential to your business as the alarm itself
eah, it’s not the lift…it’s the phone line”: How much would you pay be told that piece of information? £5? £10? £50? How about £200-£300? Across the UK many facilities managers are paying just that because telephone line faults (or faults with any connection type) are being misreported as lift alarm faults. Therefore, it’s a lift engineer, called out to site at your cost, who’s telling you the fault lies not with your lift/lift alarm, but the
phone line to which the lift alarm is connected.
Let’s try another: “It wasn’t the lift alarm that failed, it was the telephone line that failed”. Same information but now in the past tense. Would you pay £5,000-£8,000 (that’s not a typo!) for that information? That’s the low end of the compensation ranges that injury lawyers quote on their websites for ‘psychological damage’ caused to passengers who’ve been trapped in a lift!
As I highlighted back in my article ‘How is my alarm connected to the outside world?’
(FMBusinessDaily, 20th July 2023), your “lift alarm is only as good as it’s connection to the outside world”. As well as an understanding of the type of connection you have for your lift alarms and the type of provider, it’s important to understand how that provider is managing your connection.
A lack of management is usually why a failure of the connection can appear as an issue with the lift alarm to a lift passenger or building management personnel.
In both cases the person pressing the button is expecting to be connected to an operator who can handle their call. However, if all they get is a ringing tone or silence (this will depend on the connection type) which never connects this may well get reported as a “broken lift alarm”. Without an understanding of the of the status of the connectivity, calling out a lift engineer can be somewhat pre-emptive. It’s entirely likely the lift engineer may well arrive on site test the lift alarm find that there’s nothing wrong with the unit itself and it’s likely that only then will it be made clear that the connection has failed. Note: responsibility for the connection to the lift alarm falls outside of the Lifts Regulations. This will then necessitate the call out of a communications engineer, incurring two call-out fees: one from your lift maintenance provider and one from your communications provider.
If your lift alarm were connected to a ‘managed connectivity service’ however things would look very different. Because the connectivity is being actively managed, any connectivity issues will be picked up by your service provider. They can then proactively alert you to the issue and at the same time commence operations to get you back up & running. This will likely be a combination of remote fixes but may also require a site visit. Note however you’ve only incurred one site visit.
Sentinel from Memco, is the only proactively managed resilient lift connectivity service.
At the start of the service, we can transition your lift connectivity from whatever you have today to our service provisioning at no extra cost to you across your whole portfolio. We’ll work with your existing lift maintenance provider(s) or an approved subcontractor for any work on or in the lift installation itself.
Once we have the connection established it will appear on our management platform. From then on, our UK based team will be able to detect any connectivity issues should they arise.
If this happens, we will first alert you and then commence remote fault finding and diagnostics. If we are unable to fix the problem remotely, we will then drive a site visit with your lift contractor to determine what the issue is. If the fault is with any of our equipment, then we will provide replacements on the day to get you back up and running at no additional cost to you.
To ensure Sentinel provides as resilient a connection as possible a battery backup is provisioned as standard, to ensure that you still have lift connectivity in the event of a power failure. When that battery reaches the end of its life, we will supply a fit a new battery as part of the service.
You will also receive a monthly report showing the status of all your lift connections.
If you would like to know more about the Sentinel service and how it can keep your lift alarms operating smoothly, please get in touch: matt.davies@avire-global.com
Matt Davies is Business Development Manager for Digital & Services at Memco. In addition to his role at Memco, Matt holds a seat on the British Standards Institute committee for lift safety and the European Committee for Standardisation ‘TC10 Working Team 4’ which is responsible for standards covering lift alarms.
A lack of management is usually why a failure of the connection can appear as an issue with the lift alarm to a lift passenger or building management personnel
Matt Davies says there is urgent need to address the issue of emergency phone lines in lifts ahead of the switchover from copper wire telecommunications in 2025
There is just over two years left before the UK switches off its coppercable-based telecommunications to upgrade its telephone line infrastructure, which is cause for increasing concern for all facilities with lifts.
“We’re best known for providing protection and communication systems for lifts,” says Memco, part of the Avire, Business Development Manager Matt Davies. “That includes the sensors to stop lift doors hitting you and lifts alarms - that little yellow button that allows you to speak to someone who can help if there’s a problem”.
