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Equans has been awarded a new five-year Strategic Partnership arrangement with Cheshire West and Chester Council, to deliver facilities management services across the Council’s estate.
Equans was previously in a joint venture with the Council, operating as QWEST, since 2015. The joint venture ceased to deliver services in March 2025, when the new arrangement came into effect. Equans will now continue to deliver hard and soft FM services, including cleaning, mailroom and caretaking services across the Council’s 400 property-strong operational and corporate estate.
In 2023 alone, the QWEST joint venture facilitated 1208 hours of volunteering, which employees used to support care leavers, renovate community buildings, deliver educational workshops and work to tackle food poverty and more. Equans and Cheshire West and Chester will continue to provide Social Value for the local community at the heart of this partnership.
The new partnership commenced in April 2025 and has the option of extending for a further two years.
Richard Carmichael, Managing Director for Local Authority Services at Equans UK & Ireland, said: “We are pleased that the strong partnership we have built with Cheshire West and Chester Council will continue through this facilities management partnership. We have been focused on delivering a smooth transition from the QWEST joint venture to this new partnership.
“We are also looking forward to delivering even more positive and impactful contributions to local residents through our social value and volunteering efforts, which will continue to target local priorities.”
Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, commented: “We look forward to working closely with Equans over the next five years to deliver professional and efficient services for the residents of our borough. With Equans’ help in delivering on our priorities, this Council will continue to create opportunities for regeneration and sustainability, supporting vulnerable people and building on the strength and contributions of our residents to create greener, healthier communities.”
FMJ has partnered with global worktech leader, Eptura, to deliver a webinar on Thursday 26 June at 11am to discuss Eptura’s 2025 Workplace Index that suggests that over a third of employers are proactively looking to increase office attendance which could result in a rise in the use of AI and cross-platform data analytics to help manage FM operations.
The webinar will bring together experts from Eptura, along with FM thought leaders on the adoption of integrated solutions that unleash powerful data analytics capabilities, leading to increased productivity and reduced operational costs.
To register for the webinar please click here.
Can’t make it no problem… Simply sign up and after the webinar has been broadcast a link will be sent to you to watch the recording.
