Grapevine

30 July 2021

Welcome to this week’s Grapevine, the place to get your bitesize FM updates in one place, in a handy five-minute read.

Got a story for us? Please send news stories & press releases to: newsdesk@twinfm.com.

City FM and City FM UK Receive RoSPA Gold Award for Health and Safety

City FM and City FM UK, headquartered in Glasgow, is celebrating after landing an internationally recognised award for demonstrating high health and safety standards.

City FM and City FM UK have received a RoSPA Gold Health and Safety Award for working hard to ensure staff, customers, clients, and contractors get home safely to their families at the end of every working day.

Organisations receiving a RoSPA Award are recognised as being world-leaders in health and safety practice. Every year, nearly 2,000 entrants vie to achieve the highest possible accolade in what is the UK’s longest-running H&S industry awards.

Mal Roberts, Group Head of Health, Safety and Environment (UK & Europe): said:

“Through our team’s consistent leadership, tenacity, communication, engagement, influence and challenge we are once again winners of the RoSPA Gold Health and Safety Awards. This is a huge achievement when you consider the number of sites we operate in across the UK & NI, as well as the challenges our 10,000+ colleagues have faced in supporting clients and operating safely throughout the pandemic.

These awards are all well-deserved recognition and they demonstrate City Holdings Group commitment to ensuring that our colleagues go home safely every day, which is something that our Leadership and our HSE teams are extremely proud of”.

Recruitment Company Helps Tackle Youth Homelessness

Birmingham based recruitment company, Boden Group, has chosen to support youth charity, YMCA Heart of England, as its official charity partner.

Boden Group, whose employees have previously raised money for St Basil’s, SIFA Fireside, and Land Aid, have chosen to continue their support for homelessness, choosing the youth charity for their focus on giving young people a second chance.

YMCA Heart of England works with young people, providing a range of support including accommodation, mental health, training and education, nurseries and youth groups.

Boden Group will take part in a range of fundraising initiatives, including the YMCA’s annual Sleep Easy – spending a night sleeping rough, the three peaks challenge, and a 5 million steps challenge. Employees, who receive 4 paid volunteering days each year, will also have the opportunity to do grounds maintenance, hold CV writing workshops, and distribute Christmas presents to residents.

YMCA England & Wales is the largest provider of safe, supported accommodation for young people in England and Wales, providing a home to more than 20,000 people experiencing homelessness each year. YMCA Heart of England serves the Birmingham, Coventry, and Warwickshire region, providing more than 300 beds for young people in need.

James Fitzpatrick, Boden Group Managing Director, said: “YMCA Heart of England felt like a natural choice for us - for starters, they're all about helping to inspire young people to reach their potential, and as a business that's exactly what we're trying to do with our own people.”

Pinnacle Group awarded Gold in Ministry of Defence’s Employer Recognition Scheme

Pinnacle Group “Pinnacle” has been awarded Gold on the Ministry of Defence’s Employer Recognition Scheme, acknowledging the organisation’s outstanding support towards the Armed Forces community.

Pinnacle has an established Armed Forces Network, made up of a mix of veterans, reservists, Cadet Force Adult volunteers and families of Serving Personnel or veterans. This Network supports and promotes the company’s commitment to the Armed Forces community, which includes an additional two weeks of paid leave per year to Reservists to enable them to attend annual camp, and also actively supports military charities such as SSAFA and the Royal British Legion.

Pinnacle’s Group Chief Executive Peregrine Lloyd said of the Gold award: “As a business it is important for us to be advocates for those who protect our nation, and we are deeply proud of all our colleagues who are a part of the British Armed Forces community.

“We realise the responsibility we have to provide this community with an effective path into meaningful employment and to ensure a supportive environment which is reinforced by colleagues who genuinely care about their welfare and realise the value of their skillset. We are on a mission to make a difference and the honour of being awarded Gold in the Employer Recognition Scheme demonstrates that we are on the right path.”

Minister for Defence People and Veterans Leo Docherty added: “I would like to thank all the organisations who have proven their support for the Defence community during such unprecedented and challenging times.

“The vast range of those recognised this year demonstrates how employing the Armed Forces community makes a truly positive and beneficial impact for all employers, regardless of size, sector or location.”

23 July 2021

Got a story for us? Please send news stories & press releases to: newsdesk@twinfm.com.

Evolution Wellness Installs New CAFM

Expansive FM is delighted to announce that they have signed a three year deal with fitness brand Evolution Wellness.

