CubicWorks is refurbishing Bywater Properties’ Northstar office scheme in Manchester’s Northern Quarter – Shutterstock
Bruntwood, the commercial property specialist, is expanding its services by starting Unify – a new facilities management business.
Unify will provide fully integrated FM services encompassing mechanical and electrical repairs and maintenance, energy, cleaning and specialist cleaning.
The division has already secured 30 new contracts and starts its first full financial year with an £8 million contract value order book growth with occupiers of commercial office and public sector buildings, national retailers and the industrial and logistics industries, alongside Bruntwood’s 2,600 existing customers.
Unify said it aims to leverage its client-side background and understanding of property management “to deliver an excellent customer experience”.
The new arm employs 350 people – 250 of whom have transferred into Bruntwood from existing FM suppliers, Unify is a Living Wage employer and is “committed to improving lives for its colleagues and driving a personable service for its customers”.
Richard Burgess, Bruntwood’s chief operating officer, will be chief executive of Unify.
Bruntwood has also unveiled Unify Energy, an energy-as-a-managed service and sub-metering service targeting Bruntwood customers and other building landlords and property agents.
Unify Energy will offer an alternative model to the single-meter system typical to multi-tenanted buildings where landlords and agents have to split energy bills with occupiers based on square footage. Instead as a licensed supplier, it can provide metered energy bills directly to each occupier giving customers and landlords a more accurate and compliant managed energy service.
This division is committed to buying fuel from renewable sources and will offer support to customers exploring on-site generation. This stems from Bruntwood's drive to generate 30 per cent of its energy on site by 2030. Sarah Martin, currently Bruntwood’s director of utilities, has been appointed CEO of Unify Energy.
Alongside Unify and Unify Energy, Bruntwood has started a third venture, CubicWorks, to provide contracting services in fit-out, refurbishment, design-and-build, and mechanical and engineering services. The firm has already been appointed by developer Bywater Properties to refurbish its £2 million Northstar office scheme in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and will also become a supplier to Bruntwood Works and Bruntwood SciTech. More than 50 employees from Bruntwood’s project contracting team have transferred into CubicWorks.
Chris Oglesby, Bruntwood’s CEO, said: “We’re excited about the potential of Unify to shake up the provision of FM services right across the UK.
“Organisations of all shapes and sizes expect more from their property than ever before and we know what it takes to deliver not just excellent spaces, but excellent experiences and services within them. So for us, Unify is very much a part of our on-going evolution as a group.
“We’re especially proud of what it represents in that it will provide those working in cleaning services the chance to shape their career at an ethical and responsible business, allowing them to thrive through access to support and development opportunities while earning a fair wage.”
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