Background

Colorcon understands that ensuring their facilities work is a priority, and astable facility is vital in service and business management. They take every precaution to avoid issues, wanting to ensure that the services represent the best value, are fit-for-purpose, and meet their employee’s needs.

Their UK operation decided to reach out to the market to find a consultancy organisation which could support the project.

Brief

LitmusFM was appointed in 2021 with the key objectives to review the current hard facilities provision to ensure the service is relevant to the needs of the business, provides the necessary services and is managed within budget. Following discussions, we agreed that the project would cover Thames House (production, labs, warehouse, changing rooms, office space and restaurant), and Flagship House (ground floor reception and lab space with office space on the first and second floor).

The review needed to ensure the needs of the employees are met by the facilities, personnel employed and the safety measures in place. It also needed to ensure that specific responsibilities were reflected in the hard facilities team, ensuring that there was clarity regarding the direct link between the job description and the facilities management objectives, inline with the model expectations for Colorcon.

In addition, the review needed to ensure that Colorcon’s resources were deployed most effectively, at appropriate times and supported as necessary with specialist skills from external organisations; providing a holistic view of what was happening today and into the future.

Approach

LitmusFM worked with Colorcon to facilitate change and to ensure continuous improvement within the UK operations, offering an independent service providing relevant, unbiased information and advice to decide on the most appropriate course of action.

The review was carried out by Karl Cundill (Partner), who spent several days on-site gathering information, observing work practices and meeting with employees and key stakeholders. Our Analysts carried out a benchmarking exercise on the data gathered and we prepared a comprehensive report on our findings, which included our observations, recommendations for now and into the future, and the benchmarking results.

As part of the review, Karl also completed a Compliance ManagementAudit. The audit consisted of several assessments, and a well-planned series of processes, which rated the current condition and efficiency of buildings and engineering services. As part of the audit, he reviewed and evaluated all certification that has a requirement to meet current Statutory law. .

Outcomes

The review presented several recommendations to Colorcon which, with the help of LitmusFM, were accepted and then instigated. The benchmark data provided key insights regarding the cost of services and how better value could be achieved. Colorcon also realised within the report, there was a lack of asset data within the site and asked LitmusFM to complete a new asset register. This was provided on a comprehensive template, which was agreed upon and signed off by Colorcon with the date being then loaded onto the relevant fields within the site’s CAFM.

The template recorded the relevant building, block, floor, room description and room number, followed by the classification of the asset (against theRICS: BCIS Categories – Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – BuildingCost Information Service), type of asset and an additional description.