GSH datacentre FM for AstraZeneca

15 July 2010

AstraZeneca has awarded GSH a 3-year contract to manage Blackley Computer Centre, one of its strategically important IT sites in the UK.

Under the terms of the contract GSH will be responsible for all M&E support, cleaning, grounds maintenance, waste management and temperature and humidity control at AstraZeneca’s Blackley Computer Centre. In addition GSH is committed to ensuring a recognised target availability (uptime) of 99.982% at the site.
GSH will manage the engineering operations on behalf of AstraZeneca and operate on a day shift basis with out of hours call out agreements which also includes responsibility for the plant and systems. GSH will also be responsible for demonstrating that essential procedures are in place to manage both operational, engineering legislation and company standards at all times to meet AstraZeneca’s expectations.
Gary Butler, AstraZeneca’s Director of Facility Engineering, said: “AstraZeneca’s business is reliant on the effective operation of a wide range of technically challenging facilities in the UK. In order to deliver this effective operation we rely on a number of important suppliers, working in partnership with our Facilities Management group. We have enjoyed a relationship with GSH for a number of years and together have delivered significant benefit to AZ. We are extremely pleased with the way the Blackley facility has been taken into the GSH portfolio and look forward to ongoing cost effective and reliable facility performance.”
Paul Cottam, GSH Managing Director UK & Ireland, comments, “GSH is already responsible for maintaining a number of key sites in the UK for AstraZeneca, including its head office building and a number of R&D facilities. This latest addition to the portfolio was awarded to us in recognition of the excellent working relationship, cost saving achievements and proven ability to deliver high service levels in critical environments. This further adds to GSH’s critical portfolio, building upon our existing strong and mutual beneficial relationship with one of our key clients in AstraZeneca.”
Lee Shone, GSH General Manager, said: “From my time working in the banking sector and overseeing important data centres with HBOS, I viewed this as a great opportunity to be able to offer our expertise in our expanding Pharma Division. This not only underpins our proven abilities in this sector but also demonstrates our diversity to delivering excellent and proactive maintenance to this important strategic facility. Working closely with AZ’s project team and using our strong capabilities in mobilisation of large and key national contracts has benefited the transition of Blackley to keep business as usual whilst embedding the contract seamlessly into our existing portfolio.”