In addition to his work for Memco and Avire, Mr Davies also provides input to the Lifts and Escalators Industry Association (LEIA) and sits on the BSI Standards Policy and Strategy Committee’s
Mechanical Handling Equipment (MHE) technical committeefor lifts, which has led him to become the UK representative at the European Standards Association for lift emergency communication standards.
“The UK will be moving its telecommunications from copper-based cables to a fibre optic-based digital system to allow us get the extra capacity that we’ll need as internet usage continues to expand,” he explains. “That’s great news for businesses and consumers, but the issue is that there are a number of devices that sit on telephone lines, including the voice alarms within the lift industry.”
Copper phone lines can carry 48V of power, so devices can work without needing a separate mains plug. This is why telephone handsets with connected to copper lines can still be used in the event of a power failure, but fibre optic lines cannot do this.
The UK will be moving its telecommunications from copper-based cables to a fibre optic-based digital system
“Copper is a good conductor of electricity, but fibre is effectively glass. So while it’s a good conductor of light, it cannot conduct voltage,” he explains. “The inherent weakness of fibre is that you have to have two, and potentially three, different pieces of communications equipment, each drawing a mains supply, to have that line working,” he says.
In the event of a power failure, the majority of workers and home owners can continue to use their mobile phones to communicate, but that will not help them if they are trapped in a lift, Mr Davies explains.
“A lift is essentially a Faraday cage and is typically a metal box running on four large metal rails, inside a concrete shaft that is inside a building.
“It’s a complicated piece of machinery and there are lots of other things in there that will interfere with phone signals. So if a lift stops working you cannot rely on someone being able to use their mobile phone to call for assistance,” he continues.
In an emergency
Ofcom has stated that communication providers do not have to provide any form of backup power on a fibre line, other than to residential customers who are unable to dial 999 in the event of power failure, says Mr Davies. “You’re also not allowed to dial 999 in the event of problems with a lift, because that’s only handled by the lift companies.”
Having been heavily involved with testing of systems around the UK, he states that the issue that needs addressing most urgently is that of resilience in the event of a power failure. There are no plans for communications providers to provide backup batteries and there is a general lack of information from official sources about the changeover and the issues outlined above.
“At the same time, Openreach are on a very rapid timeline to December 2025 when they will have all the copper infrastructure retired and everyone on digital lines,”
With the changeover progressing rapidly around the UK, he explains that one of the main concerns is that there are increasing numbers of buildings with lifts that have changed to a fibre optic telephone line and no one is aware of this.
“That’s a real concern, because if that line doesn’t have any power backup, you could have a mains power cut that will trigger the lift stopping safely within the shaft, but anyone in the lift won’t have any access to the alarm,” he says.
“Even though lifts are very well designed and manufactured, you need still need that link to the outside world otherwise all our good work will be undone. There’s also a lot going on in terms of building safety around the UK, including structural issues in schools in England,” he continues.
“I really feel for FMs because they have so much to worry about and it seems unfair to add something else to their plate, in addition to problems with poor communication and various confusing service offerings, including phone offerings that are expected to be obsolete in a few years such as the BT pre-digital phone line option and 3G mobile phone lines, etc,” says Mr Davies.
He has been involved in previous digital switching operations in Australia in 2017, then Switzerland the following year and states that the UK is very noticeably far behind both these examples in terms of the level of official advice and communication from the authorities.
“We at Memco are trying to help and have launched our Sentinel service, which is the only one of its type to offer a proactively managed, resilient connectivity service for lift alarms to allow everyone to outsource their pain to us,” he continues. Sentinel works with all authorised lift providers to transition each liftaway from a fixed phone line onto a dedicated mobile network gateway.
“Each connection will be loaded onto our management platform where our UK-based team will then constantly monitor each connection for signal, battery status and mains power. We will notify everyone as soon as we detect a power failure to let them know they have four hours of battery backup. If the signal reduces or disappears, it will trigger remote fault-finding diagnostics and send a text once the fault has been fixed.
“If it’s not fixed, we’ll organise a site visit and if the fault is in any way related to our equipment, we will complete refresh all on-site equipment including sim cards and everything else.”
