Shopping alliance for FM

13 January 2011

Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) has created a new Facilities Alliance with Europa Support Services and Inviron to supply hard and soft services across its shopping centres

The award sees Europa Support Services continue its five-year strong relationship with CSC delivering a full range of soft services across a portfolio of 10 of their shopping centres. Europa will continue to deliver its services to existing sites Metrocentre (Gateshead), Eldon Square (Newcastle upon Tyne), The Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent), The Victoria Centre (Nottingham) and Chapelfield (Norwich) and in addition will mobilise a further five new sites including The Glades (Bromley), Lakeside (Thurrock), Braehead (Glasgow), The Chimes (Uxbridge) and The Harlequin (Watford).
Hard services specialists Inviron will provide full technical services management across their 10 shopping centres, including planned and reactive maintenance and fire officer duties at each location. Inviron will ensure all mechanical and electrical systems and building fabric infrastructure are maintained to the highest standards, so both shoppers and staff can visit the centres in comfort and safety.
Trevor Pereira, Commercial Director of CSC, said: “The formation of this new Alliance will help CSC strengthen and consolidate our FM provision to better position us for future growth and change. The success of this working partnership is absolutely vital to CSC in continuing to manage a safe, secure and clean environment at our centres, whilst offering retailers real value. The alliance represents a significant focus on commitment to working together with openness, honesty and engagement. Our chosen partners within the Facilities Alliance instinctively recognise that every aspect within our centres contributes to our customers’ experience. The partners proved, through an incredibly robust and rigorous tender process, that they could create solutions that would meet our requirements in a consolidated, cost-effective way. More than anything, their focus on the welfare and development of their people stood out in parallel with our own vision and values. Both partners were chosen due to the strength of their people and culture and the supportive relationship they provide. They displayed proven ability to lead, manage and deliver a range of services for significant benefit to the CSC business and to our people.”
Neil Johnson, Facility Management & Services Director at Inviron, says: “We’re proud to be working with Capital Shopping Centres, which has some of the largest and most successful shopping centres in Europe. Our strength in customer service and our reputation and experience in retail centre management provided CSC with the confidence to appoint Inviron as its hard services partner.Our culture, similar brand values, and spirit of collaboration and co-operation fit perfectly and we’re looking forward to getting to grips with each of the centres as the contract begins and working in partnership with both CSC and Europa.”
Greig Brown, Europa Chief Executive, says: “This is a fantastic start to the New Year for Europa. CSC has been a long-standing client and we’ve enjoyed a loyal and committed relationship with them over many years. Their gravitas in the UK retail market and the expansion of this contract to a further five centres, now gives us a strength within this sector that sets us apart. We’re looking forward to working with the Facilities Alliance to deliver results and great service.”
Capital Shopping Centres Group PLC is one of the UK’s largest property companies, a real estate investment trust (REIT) and the leading UK shopping centre business. It has 13 UK Shopping centres including 9 of the top 30; £4.5bn UK asset value at 31 December 2009; 13.8m sq ft of UK retail space and over 2000 retail units. Half of the UK population live within a 45 minute drive of a CSC centre.