Category: Uncategorised

As cost pressures rise across the board, employing a facilities management company like Signum FM can be more beneficial for businesses than ever.

In the current uncertain economic climate, it is natural that businesses are starting to focus on cost savings and services that can be cut from their budget.

With the pressure they are under, this may evolve from getting rid of non-essential, ‘nice to have’ services, to reducing core business needs.

While it may be tempting to dispense with them for a short-term boost to the bottom line, cutting preventative maintenance measures will increase costs in the long run.

Regular maintenance and testing are even more important for items that legally require it. For example, you can’t cut back on something like gas boiler maintenance, which legally needs a gas safety check annually.

Not only is it breaking the law if you don’t have this test every year, but it is also likely to be much more expensive in the long run. It is far more cost effective to replace a few cheap components each year than have those parts break and face a big bill for a new boiler.

At Signum FM, we have an extensive experience of companies regularly calling for reactive maintenance issues. We recommend a proactive preventative maintenance plan, but not all companies want one.

With a regular service, essential items like boilers and air conditioning units are less likely to break.

It is also crucial that organisations know their place of business is running as efficiently as possible. With energy costs rising, our experts can advise on how to use less energy and reduce your bills.

We take an overall, holistic view of your business, which is more valuable than taking on a group of individual contractors for each element.

A boiler contractor will just look at the boiler, whereas our facilities management team will look at the boiler as part of the whole building. I

Signum FM provide expert advice, support, and peace of mind. We also save businesses money and time in the long run.

Employing a facilities management company is an investment now. But it is one that will pay off in the future.

Congratulations to our senior electrical engineer and Qualified Supervisor (QS) John Booth, who is celebrating his seventh anniversary working at Signum FM.

John, who joined Signum in 2015, is responsible for checking and validating electrical work carried out by colleagues. He also designs, installs and maintains all electrical equipment, lighting and installations for our various clients.

He assists the office team with completing quotes for new work and is always looking for opportunities to help our clients improve their electrical safety.

John said: “The time has flown by, where has seven years gone? I enjoy working at Signum because the work is varied and interesting and it’s unusual for any two days to be the same.

“Signum stands out from the crowd because all the team are correctly trained for the jobs they undertake and safety is paramount. We offer a friendly, personal service and I always go the extra mile to ensure the customers are happy.”

 

Steve Egbury, operations manager at Signum, said: “Having had the pleasure of working alongside John for the last two years, it is clear to see what an asset he is to the Signum team and why he is one of the longest serving members of the Signum family.

 

“Not only is he exceptional engineer within his field, his site knowledge of our clients and customer service skills are fantastic. He gets continuous praise from all our clients on the work he completes and support he provides.

 

“John is very much a team player and always willing to help his peers, welcoming any new members to the team and showing them the Signum way of working. He is an outstanding, loyal individual, who lives and breathes what Signum is all about.”

 

Jill Wood, managing director at Signum, said: “Our business, like any service organisation, is built around our team and our staff are paramount to the company’s success. John is a loyal and dedicated employee who works tirelessly to build strong relationships with all our clients and his colleagues.

 

“I want to express my personal appreciation to him for this achievement, say thank you for his commitment over the years, and congratulations on reaching this milestone.”

We have continued with our growth plans over the last year and are pleased to report a number of exciting client updates along with the appointment of two new members to the Signum team.

We have recently renewed our contract with a long-standing client, Hikvision, a security system specialist with a base in Doncaster, to now include planned preventative maintenance (PPM) services for statutory compliance with fire, emergency lighting, pat testing and legionella monitoring. This work continues alongside the delivery of reactive maintenance services when required and is an exciting development for us.

In addition, we have extended our relationship with a global leader in motion and control technologies, and have a new three-year contract with its office in Leamington Spa.

Here we will work alongside its onsite team to provide facilities support services that ensure that the site maintenance activities comply with legislation and industry codes of practice. We are developing, delivering and monitoring PPM schedules and the facilities helpdesk as well as managing existing supply chain contractors and identifying opportunities to improve services or ensure value for money. We have also undertaken asset surveys here and at the firm’s Dublin site so that we can assess the site requirements for compliance which helps us to develop the PPM schedules.

In Rotherham, we have carried out a deep clean for the Old Town Hall and are working with them on some compliance issues such as legionella management and general maintenance.

And on top of all that we are thrilled to be welcoming three new members of staff to our growing team. Philip Hagerty joins us as a multi skilled engineer, Sally Lister is our new facilities coordinator and Les Thompson is a maintenance coordinator.
Watch this space for more recruitment news coming soon!

In our guest blog, Linda Spencer, MD of local business energy consultancy, Professional Energy Purchasing, discusses how energy procurement has a crucial role to play in delivering better energy management and important net zero goals.

Buying energy and planning for net zero can feel like a daunting task, with many unsure where to start. We help businesses to secure the best procurement contracts to meet their objectives, reduce their energy through data analysis and efficiency audits, and plan to achieve net zero carbon.

With energy prices soaring reaching levels not seen for years, businesses need to have a well-considered energy plan in place.  Many of our clients are moving away from traditional fixed-term contracts which would lock them in at these current high rates, to more flexible dynamic contracts which spreads their risk.

When businesses are looking to reduce their energy use, they need to ensure this is co-ordinated with existing contract terms. Take or pay contracts will charge for the forecast power whether it is used or not which could be significant and may impact on any payback periods.

Having solid data which explains how much energy is used, and where and when it is used is essential for a clear actionable plan.  We can generate reports to help to identify savings opportunities, allow you to set realistic targets and measure success.

Having a detailed energy audit will pinpoint additional energy saving opportunities across site(s) to provide a robust, costed plan which the business use as the foundation of a net zero plan.

And finally we can offer electricity from zero-carbon sources which has become much more accessible over the last few years.

Get in touch for a chat about your business energy to see how the team can help you.

0114 327 2645 | [email protected] | www.pepgb.com

We value all our staff here at Signum and are always looking to support them in their careers with a variety of training and development opportunities. Here, our heating engineer, Matthew Johnson, gives us an insight into a diploma he has recently started in customer service.

Doing the work I do as a heating engineer, I have to learn and research new things almost daily but it generally revolves around my skill which is hands on and I was keen to demonstrate that my skills extended further than that.

So, I decided to embark on a diploma in customer service which is an online course with The Growth Company that involves worksheets and self research tasks and regular zoom calls to catch up. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into it because it is important to me that I prove that I still have the ability to better myself academically.

Wide ranging topics

The core modules cover a range of topics including personal development, customer service principles, customers, feedback, complaint, teamwork, understanding business and legislation so it’s quite wide ranging.

I have also had to choose two topics and complete a short course on each. I chose awareness of mental health, well-being and mental ill health because I have suffered with my own mental health issues before and whilst I have worked hard to better myself I feel there is always room to improve myself and my knowledge of others.

I also selected the appraisals topic because I know this will help me with my performance in my work, enhancing my ability to analyse, review and alter what I may be doing wrong but ultimately to help other people with improvement.

Understanding our customers

Overall, I expect to gain a better outlook on business from the perspective of the customer which will in turn help me to provide a better service and build stronger relationships with the team around me. I also hope that I can change myself and my own outlook due to the nature of the course and what it covers.

Being able to work on and develop myself with the future in mind is imperative. Having a goal or target to aim for gives me a sense of purpose and the drive to want more from myself.

Learning new skills and ways of thinking also helps me to view the world from a different standpoint and ultimately do better in my career.
I’m really pleased Signum have supported me to do this diploma as I think it will help me enhance my skills and improve my current work with the company and the service we provide.