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APPOINTMENTS NEW CEO AT FIRSTPORT
Following the successful launch of FirstPort to unite all Peverel’s property services businesses under one brand, Nigel Howell has been appointed CEO
Nigel Howell joined Knight Square in January 2013 as Chief Financial Officer and he took on the role of MD Peverel Property Management in March 2014. His new role as CEO sees him take overall charge of all of FirstPort’s services (formerly Peverel Group) to 160,000 homes across the UK, replacing Janet Entwistle who stood down in February.
The first thing that is apparent about Nigel is his passion for the business he is now heading up and his enthusiasm for giving FirstPort a fresh start with both clients and staff. His predecessor worked hard to change attitudes to a company that previously suffered from a poor reputation in the industry. Nigel fully recognises that mistakes were made in the past and is determined to prove that he can take the company back to a leading position in the block management sector. Like Janet Entwistle before him, Nigel is an expert in business development and change management: “We’ve already taken phenomenal steps towards improvement under Janet’s leadership and I will be consolidating our progress and improving on it. I like getting things right and making them better,” he says, adding “there is no point in slapping a new brand on something that hasn’t changed and I’m passionate about our mission to be recognised as the industry leader”.
The new CEO’s background is in commercial roles rather than property management. He has an impressive track record in corporate finance with Morrison Facilities Services and Cable and Wireless; in Silicon Valley in California and in business development in the banking and retail sectors. So is he daunted by the prospect of taking on one of the largest players in block management? “Not at all,” he says, clearly relishing the challenge. “It’s taken a couple of years to re-build the company’s reputation and I’m proud of where we are but I’m not satisfied. Our investors were clear that we needed to make fundamental root and branch change to the business and we’ve all been working hard behind the scenes to drive that”.
According to Nigel, what he describes as ‘the four pillars’ of residential leasehold customer service are: strong health and safety; excellent site standards; great communications; and healthy estate finances.
It is these key strands of block management that he and his staff are now working hard to get right. “The first job was to define the required standard in each of these areas and re- train all our staff to meet them. We have already tackled health and safety; site standards have been completely revamped; we have introduced new systems and processes to ensure estate finance is in good shape and we are now embarking on improving customer communication,” Nigel explains. FirstPort employs more than 3000 people and it is a vital part of Nigel’s role to ensure these objectives are made clear to all of them: “I’m making sure that message is amplified,” he says.
In the past Peverel property managers were often accused of being difficult to contact and slow to resolve problems. Nigel wants this approach to be left firmly in the bad old days. ”We’re investing in efficiency – in people, processes and technology, he says, “but I’d like us to adopt an even friendlier tone with leaseholders. We need to speed up complaint clear-up times and although feedback is pretty good there’s still a lot more to do”. That includes defining excellence in customer service. What does that really mean? Nigel and his staff are on a mission to find out: “People expect their block to look and feel great, to be safe in their homes and to feel they are getting value for money from their property manager. To achieve that we’ve done a customer survey
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in every area of the country that FirstPort operates in. We have set up leaseholder focus groups and are using what people tell us to make improvements. Property managers tend to focus only on the landlord/developer relationship. At FirstPort we recognise that our relationship with the leaseholder is just as important. To strengthen customer relationships, the business has been structured into three customer-facing areas so that property managers can focus better on the particular needs of their clients. These are: FirstPort Property Services – typical residential blocks with no unusual requirements beyond the need for high quality service provision; FirstPort Bespoke Property Services – high end luxury blocks with additional facilities such as concierge, gym/swimming pool etc and those which are listed or complex in some way; and FirstPort Retirement Property Services
In order to provide the level of service that customers want and expect, Nigel is driving property managers, regardless of the area of the FirstPort business in which they operate, to ask themselves, “would I want to live here?” If the answer is “no” then something needs to change, he says.
It is clear that Nigel is enjoying his new role and is on a rapid learning curve. “There is nothing dull about property management,” he says. “It is every bit as fast-paced, demanding and challenging as any other business sector”. He is adamant that block managers can match and exceed the need of customers in the 21st century. “People’s lifestyles are changing; they are looking for convenience, speed and clear ways to communicate and the opportunity is there for us to really raise our game. The whole sector can innovate - but we want to do it first and fastest.”
New MD appointment
Keith Shields has been appointed Managing Director of FirstPort Retirement Property Services. He will run the division as well as Kingsborough (soon to be FirstPort Insurance Services) and specialist retirement estate agency Retirement Homesearch. Keith joined FirstPort’s management team in March 2015 from Lend Lease, a business recently acquired by Cofely, where he was Head of Facilities and Asset Management. He has also been Managing Director, Facilities Management, at Telereal Trillium and has extensive experience in both private and public sectors, leading people and managing supply chains to deliver strong service for customers.
Issue 21
Appointments Women in Property
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