KwikHEAT - Practical Facilities Management

Following months ofplanning, PortmanBuilding Society merged withthe Nationwide BuildingSociety on 28th August 2007.Over that Bank Holiday weekend,there was the task of re-branding thePortman name and corporate identityto that of the Nationwide.Nationwide had as its ProjectManagers Mace. Amongst many otherthings, Mace was tasked withappointing the architectural signmanufacturing and installationcompanies that would carry out thephysical re-branding.The selection process involvedinterested parties making apresentation that set how they wouldapproach the project and providingreferences to other similarly logisticallySeddon makes themove into Liverpool68businessSign 2000 goesNationwideNational painting and maintenancecontractor Seddon has made themove into Merseyside, with theopening of a new office in Liverpool.Located in Canal Street, Bootle, the new centregives Seddon Painting a firm foothold in the 2008European Capital of Culture.Already twenty new jobs look set to be created atthe site, and more job opportunities are in thepipeline for the future.Seddon will also be working with LiverpoolCommunity College to develop its award-winningapprenticeship scheme in the region.Mark Brindley, joint managing director of SeddonPainting, said: “Liverpool is undergoing significantregeneration and we felt there was an opportunityto tap into the work coming on stream.“This new officewill also help playan important rolein our quest todrive sustainableimprovementsthroughout thecompany, due tothe factoperatives andmanagementstaff will not haveto travel as far toget to sites.”challenging projects.Sign 2000, of PaddockWood, Kent, successfullymet these criteria and wasawarded the contract for theSouth East of England areainvolving 32 locations.Working closely with Mace,Sign 2000 quickly surveyedeach of the sites andproduced design drawingsutilising CAD equipment thatsuperimposed suggested designs ondigital images of the existingproperties. They confirmed quotationsand provided assessments of anysupporting works required. Followingapproval, manufacturing wascommenced.Those sites that were to be rebrandedhad to be completed prior tothe launch date. Over a period of tenweeks Sign 2000 designed,manufactured and installed the newNationwide identity at these Portmanlocations, but overlaid the newsignage with temporary bannersfeaturing the Portman name. In thisway, the unveiling of the newNationwide branding could beachieved simultaneously over theBank Holiday weekend.Reader Reply No: 111086Reader ReplyNo: 111083Office and GeneralEnvironmental Services(O&G), one of London’sleading independent cleaningand support servicescompanies, has announcedplans to offer a nationalcommercial cleaning andestate management servicefollowing another recordbreaking year of growth.O&G has built an enviable reputationfor the work it does with Blue chipcompanies and organisations acrossthe South East over the past 20 years.It offers property owners andmanagers a comprehensive range ofsupport solutions, including traditionalcleaning, concierge and security,grounds and building maintenance,mailroom, waste management,recycling and environmental services.Now it is taking these servicesnationwide, as Grae Scott, ManagingDirector explains:“Our growth over the last few yearshas been fuelled by successfullydelivering competitive, high qualitysolutions with a stable, well-trainedworkforce. Many of our customershave sites nationwide and we areconsistently asked to provide ourservices outside of our traditionalgeographical coverage so we areextending our services to meet thisdemand. This is a big undertaking butwe have the right people and the rightprocesses in place to make it anachievable goal.”The national operation will be headedby Jim McKenzie, a Director of O&Gwho has been with the company formore than 15 years.Commenting on the launch, Jimsaid: “Property Managers oftenstruggle when dealing withnumerous contractors acrosstheir property portfolio. Byhaving a single supplier, we candeliver consistent levels ofservice, a standard reportingprocess, and a uniformapproach to health and safety.”Reader Reply No: 111003Ploughcroft Training Centreexpands to meetgrowing demandAconstruction training anddevelopment centre set up by aWest Yorkshire roofing and buildingmaintenance firm has proved sosuccessful that it’s having to expand tomeet national demand.Ploughcroft opened the centre in Brighouse in 2005,primarily to train its own staff in the latest buildingmethods and health and safety requirements.But within a year the forward-thinking companybegan to invite other local construction companiesthrough its doors, offering them training packages ontheir doorstep in a bid to improve industry standardsgenerally.Its reputation for excellence grew and soon thecentre was being asked to take on training forcompanies as far afield as Belfast, Manchester,London, Exeter and Edinburgh.Now, after coaching hundreds of trainees, including500 from Yorkshire alone, Ploughcroft is looking forseven more training staff to help it expand itsdelivery of courses at the centre and throughout theUK, potentially training up to 1,000 trainees in 2008.Ploughcroft originally invested £80,000 in thetraining centre, matched by 25 per cent funding fromthe Calderdale business grant, which is funded andsupported by regional development agencyYorkshire Forward and Calderdale Council.With financial backing from the Learning and SkillsCouncil (LSC), it offers NVQ levels 2 and 3 inroofing, slating and tiling, as well as scaffold towerOffice and Generalextends service nationwidecourses and training in manual handling, working atheights, trade skills, supervisory skills and generalhealth and safety.Earlier this year, Ploughcroft extended its offering byworking with support organisation LifeLine Additionsto devise a ten-day training course that helped thosewho have experienced difficulties returning to thelabour market learn the basic skills they need toenter employment as roofers or plasterers.The company is also currently delivering solar panelinstallation training throughout the UK in associationwith the National Federation of Roofing Contractorsand is preparing to introduce waste managementtraining ahead of the new site Waste Managementregulations that come into force in April 2008.Reader Reply No: 111067