Mr Davies further explains that the greatest value from the service comes from the lifetime value it provides, regardless of changes to mobile communications networks. “We can manage the entire transition for you, regardless of whether you have one lift or 1,000 up and down the country. We can work with any lift maintenance provider, from the biggest to the smallest. And as communication networks continue to evolve we will upgrade your connectivity as part of the service comma, which has the added benefit of avoiding large CAPEX outlays to meet the requirements of each technology change,” Mr Davies concludes.
I really feel for FMs because they have so much to worry about and it seems unfair to add something else to their plate
Nina Wyers, marketing and brand director at The Floorbrite Group, asks did you know, having an innovative and effective waste management service can support your business in reaching it’s ESG goals, achieving zero to landfill and reducing your carbon footprint, but how?
What is an effective waste and environmental management service?
For those who don’t know, waste management these days doesn’t necessarily look like a bin lorry visiting site once a week and removing your waste in one go.
An effective waste and environmental management service will conduct a thorough waste assessment of your premises, analysing the types and quantities of waste generated, potential areas for waste reduction, and assessing recycling opportunities. Based on this assessment, recommendations and strategies to optimise waste
management practices should be discussed, such as efficient waste collection schedules, proper waste segregation methods, and guidelines for implementing recycling and repurposing initiatives to ensure an effective and sustainable waste management system.
Assessment of individual waste streams can identify opportunities for reuse and recycling, for example, cardboard and plastic. Firstly a route to reuse any waste stream would be the ideal solution. Some waste types will even attract rebates from companies willing to buy waste in order to manufacture and upcycle into new products. The second solution would be to recycle your waste
streams. This can be done by individual waste stream and also via a mixed recycling route at a refuse recycling centre. The final option would be to send any general waste that cannot be recycled or repurposed, through a specialised waste-to-energy conversion process. This method involves harnessing the energy contained within the waste to generate power utilising advanced technologies, waste can then be transformed into a valuable resource, reducing the reliance on fossil fuels and promoting renewable energy alternatives. Food waste too, can be converted into biogas and then energy through the process of anaerobic digestion, ensuring all waste is diverted from landfill.
While recycling should be a priority, there may still be some waste that cannot be recycled or repurposed. In such cases, they should be disposed of in a responsible manner, adhering to all relevant regulations and guidelines. Working with certified waste management facilities and disposal sites, any residual waste can be handled properly, minimising environmental harm whilst still diverting all waste from landfill.
Through our zero-to-landfill policy for our customers, the Floorbrite Group’s, Waste and Environmental Management Division are able to share some amazing, award-winning stories to inspire other businesses to do the same.
Since 2015 we have diverted all waste from landfill at Duo Plastics. Amongst other solutions, the introduction of a recycling scheme on site to reuse cardboard cores in their manufacturing process, and installing a compaction and bailing machine, has reduced their waste and skip collections each year from 650 to 38, reducing transportation costs and C02 around the site also, and in turn reducing their carbon footprint.
At Carrington power station, the pump houses create a sludge over time which had previously been classified as hazardous waste. Hazardous waste is expensive and difficult to remove. Samples were sent to our labs for chemical analysis, who were able to determine the sludge was non-hazardous and merely organic waste and water. This waste is now spread on land and returned to its natural environment. Additionally, the site took delivery of 300 plastic milk bottles each week, creating a large waste issue. Our consultant advised the installation of a cool vending machine to take a bulk delivery of milk each week which eliminated the requirement of plastic bottles in their entirety.
A site in Lancashire creates a large amount of waste sand in their process. Previously over 6,000 tonnes went to landfill each year. However, following six months of chemical analysis Floorbrite now have several disposal points including one to recapture the waste sand to a quarry, bringing it back into its natural habitat and another into building products.
And finally TIP trailers refurbishes lorry trailers and has sites across the UK. Previously all waste lorry curtains were sent to landfill. However, we now work with a contractor that recycles these trailer curtains. They are washed and cut into sample sizes and sent to Switzerland to be manufactured into waterproof backpacks and fashion bags. Any curtains not up to specific standards are sent to Africa for sheltering.
By aligning with our customer’s goals and objectives, Floorbrite ensures an effective and sustainable waste management system.
Floorbrite actively promotes recycling initiatives and supports customers in implementing effective recycling programs. We educate and engage employees, providing training on proper waste segregation and recycling practices. The team assists in setting up recycling stations and ensuring the availability of designated bins for different recyclable materials.
