 Industry News Confidence in operational data boosts FM’s status


Real time, trustworthy data is most likely to improve an or- ganisation’s ability to deliver on its FM priorities, accord- ing to new research from the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM). Insights from more than


150 FMs across UK busi- nesses form the basis of the BIFM’s latest report, FM and the Trust Dividend, spon- sored by Cloudfm. The proj- ect explores the attitudes of organisations towards their FM departments and FM suppliers, and how these are influenced by the FM policies they work with. Respondents who de-


scribed their organisations as having better than aver- age FM policies and proce- dures were found to: • Have more trusting and less suspicious relationships with their FM partners. • Be more likely to manage procurement of FM through a centralised team.


• Recognise the cost of their FM spend sooner (in contrast to an average of three to four months after the event). Despite this, when asked to


describe their relationships with FM suppliers, few por- trayed them as true partner- ships with most stating that such relationships were ‘sen- sitive’. When asked what would improve this, respon- dents again pointed towards timely, accurate data. Increasing demands for in-


novation in the FM service and evidence that service providers are adding value was also an emerging trend. When asked to what extent they felt their current FM suppliers delivered innova- tion and best value, senior personnel offered a gener- ally poor assessment. When participants were asked to rank their service providers out of 10, more than half rated their suppliers as six or under.


Maxim expansion


A Sunderland based business claims to have become the largest independent contract cleaning and facilities man- agement company in the north east following its acqui- sition of a regional competi- tor.


Maxim Facilities Manage-


ment Ltd recently acquired the contract cleaning division of New Life Cleaning Systems (North) Ltd, making it one of the city’s largest employers with over 500 staff working within the organisation. Providing services ranging from large scale contract


Furthermore, when asked


about the extent of senior management support for their innovation initiatives, a fifth of respondents said they did not feel supported at all, and a third only felt sup- ported ‘to a slight extent’, suggesting that more report- ing and data-driven results at boardroom level are re- quired. Encouragingly, when asked


to rank the importance of FM service measures over the next three years, cutting spend ranked lowest with in- creasing uptime of estate and an enhanced customer experience featured highest, suggesting that organisa- tions are increasingly aware that the choices they make in supporting their FM depart- ments has an impact on how their customers view them. Gareth Tancred, chief exec-


utive of BIFM, said: “What these findings tell us is that there is a clear dividend to be


cleaning of factories and of- fices through to landscape gardening and painting and decorating, Maxim was formed in 2010 and serves an impressive blue chip client base which includes Toys R US, Gentoo and Quorn Foods, as well as a number of pri- vate and state schools across the region. The company also offers deep clean services for specialist environments in-


The team at Maxim: Graham Conway, MD; Juliet Conway, operations director; and Michael Hall, finance director.


taken by those businesses that have worked to develop and measure the outputs of their FM departments, and it is encouraging to see that strong FM policy is driving performance. However, the ‘value’ of facilities manage- ment remains an elusive commodity within many busi- nesses, and lack of meas- urement or accurate added value threatens to undermine the impact and benefits of FM. Given that a sizeable majority of the overall poll sample would like their rela- tionship with their FM suppli- ers to be better, an ongoing commitment by senior per- sonnel to establish and rou- tinely measure FM’s value, and what it brings to opera- tional productivity, would not only lead to improved levels of service quality but, cru- cially, trusting partnerships between clients and suppli- ers.” www.bifm.org.uk


cluding laboratories, hospi- tals and technical areas. The recent acquisition of


New Life increases the com- pany’s turnover by 50% to nearly £5 million, with further plans to grow the business to a turnover of £15 million within the next three to four years. Graham Conway, manag-


ing director of Maxim, said: “Our intention has always been to grow a national con- tract cleaning business of- fering wider facilities management services. We plan to do this from both or- ganic growth and acquisition, and the purchase of New Life is our first step in mov- ing towards this goal.” The company has further


Equality and Human Rights Commission Continued fromPage 3.


work and often take great pride in their jobs, but many felt that they were not appreciated or


afforded the dignity and respect shown to others in the workplace. They may be bullied by su- pervisors, have problems with their pay, and have excessive workloads. This can often be linked to a focus on reducing costs at the expense of good practice in employment and con- tracting. I am looking forward to working with the cleaning firms, Union representatives, clients, trade bodies, and government organisations that make up this year-long taskforce. Together I believe we will identify key actions to improve practices across the sector and en- sure that everyone understands their role in ensuring workers are treated with dignity and re- spect.” The full report - The Invisible Workforce: Employment Practices in the Cleaning Sector - can


be found at: www.equalityhumanrights.com/invisible_workforce


4 l C&M l SEPTEMBER 2014 l www.cleaninghub.net


acquisitions planned across Scotland and the rest of the UK in the coming months. “Our heart is very much in the North East and our roots are firmly established here, yet we have a very clear ob- jective to become a national company and one of the largest independent contract cleaning and facilities man- agement companies in the UK,” continued Conway. “The cleaning market is a massive, multi billion pound business and is predominantly domi- nated by extremes of either plcs or small local, family owned businesses. There are very few, mid-sized competi- tors operating in the £15-35 million turnover bracket in the north, and it is very much our intention to work in this space and expand from the north east into the rest of the UK.” www.maximfm.co.uk


Facilities Show completes successful


move to ExCel The Facilities Show has celebrated its 15th year in style, with a 16% increase in stand space and over 10,000 visitors. The move from the NEC Birmingham to London’s ExCeL was long in the planning and keenly anticipated, with over 100 brand new ex- hibitors attracted to the event. Show organisers have declared the event a resounding success, sit- ting alongside co-located events. In total, the Pro- tection and Management Series welcomed 40,000 visitors to ExCeL over the three days. Fergus Bird, group event


manager, UBM Live, said: “We are really pleased with the overall event this year. We saw an increase in visitors, seniority, inter- national attendees and a large crossover from the other co-located show. These are highly encour- aging signs for the future of the Facilities Show as we aim to grow in all these areas over the coming years.” The show is run in asso-


ciation with the British In- stitute of Facilities Management (BIFM). The event is the world’s largest dedicated exhibition to the facilities management in- dustry and plans to further internationalise the event have now been cemented by its new residence in London. Gareth Tancred, chief ex-


ecutive, BIFM, said: “The move to London was a major undertaking for all parties and we are thrilled to have moved safely to the docklands world-class convention centre, London ExCeL. It is vital for our profession that we have an annual meeting point for the exchange of ideas and the latest innovations. We believe that the UK is the global leader in facilities management and the Fa- cilities Show is an impor- tant event for the industry.” The Facilities Show 2015


will take place from 16-18 June at London ExCeL. www.facilitiesshow.com


The Cleaning Show makes itsmove to ExCel inMarch 2015 - see www.cleaningshow.co.uk formore information.


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