FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
Q: What was your first ever job?
I was a shop attendant, specifically as a cashier and retail replenishment member of staff (shelf stacker) in Superdrug when I was 14-years-old.
Q: What was you first job in the FM sector?
In 1986 I undertook a fully indentured four-year electrical engineering apprenticeship with RF Webb and Son from which I gained formal City & Guilds qualifications.
Q: What made you choose FM as a career?
I wanted to establish a trade qualification, and earn money while I was learning. I felt that once I had a trade qualification, it would help me to go on to bigger and better things.
Q: How did you progress through the profession to your current role?
In 1996 I moved into the service and maintenance sector as a contract manager with Sulzer Infra. In 2007 I moved to Westway Services and became the new Commercial Director. I led a successful management buyout in 2009 in conjunction with venture capitalists, and consequently became MD. In 2015 I oversaw the acquisition of Westway Services by ABM, and became Group MD of ABM UK.
Q: Do you have any qualifications or training in FM and related areas such as health and safety? And how have you benefited from them?
I completed a two-year course at the Chartered Management Institute where I gained a Level 5 Diploma in Business Admin and Management and completed my MBA stage 1: management. My qualifications have given me an insight into legislative requirements, and have been invaluable in helping me to make strategic decisions on business growth or moving the business into a new area. The IOSH Managing Safely training course has taught me to think about how to best protect ABM UK’s employees, and how they should operate to not have an accident.
Q: What is your greatest contribution to the FM sector, or your current role?
Without doubt the investment in and development of ABM UK’s employees. In 2015 we built ABM UK’s own Training Centre, which was a big step in terms of both capital investment and building the foundations of the company’s training infrastructure. I believe it was the correct decision to make for all our employees to ensure they have the proper facilities to help them train and importantly equal opportunities.
Q: What’s changed most since you started in FM?
Coming from a technical services background, I’ve noticed a huge difference in the level of delivery of soft services, such as cleaning and security. The profile of the industry has changed considerably, and I think there’s a recognition that our customers expect significantly higher standards.
Q: What personal qualities do you think are most needed for a successful career in FM?
One must have a huge amount of empathy with the people you’re dealing with, because there is such a broad range of characters across the whole spectrum of the services that we deliver. Secondly, I think it’s about thinking strategically, and having a longer-term outlook. Short-term gain and a short-term view is very much that.
Q: If you could do one thing differently in your career in FM, what would it be?
I would have started to encourage more young people to consider a career in the FM industry sooner, which ABM UK is incidentally very proactively working towards now. If we had done this 10 years ago then the industry wouldn’t be facing some of the acute labour shortages that it is now.
Q: What would make the biggest difference to the FM sector? And how could that be achieved?
The biggest difference will be made by attracting young, fresh talent into the FM industry. There’s an unfounded perception that FM is not a career, and unless we can change that perception and convince people that a career in FM is exciting and thoroughly worthwhile then the industry will never move forward.
Q: Are you a member of any FM association or body and if so what benefits do you think they provide?
I’m a member of the BIFM, which I believe provides a good level of resource, intellect and insight in terms of what’s going on in the industry. The BIFM provides a great network for us to find out about and mix with other industry leaders. I particularly like some of the research that their experts have compiled, which has helped us to make some important strategic decisions.
Q: What advice would you give to young people coming into the profession now?
I would tell any youngster considering a career in FM that there is a plethora of opportunities and careers to choose from. Where you start is probably not where you’re going to finish, and if you’re ambitious and you like diversity as part of your career then the FM industry would be a great fit.
Q: What are your long-term goals for the next seven to ten years?
My long-term goal is very much to continue the growth pattern that ABM UK is currently on, and I want to continue challenging the marketplace with our thinking. Most importantly, I want to establish a platform in the UK, which provides people – particularly those who have talent and ambition – with a secure job.
Q: What do you predict could be the main changes to the FM sector over the next few years?
Technology will play a huge part in the way that FM is delivered. We keep hearing about the internet of things, which we as a company are really starting to embrace. Technology and data should very much drive decision making and process, and as such we’re looking at how we can do things in a smarter and more efficient way using the data that we collect within buildings.
Q: What are the greatest challenges of working in FM?
There’s a very apparent diminishing labour pool, particularly on the technical side where there has been an underinvestment in traditional apprenticeship schemes, and we’re now seeing a shortage of good quality field engineers. On the soft services side, we have a lot of foreign operatives in these roles, who have moved to the UK on short and long-term visas. We don’t know yet how all of this will impact our workforce, particularly with Brexit looming, but we’re making plans as to how we can mitigate the risks.
Q: What do you enjoy most about working in FM?
Without doubt the people that I work with, whether it’s our internal staff or our customers. What stands out for me is that I’m meeting and learning from talented and driven people every day.
