Stuart O'Brien, Author at Facilities Management Forum | Forum Events Ltd - Page 83 of 87
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Stuart O'Brien

Wellcome deal for Ultimate Security Services
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Global scientific and research charitable foundation Wellcome Trust has appointed Ultimate Security Services to manage its integrated service operations in an initial three-year deal, worth £3.6m.

Ultimate will provide services for the Wellcome Collection and the Gibb Building at 215 Euston Road in this first generation outsource contract, consolidating a number of different services including reception, Wellcome Collection hosting, loading bay, post room and reprographics.

Alan Aldridge, head of buildings, environment and workplace at Wellcome, said: “After a thorough tender exercise, we concluded that an integrated service provider like Ultimate would offer the innovation and expertise needed to successfully transform the services delivered by our reception, security and office logistics teams. I am delighted that Ultimate will be joining our existing family of on-site service partners, further enhancing our ability to develop innovative service solutions that support the wider organisation.”

Paul Harvey, board director, Ultimate Security Services, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside the iconic and globally recognised Wellcome Trust and the Wellcome Collection. Environments evolve constantly, and the resulting complexities demand intelligent and adaptive solutions. We are proud that Wellcome Trust has acknowledged our capability to deliver engaged frontline personnel that understand the pivotal role they play in safety, wellbeing and the customer experience journey.”

www.ultimatesecurity.co.uk

Lanes Group secures lucrative TFL contract
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Lanes Group has secured a five-year contract to provide maintenance services across the London Underground.

The contract, worth £65 million, has the option for a three-year extension, and will be the third maintenance contract awarded to the Lanes Group by Transport For London (TFL) in a four-month period. The contract is due to go live in June.

Work covered includes all building maintenance across the London Underground network and depots, power sites, engineering works and train crew accommodation.

“Network Rail has just re-awarded a substantial COOM multi-route drainage maintenance contract to Lanes Group company UKDN Waterflow (LG) Ltd for another 18 months,” said Wayne Earnshaw, managing director at Lanes Group. “Our depot network is also winning an increasing amount of work with Network Rail maintenance partners.”

Lanes Group has been working within the rail sector since the 1990’s, with Lanes Rail satisfying major contracts across the national rail network, London Underground and light rail/tram sector.

With this new contract, Lanes has increased the amount of assets it is now responsible for maintaining with TFL by 40 percent. When combined with the two previous TFL contracts the turnover of the rail division, Lanes rail, will increase by 30 percent.

Lanes Rail handles more than 18,500 reactive incidents a year with TFL.

www.lanesgroup.com

On your bike – how cycling to work can help beat cancer
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Research from the University of Glasgow has revealed that cycling to work can you help you live longer and reduces the risks of serious diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The report, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), found that commuters who cycled or part cycled to work were expected to have a longer life expectancy than those that didn’t.

During the study, nearly 450 participants from across the country were examined on how they travelled to work and by what methods (walking, cycling, part walking/cycling and non-active, such as car or public transport).

The report found that those who cycled to work were 46% lower risk of heart disease and 45% lower risk of developing cancer than those commuters that took a non-active commute.

Cyclists in the study were riding an average of 30 miles per week, three miles each way, five days a week. The average speed was a reasonable 10mph, taking 20 minutes each way.

Presently in the UK only 3% of the population cycle to work, compared to 36% who commute by car.

The report concluded that “major opportunities for the improvement of public health” could be found if people were encouraged to participate in cycling to work, such as more cycle lanes, city bike hire services, subsidised cycle to work schemes and better accommodation for taking bicycles on public transport.
www.bmj.com

Register for the Occupational Safety & Health Forum today!
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Delegate registration for the Occupational Safety & Health Forum is now open.

RSVP today to ensure that you start 2018 with the best partners and the greatest efficiencies.

It all takes place on February 7th 2018 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, London Stansted, enabling you to meet with trusted health and safety suppliers, learn at interactive seminars hosted by industry thought-leaders and network with peers.

The Occupational Safety & Health Forum will be the most productive day you spend out of the office all year.

And what’s more, it’s entirely FREE to attend for pre-qualified professionals.

However, due to the highly-focused nature of the event we only have 65 delegate places available and they’re expected to go fast – to secure yours, contact Jamie Higgs on 01992 374058 or email j.higgs@forumevents.co.uk.

Computer

FORUM INSIGHT: Housekeeping tips for your digital presence
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Last week we took a look at how you can make your company blog work a little harder in terms of helping to grow your business. But sometimes it’s worth taking a step back to see if the fundamentals of your online presence are working as well as they should be.

If you don’t have dedicated ‘digital’ staff, an agency, or or a marketing department that takes care of such things, then making sure you’ve covered off the basics can be a daunting task.

You’ve got a website up and running, but what are you doing about social media and are you keeping your clients up to date with regular email updates? No? Then you won’t be alone.

The good news is that there are some simple steps you can take to make sure the basics are covered off…

Let’s assume that you already have a website. If you tasked a third party with building and maintaining that site for you, ask them to give it an SEO health check. You might even be able to do this yourself if the site is built on WordPress or similar. In short, make sure the site title and description paints an accurate picture of your business – this is the information search engines use to identify your site and thus (hopefully) include you in relevant results.

This takes us to social media. If you haven’t already got a LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook page for your business, set them up now. And make sure your profile information exactly matches the title and business description on your website and references your URL. Search engines will then recognise that and group everything together in their results.

