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MOVING IN
Once the sales proposition is well and truly established the RAM team moves to the mobilisation phase, where the FM may be involved in mobilising the new residential sites and ensuring competent recruitment and training is implemented for new teams. In some cases, certain issues may emerge, for instance in one building its complex M&E needs resulted in a split between the maintenance and the customer service side. This resulted in a concierge team who provide a hotel-type service alongside the provision of round the clock maintenance services.
The reason for segregating the process into three phases is because typically, the landlord pays for the development costs during the first two phases, and in phase three, the FM and estate management services costs kick in. In terms of deployment, as a rough estimate, there are around 100 onsite staff working across the Knight Frank London residential team estates, reporting to two FMs – of whom Paul Wilson is one.
The RAM team places great emphasis on training and development to ensure quality of service and, of course, ensuring full compliance. Explains Toogood: “Within the service charge we have a whole variety of people – some of whom have specific health and safety training, but our philosophy is to ensure that all of the staff take responsibility for health and safety on each site. A lot of this is quite fundamental, for example, someone collecting rubbish would be trained not to prop doors open when going in and out of a building.”
When it comes to recruitment, it is relatively rare to find someone who’s already worked in residential FM, so staff are recruited from property management competitors, customer services and hospitality backgrounds, and for more specific FM expertise – sectors such as student housing, educational FM and commercial property. Outsourcing companies are also deployed to deliver some of the specialist services, but the core competencies, particularly compliance, are catered for in-house.
Says Wilson: “I’ve got a FM background, but what impressed me about this role is the fact that training and skills are so important at Knight Frank. I already had the NEBOSH element, but I like the way all the staff are educated to think about health and safety as well, and I’ve also arranged for staff to do a range of courses, incorporating CDM training, fire safety and so on.”
Fire is one of the most important compliance requirements for any multi-tenanted site. Regular fire risk assessments are carried out, along with any additional requests for follow-ups or immediate actions required on each site. All of the building managers and concierges are sent on fire risk assessment training courses and there are building site folders on each site that explain the individual fire evacuation strategy. One of FM’s main priorities is to carry out quarterly health and safety audits of all the sites, and specialist health and safety advisors at Knight Frank also carry out internal audits.
Says Wilson: “Compliance is at the heart of all that we do. We use a dashboard system to monitor all of our systems, which has all the elements of strategy compliance, utilising a calendar that feeds into monthly and weekly checks, and then notifies me and the building manager to check and see when the next fire alarm test or other asset test is due. We also carry out annual fire risk assessments and health and safety assessments, and all this information is compiled to give us a one-stop instant check on each individual site with a full hazard portfolio.”
The portfolio incorporates a wide range of buildings, some from the 1970s and 1960s and other very modern structures, but whatever their vintage, the RAM team is very keen to promote sustainability. This, however, requires educating the landlords and their tenants as they don’t always see the long-term gains of LED lights or sensors.
RESIDENTS’ RULES
Managing a residential building also has its own unique challenges compared to the commercial sector. Flat owners’ leases may state that the landlord is obliged to provide a list of services, which may include the landlord recovering all costs related to health and service, but where this differs is that leaseholders have a whole host of consumer protection available to them which allows them to challenge such items of expenditure.
Says Toogood: “The most significant part of that is that you can’t spend more than £250 per flat without consulting the leaseholders, so even if there is a big hole in the roof, you can’t do anything without consultation. This fundamentally puts you in a different position from your average commercial FM. Alongside this, a leaseholder may not let you into his flat, even if you have good reasons, which brings lots of potential access issues which you don’t have within a commercial building.”
Wilson agrees: “If there was a leak in a classroom or a commercial building, we would just move people, but in residential FM there is a whole chain of events. However, my belief is that whether it’s educational or residential it’s about communicating with the relevant stakeholders to resolve the issue.”
Another big difference is that in a commercial environment, the landlord-tenant relationship is usually firmly established – but in a residential environment the FM may be dealing with tenants who are already at loggerheads with their landlord, and they see the FM as the representative of the landlord. Says Toogood: “In a commercial environment you wouldn’t expect a senior partner to say ‘I don’t like the look of the person working at the reception’, which might be the case within a residential setting.”
Wilson concurs: “One of the major facets of the role is customer management, which has stood me in good stead from my FM role in education and is something I brought with me into this job. You may begin on a negative footing but work to win trust – that is what in my opinion makes someone who is good at residential FM.” He concludes: “Whether residential FM or commercial, it is about offering a service and the end result should be that everyone is happy. The customer satisfaction element is almost the most important element, for if you’ve made people happy you feel good about yourself and the service you are providing.”