What is POPs? Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are a group of organic compounds that have toxic properties, persist in the environment, accumulate in food chains and pose a risk to human health and the environment.
The Environment Agency has warned councils that they must now incinerate all upholstered waste domestic seating after an investigation found large levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in seating textiles and foams. Waste upholstered domestic seating containing POPs must not be landfilled, mixed with other non-POPs-containing wastes, reused or recycled. The furniture affected includes all upholstered waste sofas, office chairs and bean bags, for example. These items must be sent for incineration or used as a fuel in, for example, a cement kiln.
Many companies are still not aware of this change in legislation; however it can cause a costly issue as waste management companies will now refuse skip transportation if contaminated by upholstered office furniture. However, the Floorbrite Group are able to remove these items from site, strip down the components such as wood and metal for recycling and dispose of the foam and upholstered elements in a safe way.
For more information about any of the above please contact waste@floorbrite.co.uk
Floorbrite is a 2nd generation family business providing commercial cleaning, specialist cleaning, window cleaning, washroom, hygiene and consumable supplies, waste and environmental management, pest control, plants and grounds maintenance, security and high-level building access solutions.
With 50 years industry experience, Floorbrite has grown to become one of the leading soft service providers in the UK FM sector.
www.floorbrite.co.uk
While recycling should be a priority, there may still be some waste that cannot be recycled or repurposed. In such cases, they should be disposed of in a responsible manner
More women are working through menopause during crucial career phases, prompting the need for workplaces to recognise and address this important life stage.
Menopause should not be a taboo subject at work, nor should it force women to pause their careers.
What role can FM play?
Often, a few simple changes to someone’s working environment can make a world of difference –enabling someone experiencing menopausal symptoms to continue performing and contributing to their full potential.
What is menopause?
Menopause signifies a woman’s 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period, with symptoms potentially starting years before this (known as perimenopause).
The typical age range for menopause is 45 to 55, with an average age of 51 in the U.K. “Early menopause” applies to those under 45, or any age following a hysterectomy, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy that affects ovarian function.
Sometimes the lead-up to menopause has no impact and women can sail through it with barely a symptom. But this transitional period is not easy for all.
Hormone fluctuations, including erratic oestrogen and declining progesterone levels, lead to a wide array of symptoms: mood swings, anxiety, depression, brain fog, weight changes, skin alterations (like acne or dryness), panic attacks, hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, and reduced confidence.
Our top tips:
Open conversations and understanding change mindsets and cultures. Even just being able to talk openly can reduce the impact of someone’s symptoms. Leadership is important, when those at the top demonstrate they’re open to conversation, it sets the right tone and encourages others.
If you’re concerned about a colleague, a genuine enquiry is far better than saying nothing. Avoid direct questioning; “Do you have menopause symptoms?”
Instead, ask general, open questions; “How are you doing at the moment?”
Being human means, we feel temperature differently – menopausal or not – male or female.
Workplaces often have hot and cold areas; can people choose where they sit rather than comply with a seating plan? Are desk fans available, are there well-ventilated desk areas? Easy access to good toilets and drinking water is also critical.
If employees wear a uniform, think about the materials – are they breathable? Natural fibres work best. Don’t make them different, no woman wants to flag their ‘menopausal status’ by wearing a different colour uniform.
It’s important to provide women with access to knowledge, information and support on diet and lifestyle habits that can support them and help manage symptoms.
Studies show stress (cortisol) increases the intensity of hot flashes or night sweats and disruptions in cortisol will impact anxiety, sleep, and brain fog – so stress management is critical. Our Understanding
Open conversations and understanding change mindsets and cultures. Even just being able to talk openly can reduce the impact of someone’s symptoms
and Embracing Menopause presentation is a fantastic offering for women to learn more about diet and lifestyle advice.
There is a growing body of research into being in nature or green spaces and their ability to reduce chronic stress, specifically cortisol.
A 2021 review suggests spending time in green space may have a profound impact on reducing cortisol. Changing workplace location isn’t always feasible, so a simple step could be to introduce indoor plants. Research shows that the presence of indoor plants can reduce stress and anxiety levels, which is critical for symptom management and improvement.
Screen breakscan improve concentration and productivity and help with brain fog and tiredness. The Pomodoro Technique can be a helpful tool. This breaks focused screen time down into 25-minute blocks with a 5-minute break between each block, after which a longer break. It can make work more enjoyable.
