In late September 2020, our experienced mobilisation team led by Operations Director Paul Orru began the process of mobilising a 76-site contract across Scotland, the North East and the Midlands. In close collaboration with our global real estate client, we helped ensure the smooth transition process, despite the current pandemic; resolving any issues quickly, and proactively improving service standards from day 1.
Challenges
It was extremely important that we fully understood the needs of each individual property from the outset to ensure that we could provide a first–class compliant service following go live. However, COVID-19 added an additional layer of complexity, meaning we also had to account for the requirements of government pandemic guidelines and the fluctuating operating requirements of the sites themselves.
Communication
We knew for a project of this scale a partnership approach would be essential, and therefore we focused on building a good rapport with the client by maintaining open lines of communication. We held weekly meetings with the stakeholders to provide status updates, share information and report on high-level actions and risks. This meant any issues were resolved quickly and efficiently, with minimum disruption to the larger project.
Scope Verification
To ensure we fully understood each property and could tailor our services accordingly, we first set up a programme of conference calls, hosting nearly 30 hours of meetings in the first two weeks of mobilisation. These meetings enabled us to review each specification and discuss individual sites in detail with the property and facilities managers. This comprehensive due diligence exercise was essential, allowing us to verify the requirements and engage with our wider supply network early in the process.
We then arranged a site visit schedule for all 78 sites, providing a valuable opportunity for face to face meetings with client representatives and strengthening our relationship with the site teams. This was conducted with due regard for social distancing measures and government guidelines to ensure the wellbeing of those involved.
Welcoming new staff
One of our key considerations throughout the process was the smooth transition of eligible employees over to Andron. The transfer process was supported by our experienced HR and Commercial teams who provided support from start to finish. Through early engagement with all potential TUPE transferees, we were able to maintain a motivated workforce and retain essential skills, experience, and local knowledge within the site based teams.
Result:
We were able to conclude our mobilisation process in January 2021, having successfully taken over the full portfolio and achieving a TUPE transfer rate of 90%. We received positive feedback from the client regarding the seamless transition, and Operations Director Paul added:
“Mobilising a nationwide contract against the backdrop of uncertainty brought by COVID-19 certainly posed new challenges, however our proven methodology and previous experience in mobilising large contracts allowed us to remain flexible and responsive throughout the process. In all mobilisations, our priority is getting things right the first time, and though early engagement with the client we were able to review the service delivery at each site, ensuring value for money and a compliant service from day one.”
We focused on creating a collaborative ‘one team’ approach throughout the entire process, which we believe played a large part in the overall success. Given the scale and complexity of the project, we are proud of what we were able to collectively achieve and we look forward to further developing our relationship with our client.