Evolution Wellness is the largest wholly-owned fitness brand in Southeast Asia with gyms spread across 170 locations and 6 countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. Incorporating the Fitness First and Celebrity Fitness brands amongst others, Evolution Wellness has over 35,000 members and plays host to more than 25 million workouts every year.

After identifying areas for improvement in their previous FM system, Evolution Wellness have appointed Expansive to provide the data, oversight and operational control the business needs for the future.

Simon Mercer, Property Director at Evolution Wellness takes up the story:

“For the past year our entire business has been going through a digital transformation process and Facilities Management needed to be part of this. We had a FM platform that seemed onerous for the end users to use and identified the primary need for an intuitive solution that would better communicate and increase performance. After assessing the available market options Expansive shone through as the obvious solution to enhance the user experience.”

The new Expansive platform is set to bring real change to the organisation with a ‘mobile-first’ interface designed to support engineers as they:

Collect details of work orders
Record their time on-site
Report when jobs are completed.

Meanwhile, managers in gyms will be able to use the system to

Capture and report details of faulty equipment
Communicate with engineers in real-time
Keep track of ongoing issues through notifications and alerts

Crucially, the Expansive solution is designed to keep pace with the changing needs of a busy company,

“With our previous system we had limited control over the way we administered our CAFM and required additional funds to set up new users and make other simple updates to the system” says Simon Mercer. “But with Expansive, all this comes built in at no extra cost. We have all the logins we need and the ability to manage access as required”.

Commenting on the deal Josh Greibach, Expansive’s Co-Founder said

“At every level, the Expansive platform is designed to collect and collate data to help deliver on specific business goals in the most user-friendly way possible. From the day to day routine of maintenance and reporting, to the big picture analytics happening at board level.”

Expansive FM is designed to cope with localised demands in an international market. It’s optimised for mobile and underpinned by a powerful reporting engine that can slice and dice the data in the way each company requires. It helps businesses bring a new level of insight and planning to their FM operations, bringing new efficiencies and profitability to complex multi-site operations around the world.

Artic Wins New Contract at Lord’s Cricket Ground

Artic Building Services Limited are pleased to announce our new contract with Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Artic was selected following a competitive tender process to be the specialist contractor of choice for their prestigious site in London. Lord’s is known as the premier cricket Ground in the world and is reputed to be the “Home of Cricket”.

Artic has supplied a residential team of engineers to deliver the planned and reactive maintenance at the 200 year old ground. All Mechanical and Electrical aspects of the site rest with Artic and ensuring a safe and compliant environment for all players, officials, members, staff and the public.

Supporting the in-house Maintenance Management and compliance team, Artic also provide additional ‘match day coverage to ensure that services are fault free for all patrons of the estate at the international Home of Cricket. Whether it be the Grade II listed Pavilion to the new ‘state of the Art’ Compton and Edrich stands, Artic ensure full operation of the services to provide the best experience for those within and ensure the highest standards and reputation of MCC continues.

CHAS Members to Receive 20% Discount at Speedy Hire

CHAS has announced that its members are set to receive a 20 per cent discount on Speedy Hire tools and equipment thanks to a two-year partnership between the supply chain risk management expert and the UK’s largest hire provider.

The new agreement will enable CHAS contractors to hire products from Speedy Hire’s 2,250+ product lines, including everything from everyday tools and equipment, through to more specialist lifting, survey, powered access, rail and power generation equipment at a discounted price.

The Speedy Hire concession is the latest in an ever-growing bank of membership benefits offered to CHAS members designed to help their business thrive and save thousands of pounds a year. Other benefits include Trade Point cards that give 10% off at B&Q, special offers on fuel card services, free business insurance and discounted training.

CHAS Managing Director Ian McKinnon says: “Speedy Hire is a respected industry leader in the hire field so we are very happy to be joining forces with them to provide this exclusive offer to our members. It is the latest discount in a wide range of benefits on offer to CHAS contractors and strongly reinforces the great value of becoming a CHAS member.”

Jeremy Gerken, Managing Director - Retail at Speedy said: “The partnership with CHAS will provide their members with first-class customer service, including access to our 350 most popular products through Speedy’s four-hour delivery promise, at a preferential rate.

“The safety of our customers and employees sits at the heart of our business and all of our tools and equipment are tested to the highest standard. We are proud that CHAS has recognised this by selecting Speedy as their supplier of choice for members.”