FMJ.CO.UK NJC (NOT JUST CLEANING) PROFILE
APRIL 2019 25
Landsec is one of NJC’s regular customers,
which presented the opportunity to work
with the property firm in choosing the new
o ice (on the first floor of the 12-floor Zig
Zag building). Landsec also took care of
project managing the Cat A and B fit-outs
for the new o ice space. For NJC this meant
that aside from design meetings to discuss
colour palettes, furniture ideas and so on,
they could concentrate on preparing for the
head o ice move in February 2019.
Says Crilly: “When you look at o ice
trends at the moment, the likes of WeWork
are disrupting the industry and their
environments all look and feel like this, so
first and foremost we’re trying to reflect
the market we work in. The move means
that we now look like the customers we’re
servicing, as these exposed ceilings and
concrete walls are typical of the sort of
o ices we deal with in our marketplace.
“But we’re also changing the way we work,
with, for example, the inclusion of three or
four seating types in the new o ices, aimed
at facilitating collaboration. The new o ices
o er more group seating than dedicated
desks, and there are only three teams now
who need fixed desks, which are business
support, finance and HR.”
The new o ices feature a range of flexible
meeting rooms which can be formatted as
one larger space for team training or town
hall meetings. One of the most popular
additions has been a sit-up counter in
the centre of the o ice aimed at flexible
workers, which has already attracted
operational colleagues into the o ices to
make use of the space.
Says Crilly: “The change has been
fantastic culturally. We pitch ourselves as
a responsive, agile company and what we
have done here is the next stage of our
evolution. We all had a hand in the design
and layout of the new space, which is
aimed at accommodating three key areas:
customers, business support and quiet
working, and so far, the most positive
aspect is the number of occasions our
operational support colleagues come and
go. Also, we’ve already had more customers
come here in the few weeks we’ve been
here than over the three years we were in
Winnersh.”
SMART THINKING
One of the big selling points of the Zig Zag
building is its intelligent design, as it o ers a
range of smart technology that gives precise
control over environmental aspects such as
lighting, heating and cooling. From a so¡
services perspective digitisation has been
seen within the FM sector as an essential
mode of innovation, but Crilly is quick
to deny the adoption of new tech for the
wrong reasons.
“People look at technology as if there’s a
problem to be solved, and I’d rather look
at what your customer needs and start
from a base position,” he explains. “For me,
transparency and integrity are everything, so
I need to find a way to agree a sum of hours
for services. I’ll achieve that as seamlessly
as possible through time and attendance
technology, where I can demonstrate that
we have met the hours agreed, and then
through a quality auditing regime I can also
tell you the quality of those hours.
“The crucial part of that is how I present
that information to the customer, and that
is about data – so whatever tech we deploy
should give us some information that makes
us smarter, which customers can cut and
carve in whatever way they want.”
This kind of technology, he argues, can
help raise the bar in terms of performance,
health and safety and compliance. For
example, you might use an automatic
measurement to monitor the number of
near misses being recorded, and if the
number of near misses starts to change
the system might recommend carrying out
a toolbox talk on health and safety. Data
monitoring may be achieved in a number
of di erent ways; for example, Crilly says
he expects footfall sensors to become a
standard washroom requirement.
“Some organisations will install
something on the door which measures
throughput,” he says. “Others may fit
hand dryers with wi-fi points, which gives
them more information, but it’s important
to understand what they are going to do
with that data. You’re in danger of saying,
‘we’ve measured the footfall, what do we
do with the data, is it in line with what the
customer gave us, or should the customer
reconfigure what is needed on this floor as
there are three times as many users than
first envisaged?’ This means that there is
a greater demand for hand towels, soaps,
toilet rolls and so on – or is it swings and
roundabouts, as demand on other floors
has gone down?”
Another key driver for locating the firm’s
HQ in London is the fact that the capital
is becoming a vertical city, with around
200 towers currently in planning. This will
require services to get smarter as buildings
go higher. NJC has accordingly developed
its in-house capability in window cleaning,
Another key driver for locating the
fi rPƉs +4 in /onGon is the fact that
the capital is EecoPing a vertical city Zith
aroXnG toZers cXrrently in planning.”