A New Year Alliance for Capital Shopping Centres

Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) has awarded two leading specialist support services providers a contract to supply hard and soft services across their portfolio of centres, creating a new Facilities Alliance between all three partners. 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. The contract award will also see the formation of a Facilities Alliance between the three partners. This alliance, something that is believed to be a first in the industry, was set up to provide the best service model to create increased contractor innovation and consistency as well as local accountability with the aim of offering best value to CSC’s tenants. The two contractors will work closely with CSC on shared objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Trevor Pereira, Commercial Director of CSC, said: “The formation of this new Alliance will help CSC strengthen and consolidate our facilities management 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.” The main priority for the Facilities Alliance now is to ensure a smooth and welcoming transition and transformation to services with minimal impact on business. The Alliance will work with everyone necessary within CSC throughout this process to ensure any change is communicated effectively. The Alliance will also work to achieve further evolutionary development of our facilities services through 2011 and beyond. By doing this we look forward to delivering great results and even greater service to all our stakeholders and customers through this partnership. 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.”