New Appointments in Facilities Management – January 2025

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24 January 2025

This month’s new appointments roundup features Churchill Group, phs Besafe and the Government Property Agency.

 

Picture: a graphic showing the headshots of Charlotte Macdonald, Mark Stone and Mark Bourgeois

 

Churchill Group Appoints Charlotte Maconald as Social Impact Manager

Churchill Group has appointed Charlotte Macdonald as social impact manager, furthering its commitment to sustainability and social value. Macdonald brings a wealth of expertise and joins after seven years at Equans, with the last four years dedicated to providing positive change in local communities.

Macdonald's role will focus on advancing Churchill Group’s social impact efforts, aligning them with the business's core values and ESG objectives. Her strategic priorities include crafting a comprehensive social value framework, fostering meaningful community engagement through volunteering and charitable initiatives, and driving inclusive recruitment practices. By enhancing social value reporting and leveraging data-driven insights, Macdonald aims to solidify the company’s impact strategy.

Charlotte Macdonald, social impact manager at Churchill Group, said: “I’m thrilled to join Churchill Group at such an exciting time. As an employee-owned business with a firm commitment to people and the planet, we have an incredible opportunity to drive meaningful social change. I look forward to working with the team to embed social value into every aspect of our operations, as well as work with local organisations to create employment pathways for under-represented groups.”

James Bradley, CEO at Churchill Group, said: “Charlotte’s environmental qualifications and her experience working with community groups aligns perfectly with our values. Her innovative approach to social impact will help us deliver even greater value to our clients, colleagues, and society. We are excited to see the positive changes she will bring, and we welcome her warmly to the team.”

 

Mark Stone Appointed as phs Besafe’s Managing Director

 

phs Besafe, the UK’s leading supplier of specialist PPE workwear and laundry solutions, has announced its new Managing Director.

Mark Stone, who has an extensive senior leadership background, joins phs Besafe in Tipton after four years as Chief Executive Officer at a leading pasta sauce manufacturer.

Mark has a proven track record in successful development, build and growth strategies as a senior leader across a range of businesses and sectors, including listed PLCs. 

Part of the phs Group, phs Besafe provides a nationwide service to over 3,000 customers, supplying high quality specialist PPE and workwear and specialist laundry services to ensure the comfort and safety of thousands of employees. Every year, it makes over 156,000 deliveries and launders more than 1.2 million garments.

Speaking about his appointment, Mark said: “phs Besafe has a strong reputation in the workwear and laundry industry. It values people, as well as the planet, and it has become an innovator in its field. Our in-house laundry and drying processes are unique to the industry, offering a low energy, high quality service using the very latest eco-friendly technologies. We are revolutionising green standards in the commercial laundry sector.

“Crucial investments in the latest innovations have been made to ensure the business is as sustainable as possible, allowing drying process times to be cut by up to 50% in recent years. We will keep making investments in green innovation as a key part of our ESG strategy.

“Our investment in people is also crucial. The team at phs Besafe is second-to-none and they are very proud of the reliable and efficient service they offer our customers. I want to continue to develop and build the team as we grow as a business to ensure we take them on the journey with us.”

phs Besafe offers a tailored workwear supply service for a wide range of industries including rail, aggregate, manufacturing and transport markets. Garments include safety wear, high visibility wear, flame gear and foul weather gear. The team offers a locker and collect and return laundry service and its laundries use a unique wash process that maintains the safety features of the garments and prolongs their life. 

 

 The GPA confirms Mark Bourgeois as CEO

 

The Government Property Agency (GPA) has confirmed the appointment of Mark Bourgeois as its new Chief Executive Officer.

He was confirmed in the permanent position after holding the interim seat for 10 months.

Mark brings more than 30 years’ experience in strategic and operational leadership across the fields of investment, development and asset management within commercial real estate.

He is a former Managing Director for the UK and Ireland division at FTSE listed developer and investor Hammerson plc, and prior to that Executive Director at Capital & Regional plc. He also has extensive expertise in regeneration in partnership with local and city authorities, including acting as Interim Corporate Director for City Development at Liverpool City Council. 

 

Barr Gazetas Appoints Félicie Krikler as New Director

 

Architecture practice Barr Gazetas has appointed Félicie Krikler as its first-ever Head of Residential Director. This significant appointment for the practice reflects Barr Gazetas’ strategic ambition to expand its presence in the residential sector while reinforcing its commitment to sustainable and community-focused design.

A highly respected figure in the industry, Félicie brings extensive experience in residential-led urban regeneration, honed over 24 years at Assael Architecture, with nine as Director. Her portfolio includes work across most residential tenures and typologies including Build to Rent, co-living, later living, high-street regeneration, and overall socially impactful design. She has also led research initiatives on wellbeing-focused housing and social value, positioning her as a thought leader in the sector. Krikler is also an active contributor to the industry, serving on RIBA Council, judging the British Home Awards, Building and Love to Rent Awards, and regularly sharing insights through speaking and writing for trade publications.

