Facilities Management

The contracts were all awarded on an in individual basis, with each service working autonomously and co-ordinated by separate managers.

In 2004, following a review of total facilities requirements, NCS was awarded a contract to fulfil a single facilities management role, encompassing the three services previously supplied under contract plus security and caretaking.

Reporting directly to County Hall’s on-site, full time Facilities Manager, staff from the various NCS divisions now operate as an integrated team, with close co-operation and a flexibility that comes from cross-functioning personnel.

Services delivery
Catering is provided via a staff and visitor shop selling light refreshments, a formal restaurant and a 250 seater, buffet style restaurant that provides a wide variety of hot and cold meals between 12:30 and 14:00, five days a week. Of all the services which NCS provide this, according to FM Manager Jon Hyam, is the most intense, with volume, timing and temperature deadlines to meet on a daily basis.

Whilst some service provisions are response driven – liquid spillages on carpets, burst piping, blocked toilets, electrical failures, window or door breakages – wherever possible, the NCS teams work to planned preventative maintenance (PPM) programmes.

Some programmes, by their nature, have to be out of main office hours. For instance, furniture and carpet shampooing, particularly in areas of heavy traffic, need to cause the minimum of disruption and so are carried out overnight.

Boilers, heating and air-conditioning equipment all have fail-safe arrangements and are serviced on a rota basis, with regular maintenance monitoring of system critical-components. “PPM is paramount for essential facilities such as these,” says Hyam. “If we were to suffer a 24 hour heating failure, it would take around 12 days to get the whole building back to the required working temperature.”

Year round, 24-hour security is provided within the building, with reception areas, car parks and site access security operating during normal working hours.

NCS carry out grounds maintenance on large grass areas, hard and grass sports fields’ and shrub beds at the 50-acre site. They are also responsible for keeping all the pathways and road system clear from snow and ice, vital to ensuring that personnel involved in the likes of social service and educational service provision are on hand to deal with emergencies.

In June 2004, a brand new Archive Centre (formed in part from the archives recovered from the old City Library destroyed by fire) was opened adjacent to County Hall. NCS Facilities Manage the infrastructure in this air-conditioned, humidity and temperature controlled, 10,000 square metre environment.

Savings by Recycling

But it is not just about delivering pre-defined services. As part of a cost efficiency study NCS evaluated the office cleaning function and in particular the emptying of desk waste bins. By managing the introduction of location bins serving a group of workstations or functional area, the cleaning time for offices has been cut by 25%. In addition, by placing both recyclable and non-recyclable waste containers at each location, (currently 6 out of 10 operational localities have been completed) 40% of office waste is now recycled. Hyam is aiming for 80% recyclables when all areas come on stream.

And talking of recycling, well cycling actually, NCS manage a bike share scheme facility, involving 6 pushbikes and 4 electrical bikes.