Studies showed that building muscle can improve hot flushes. More muscle mass improves the efficiency of energy (glucose) into brain cells and boosts a protein called Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor that stimulates the production of new brain cells and strengthens existing ones. It therefore protects
Office for National Statistics Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity by age group (seasonally adjusted) – www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/ employmentunemploymentandeconomicinactivitybyagegroupseasonallyadjusteda05sa
Report by the Fawcett Society on menopause and the workplace – https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/ menopauseandtheworkplace
CIPD & YouGov survey of women experiencing menopause symptoms – https://www.cipd.co.uk/about/media/press/ menopause-at-work#gref Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Menopause and the law – https://www.acas.org.uk/menopauseat-work/menopause-and-the-law
Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3185243
Stress (cortisol) increases intensity of hot flashes – https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal. pone.0230515, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29452777/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC2749064/
Studies on support for hot flashes – https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230515, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29452777, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17000582/
Review on Greenspace interventions, stress, and cortisol in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health – https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2802
Indoor plants and stress reduction: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9408062/
the brain and cognitive function, now and future. To encourage movement, you could think about introducing standing desks or posting information by lifts to encourage people to take the stairs instead.
This helps improve circulation to the brain which can help with brain fog and mood. It also releases feel-good hormones such as serotonin and dopamine.
Simply getting your heart pumping and a little sweat on – morning walks in nature can be great, followed by regular movement ‘snacks’. A walking rather than a sit-down meeting can help boost focus and reduce stress levels. Organising cross-organisational or team challenges, like a step count challenge, could also help encourage activity.
For more tips, please request our healthy menopause tips poster from: info@superwellness.co.uk
FM Director will publish an overview of the industry’s latest senior new starters and details of their roles in each of its monthly publications
Hard services provider Jaguar Building Services has announced the company’s latest intake of apprentices. With a total of 22 apprentices, its programme continues to thrive. Over the next four years, each trainee will rotate every six months to a different building within its clients’ portfolio.
This is intended to allow them to learn the ropes of the building services industry and be exposed to different management styles. Business unit head Roger Starling said: “Our commitment to train the next generation of skilled engineers continues, and we are excited to welcome 7 driven individuals to our team.
“We look forward to witnessing our new apprentices progress at Jaguar. We are confident they will not only contribute fresh and innovative perspectives to our team but also gain invaluable skills and experiences that will shape their careers.”
LSH has recruited Ivan Tennant as director in its Economics and Planning Policy team. He joins from GL Hearn where he headed up the economic planning team.
A planner and housing specialist with over 20 years’ experience, he has worked with clients such as Epsom and Ewell Borough Council, Blackpool City Council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Countryside Properties and Homes England.
Mr Tennant has been hired to further advance the company’s established and growing Planning, Regeneration + Infrastructure (PR+I) business, led by Dr Steven Norris and Richard O’Connell. Head of economics and policy Alex Roberts said: “The Economics and Planning Policy team has grown rapidly since 2021, and Ivan’s appointment will complement the expert and specialist advice we offer our public and private sector clients across the entire property, regeneration and development lifecycle.”
Specialist catering services provider Palmer & Howells has appointed Jeremy Alderton as its managing director.
He has a classical craft background and began his career as a chef working in restaurants and fivestar hotels where he developed a passion for the hospitality business.
Mr Alderton spent many years working for a large, global catering and FM organisation where he progressed from catering manager to MD. Throughout his journey, he gained valuable expertise as an operator and sales director, both in the education and business & industry sectors. Notably, over an eight-year period, he successfully led and grew its independent education business.
Building technology solutions provider Taconova UK has strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of Behfar Abedinia as general manager.
He will lead the UK team as it continues to champion the adoption of sustainable heating technologies, offer comfort solutions, and support customers in their drive to reduce carbon emissions.
With distinguished roles at large organisations such as EDF, SSE, and E.ON, Mr Abedinia has a proven-track record of navigating intricate regulatory environments. By establishing collaborations with industry stakeholders, regulatory agencies, and government departments he has previously secured funding for energy efficiency initiatives, particularly those backed by government schemes.
Global construction and consultant services provider Mace has announced the appointment of David Glennon as its group head of digital engineering.
