10 Let’s Hear it from...
There is no pressure for the company to change,
but we do need to continue to grow this business in spite of what happens on the outside. We have a three-point strategy for growth in our contracting business:-
1. KEEP WHAT YOU’VE GOT In the past year, we had 10 defensive tenders and kept seven of them. To do that we strive to give customers what they want. I’ve recently been to Raymond Blanc’s cookery school and his motto is ‘give zem what zey want and a little tiny weeny bit more’ (in a French accent – ask him to do this if you meet him!) So that’s the way to keep clients.
2. WIN MORE TENDERS We have the next five years mapped out, as to when the tenders and contracts are going to come up. We are public realm in maintenance and landscaping; but that said, we have a lot of private sector clients.
2
3. GROW BY ACQUISITION We acquired Banyards and Wyevale since the acquisition by Elysian. These firms have quite a lot of smaller private sector clients, and both companies have now been completely integrated into the business, plus we have brought in new people from elsewhere.
There are five legacy companies: English Landscapes Maintenance, English Landscapes, Western Landscapes, Wyevale Landscapes and Banyards. Over the last two or so years we have moved our Head Office to Coventry to be right at the centre of the country and developed strategies to build up a great support system for the operational people and contract managers out in our other areas. We believe we now have the best HR, the best engineering, the best health & safety, the best regional management and the best financial support that contract managers could possibly have. They need that as they’re in the front line and have to call the shots, right in the thick of it, having to deal with everything that’s thrown at them and they can’t
Give zem what zey want and a tiny weeny bit more.
| October 2011 |Volume 1 Issue 2
1 Media City, Manchester – £3.7 million, Hard Landscaping project.
2 Herschel Park, Slough – £1.3 million, Heritage Lottery Funded Park Restoration project.
3 Connelly Del, Ealing – £114k, Water Fall Restoration project.
3
have to do something different! We have three regions – North, East and West – but the major landscape construction projects are actually run on a national basis. By ‘major’ we mean predominantly hard landscape construction which is dealt with from our office in Warrington. There is a constant debate in business about
centralise versus de-centralise, and what you will find is big businesses tend to vacillate on a six to seven year cycle between the two at one point centralising being in favour and another decentralisation. What we’re trying to do is avoid that and simply get the balance right. We are more centralised than we were two years ago, but the way to get the balance right is autonomy on the ground in the regions to get on with the job, but within a framework of reporting, control and a Landscape Group way of doing things. We aren’t completely there yet but we
are infinitely better than we were two years ago and it’s getting better all the time. The major thing is that our managers know they have a strong support framework.
In terms of purchasing how does this work within the Group? We have many suppliers that we use which are managed through our company wide electronic purchasing system. If there is a new product or something innovative from a new supplier, say a new machine, the supplier would be required to give the machine to us on demo. Angus Lindsay, our Group Head of Assets & Fleet Management, will get as many people in the regions involved in the process of testing and demonstrating the piece of kit and he will feedback to the supplier. Many finished versions of machinery that you see at IOG Saltex for
www.pro-landscaper.co.uk
possibly be experts at everything. The quote we like is ‘Local services delivered to local people by local people, but with the best national back up we could possibly have’.
So you manage the business by regions do you – rather than build or maintenance? Yes, well, a bit of both. As with all businesses we have a model, but sometimes reality kicks in and we
1
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52