The other thing that Google can do is show potential customers exactly where your office is located, via Google My Business. You have to jump through a few hoops to set it up, but it will make your business more visible to potential customers. For example, if someone searches for ‘events company in Hertford’ a map panel will show in results with pins for all such business in Hertford, including your own (if you’ve registered!).

Let’s also think about email, which is often neglected in the scramble towards social media. It’s a bit fiddly to set up, but it’s also a brilliant and direct way to communicate with your customers. The first step is to start collecting email addresses – get yourself an account with Mailchimp, create a sign-up form and put that on your website with a clear call to action.

Make sure you add any existing customer databases to your newsletter mailing list (first making sure they’ve given you permission to send them emails!). You can then easily create simple email campaigns with which to keep your customers up to date with your latest products and services.

If you can get all of the above done, then you’re ready to properly engage with existing and potential customers online – We’ll show you how in our next instalment…

Envira Products

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: Envira Products
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Envira Products own and distribute an innovative range of industrial and commercial de-icers specially formulated to combine high performance de-icing with a caring approach to the environment.

How we do it

Customer service is at the core of all that we do and we work closely with our customers to provide a comprehensive support structure that maximises the benefits of our products and improves winter de-icing operations.

Our market locations include the UK, Europe, Scandinavia and the Balkans.

We are committed to providing high quality eco-products that perform to the highest standards and offer our customers a compelling value for money proposition along with an improved green footprint. Our aim is to develop long term relationships with our customers and our approach is very simple: if it isn’t right for any reason, we put it right.

www.enviraproducts.com

whirlpool-logo

Whirlpool UK fatality leads to £70,000 fine
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A company at the centre of one of the UK’s biggest product safety scandals in recent years has been fined £70,000 after a man died in a workplace incident.

Whirlpool UK Appliances Ltd was handed down a substantial fine and costs following the death of one of its contractors after falling from a mobile elevated work platform (MEWP).

The incident occurred on the 21st March 2015, when the contractor had been installing revised fire detection equipment using the MEWP at a height of over five metres on the site of the former Indesit factory in Yate, Bristol.

Unaware that the contractor was nearby, Whirlpool UK maintenance workers started an overhead conveyer, with the resulting movement causing the MEWP to tip over, knocking the 66-year old man from the platform to the floor below, causing serious injuries from which he later died.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that there was no process in place to inform workers that conflicting tasks were being carried out.

Bristol Crown Court fined Whirlpool UK Appliances £70,000 with costs of £11,466 after it pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974.

The act places general duties on employers and the self-employed to conduct their undertakings in such a way to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons other than themselves or their employees are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Matt Tyler said: “This is a tragic case where the incident could have been prevented if the company had planned and controlled the work properly.”

Somerset House

Incentive FM extends Somerset House contract
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London-based facilities management group Incentive FM has secured a contract extension at Somerset House.

Under the new deal, Incentive FM will provide cleaning and maintenance services to support the trust, tenants and various events that take place at the site throughout the year, including cinema nights, exhibitions and gigs and the popular courtyard ice rink that runs throughout winter.

The contract extension follows a four-year period in which Incentive FM worked closely with the Somerset House Trust, helping to conserve and develop the gardens and open spaces to the public.

Somerset House attracts over 3 million visitors a year, offering a diverse and dynamic public programme of contemporary arts and culture and home to a community of creative businesses, artists and makers.

Mark Figg, FCIOB, head of buildings of Somerset House Trust, said: “The Incentive FM team has been a great support for the Trust as we continue to develop the site into an exciting mixed use space, which includes office, exhibition, event and retail facilities. They help us to ensure that an outstanding visitor experience is delivered every day.”

Bruce McDonnell, Managing Director at Incentive FM, said: “This contract forms another part of the exciting portfolio of iconic destination properties that the Incentive FM Group provides service and support to, including The Covent Garden Estate, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Liverpool Football Club.”

www.incentive-fmgroup.com

Office Space

Savills: London’s outer boroughs can provide greater office flexibility
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A report commissioned by estate agent Savills has suggested that London’s outer boroughs could provide greater office flexibility, as workers look for shorter commutes and a better working environment.

Spotlight: London Mixed Use Development suggests that the capital needs a combination of more homes and workplaces beyond central London, potentially offering a huge opportunity for office space located in the less congested London outer boroughs.

Rapid rent rises in central London locations, including City, West End and Docklands, while the outer boroughs have shown flatter growth, also adds to the attraction of office space outside of the city.

Croydon tops the list as the hottest market for office rental growth in London and the South East, with office rents expected to rise by an average of 27.8% a year over the next five years, surpassing office rental growth in the City and West End, but starting from a lower base.

Based on the latest estimates of office-based employment growth in London, the report suggests that an additional 4 million sq ft of commercial office space is required every year, equivalent to 1% of existing stock, or three buildings equivalent to The Shard per annum.

The estimate of demand, split between inner and outer London boroughs, also shows that a quarter of the additional office space will be required in the outer London boroughs – but current share of new offices in development, depending on timing of delivery, is only 7%, equating to around 2 million sq ft.

This figure will need to increase if the new emerging outer London office locations become reality.

www.savills.com

Remember to register for the Facilities Management Forum!
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The Facilities Management Forum will be celebrating its 20th anniversary on July 10 & 11th at the reputable Principal Hotel in Manchester.

The event offers you a series of meeting opportunities with trusted suppliers, peer-to-peer collaboration and attendance to our guru-led seminar programme.

Not forgetting an evening party to celebrate two decades of the leading event for the FM industry.

Delegates places are now extremely limited – to secure yours contact Paige Aitken on 01992 374079 / p.aitken@forumevents.co.uk.