Barr Gazetas and Félicie already share a strong foundation, having collaborated on an innovative later living scheme. This appointment marks the start of a dynamic new alliance, merging Barr Gazetas’ commercial expertise with Félicie’s vision for residential design. Together, they aim to bring a fresh, integrated approach to developers and clients across various sectors.

Félicie will unite her extensive experience in residential design with the practice’s expertise in commercial and adaptive reuse, creating a new direction for housing design. This new team is determined to challenge the industry's siloed approach, fostering a more collaborative, cross-disciplinary model at Barr Gazetas.

Barr Gazetas is a certified B-Corporation known for its progressive approach to the sensitive refurbishment of existing and historic buildings. The practice’s recent work includes the heritage-led refurbishment, Grainhouse, which has been awarded BCO Corporate Workplace Award, and Holbein Gardens, a redevelopment and extension of a 1980s building located off Sloane Square, which will achieve Net Zero operational carbon by 2030.

 

ISS Announces Changes to the Executive Group Management Team

 

ISS has announced changes to the Executive Group Management team.

ISS launched the OneISS strategy in 2020 and in December 2024, ISS reviewed certain elements of the strategy. To successfully implement the strategic priorities the Executive Group Management Team will be reduced from 8 to 5 members.

As part of the changes, three of the existing Executive Group Management members will have a changed responsibility:
 

• Carl-Fredrik Bjor, will take up the role as Chief Commercial & Revenue Officer and drive the commercial agenda locally as well as globally.
• Liz Benison, will take up the role as Chief People and Technology Officer to further build ISS’ focus on delivering a strong technology infrastructure as well as the strategic focus on the people agenda. 
• Troels Bjerg, will take up the role of Group Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for all country operations.    

Agostino Renna (former Chief Commercial and Communication Officer), Markus Sontheimer (former Chief Information and Digital Officer) and Celia Liu (CEO of Central and Southern Europe) will be leaving ISS after a transition period.   

Mads Holm’s, Group Chief Financial Officer, responsibility will remain unchanged.  

 

Baxi Bolsters Residential Division with New Board Appointment

 

Baxi has strengthened its residential heating division with the promotion of Rob Pearse into the newly-created role of Residential Business Director, in a move designed to enhance the level of support it can offer to its residential customers.

Pearse brings over 30 years’ commercial and sales experience across sectors including construction, domestic appliances and heating, having been Baxi’s Residential Sales Director since 2023.

Pearse’s role will see him continue to strengthen partnerships to support customers in the residential space with the latest efficient heating and hot water technologies. This includes supporting heating engineers and merchants with low-carbon solutions, training and expert support as the supply chain and homes continue the clean heat transition.

Earlier in the year, Baxi’s 2024 Installer Skills Survey revealed UK heating engineers are holding back from the switch to heat pumps due to a lack of hands-on training, complex government incentives and perceptions of low consumer demand. It found only 9% of installers are fitting heat pumps, while half of respondents stated they would be unlikely to start fitting heat pumps in the next three years.

Baxi’s restructure of leadership and Pearse’s appointment to the new role created represent a number of the organisation’s commitment to overcoming these challenges and supporting customers with delivering efficient, comfortable heat. In addition to a raft of new product development of heat pumps, electric heating and heat network solutions, Baxi has prioritised addressing skills challenges with the opening of its Solutions Academy, which is set to triple the company’s training capacity.

 

Abloy UK Appoints new Digital Access Solutions Academy Manager

 

Carl Bridgwood has been appointed as the new Manager of Abloy UK’s Digital Access Solutions Academy, a purpose-built facility to educate, install and test the company’s range of products, with a particular focus on new digital solutions and ecosystems portfolio.

The Digital Access Solutions Academy provides free training courses for a range of Abloy solutions including CLIQ, Aperio, EDS, Impro Primo and SMARTair.

With a background in automotive electronics, Carl has over 30 years of experience to bring to the role, starting out as an installation engineer, he then progressed to more technical and product focused roles for a range of blue-chip manufacturers. Carl then moved on to business management roles where he was able to deliver training, provide technical information and create educational product material.

As part of his role, Carl will provide training that is thorough, methodical and easy to digest, giving attendees the confidence to be able to install and sell various Abloy products.

Carl said: “My goal is to ensure that training information is absorbed by the individuals who come to our sessions, offering easily digestible content which will benefit installers and the sales team alike. 

“I look forward to seeing how we use CRM to bring independent processes together, so that we can follow our attendees’ journey and promote other material that’s appropriate for them, rather than just the course they signed up for.”

 

Other Recent New Appointments:

 

 

• BESA Appoints Tony Gilbert as First Chief Operating Officer
• Jack Prady Named as New Wates FM Managing Director
• RICS Names 2025 President
• Wates Property Services Announces Two New Business Development Appointments

Picture: a photograph of a person wearing traditional businesswear and holding a leather laptop bag. Only the bottom half of the person is shown. Image Credit: Pexels

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 24 January 2025

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