He brings over 25 years of experience in the construction industry and has overseen the roll out and implementation of pioneering technology to improve processes across a number of leading firms.
Mr Glennon has a wealth of experience, having previously held positions of senior digital delivery director for Red Sea Global, managing director of DoubleD.io, head of digital for Arcadis and director of digital project delivery at AECOM. He has also held senior positions at Mott MacDonald and Lend Lease.
He joins Mace at a key moment in the delivery of its business strategies and at a pivotal time for the digitisation of the built environment sector, as new technology is developed and implemented bringing with it a need for a workforce with a new skillset.
FM and compliance service provider phs
Compliance has appointed Tom Cliffe as its sales director as part of its continued growth.
Based in Warrington, the company stated it is working closely with its customers to offer everything businesses need to stay compliant and keep their people safe at all times.
Mr Cliffe spent over 12 years in the business services industry before joining the business. He has extensive experience servicing the retail sector and had several big brand retailers as part of his customer portfolio.
He will be managing its sales team of 20 people across the UK, working closely with customers to ensure compliance and safety. Working with over 35,000 business sites across the country, the company’s services include statutory electrical testing, including EET/PAT tests and fixed wire testing, inspection services, maintenance and remedial work.
Building on the award winning success of the last eight years, Tomorrow Meets Today (TMT) has returned for 2023.
Tomorrow Meets Today is FM’s only exclusive networking evening specifically focused on promoting diversity and creating unique opportunities for future leaders to meet inspirational current leadership. The organiser states there will be 18 inspiring leaders included, with space for 20 future leaders to join.
Sponsored by Pareto FM, the event will be held at the inspiring ASOS head offices in Camden on 9 November 2023. The evening will include a unique networking experience whereby the ‘tomorrow people’ will get exclusive access to network with the wide-ranging leadership group. The evening will include speed networking, talks from industry leaders and discussion over drinks.
Those wishing to nominate themselves or industry contacts can do so at https://tinyurl.com/TMTESG which requires the filling of a form that takes less than five minutes to complete.
The annual Graham FM Apprenticeship Recognition Day brought together recently qualified apprentices, those studying towards completion, and a new cohort of apprentices from across our national business.
Congratulations were provided to Elliott Birch, who received the award for Apprentice of the Year 2023.
Service delivery manager Keith Hibbins said: “Our apprentices have shown great determination and focus in the last year. The confidence they display as engineers, learning as they work on projects with tight deadlines is very encouraging.
“Elliott won this award for his willingness to listen and apply new skills, ask questions more than once if necessary and his pleasant and personable manner. The quality was of such a high standard that each apprentice should be commended on their stellar efforts throughout the year.”
300 North is a team of Facilities Management (FM) recruitment experts who source permanent, temporary and fixed term contract solutions for the UK Facilities Management, Mechanical & Electrical and Construction sectors. Marketing@300nr.co.uk
https://www.300northrecruit.co.uk
0113 336 5161
360 Sport Finance and Mentoring is dedicated to helping professional and semi-professional sporting clubs and venues with sustainable financial growth, including non-event day business. help@360accountants.co.uk www.360accountants.co.uk
01482 427360
Specialist contractor Composites Construction UK operates throughout the UK and Europe. Using innovative methods, we carry out structural strengthening and repairs to concrete, timber, and masonry structures. contact@fibrwrap-ccuk.com
www.fibrwrap-ccuk.com
01482 425250
When it comes to pest control in London, Dyno-Pest understands how to handle your problems. We offer a simple solution, using the latest methods to deal with pests effectively and responsibly. info@dynopest.co.uk
www.dynopest.co.uk
0800 802 1246
FASET is the established trade association and training body for the safety netting and temporary safety systems industry. We support members with guidance, training, and exclusive benefit schemes. enquiries@faset.org.uk
www.faset.org.uk
01948 780652
GIND UK delivers ambitious projects in challenging environments. Our London-based engineering and design team specialises in bespoke access system maintenance for the world’s most iconic buildings.
info@gind.uk
www.gind.uk
0800 448 8884
A service provider for the future, Advance Facilities Solutions Ltd delivers complete building solutions to customers in the industrial, commercial, and domestic sectors.
helpdesk@advance.fm
www.advance.fm
01622 720 888
We create, maintain, and monitor healthy spaces –using pioneering online and apps-based technology. This includes working with suppliers and products in the marketplace to deliver long lasting and scientifically tested air and surface protection. info@envelo.solutions
https://envelo.solutions
020 7096 1941
Integral Cradles Ltd. delivers permanent façade access solutions across the UK, specialising in high buildings with unique specifications and demands. A whole life-cycle solution.
kevin@i-cradles.com
www.i-cradles.com
0845 074 2758
For almost 30 years Julius Rutherfoord has been passionate about providing professional cleaning services to some of the most prestigious organisations in the London area.
info@juliusrutherfoord.co.uk
https://www.juliusrutherfoord.co.uk/ 020 7819 6700
Launched in 2008 following the merger of two 50-year-old companies, Magicccote provides a range of expert commercial cleaning solutions to customers across the UK.
info@magiccoteuk.com
www.magiccoteuk.co.uk 01482 211033
PPSPower (PPS) is one of the industry’s largest and most respected providers of generator and UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) installation, maintenance and repair solutions. sales@ppspower.com
https://www.ppspower.com/ 0345 200 9888
Keytracker Ltd is the most prominent provider of both mechanical and electronic key and equipment control systems for the workplace. sales@keytracker.com
https://www.keytracker.com/ +44 (0)121 559 9000
Established over 70 years ago, KCS has rapidly grown from its roots as a respected local window cleaning business, to a nationwide commercial cleaning company.
info@kingstoncleaningservices.co.uk
www.kingstoncleaningservices.co.uk
01482 648 737
neutral carbon zone (NCZ) is a full-service platform that gives you the tools your company needs to make the transition to a carbon neutral business and beyond. gozero@neutralcarbonzone.com
www.neutralcarbonzone.com 0845 094 5976
Pace Security is a London-based privately owned company managed by some of the UK security industries’ most experienced and respected security industry professionals.
Lindsay@pacesecurity.co.uk
https://pacesecurity.co.uk/ 0208 529 3888
Premier Technical Services Group Ltd (PTSG) is the UK’s leading provider of specialist services to the construction and facilities management sectors.
info@ptsg.co.uk
https://www.ptsg.co.uk/ +44 (0) 1977 668 771
Working with globally recognised organisations, we are specialists in creating Online Induction Systems, Turnkey and Bespoke Software Solutions, Websites, Mobile Apps and a lot more.
hello@res.digital
https://res.digital 01724 376002
With over a decade of experience in safety solutions for working at height, we are the ideal partner for solving your roof safety problems, and we pride ourselves on having the highest level of commitment to ensuring safety at work.
info@roofsafetysupplies.co.uk
https://www.roofsafetysupplies.co.uk
07889 572315
SAEMA has a long history in delivering the best training and guidance in the temporary and permanent suspended access industry. We are committed to advancing safety through raising the standards in best practice. info@saema.org
https://www.saema.org/ 01948 838616
At Safety Inspection Solutions Ltd (SIS Ltd) we’ve been helping companies to stay legal for over ten years. Our qualified engineers provide fair, efficient, and flexible onsite inspection services, working closely with clients to understand their needs. enquiries@sis-ltd.org.uk
https://sis-ltd.org.uk/
0800 6696 018
Seddon Management Services strives to offer the best solutions for trade associations to keep their members safe and compliant. becky@managementandauditing.co.uk www.seddonmanagementservices.co.uk 07854 226251
Safe Electric is an NICEIC-approved Electrical Contractor, serving Peterborough, Milton Keynes, and Cambridge. With 48 years of industry experience, our electricians and compliance experts can undertake any project.
sales@safe-electric.com
https://www.safe-electric.com/ 01487 813 600
SLM can provide all types of waste management tailored to meet the customers’ requirements. We deal in all types of recycling; electrical, hazardous, clinical. Anything you need disposing of, SLM can help.
lucy@slm-waste.com
https://slm-waste.com/ 01304 775000
Some of the UK’s buildings need no introduction – they are instantly recognisable.
Our Building Access Specialists worked behind the scenes at the British Steel headquarters in Scunthorpe, where they performed a series of structural repairs to five chimneys.
Our work keeps buildings safe, compliant, clean and efficient for 20,000 customers each year. Let’s talk about how we can help you.
