OCS HELPS SECURE SUCCESS FOR TOP SHOPPING CENTRE

OCS Integrated Services has won customer praise by helping bring awards and accolades to one of Britain’s top shopping centres – the Eastgate Centre in Scotland’s historic city of Inverness.

In the last year, the Centre has picked up a tranche of awards which would be the envy of most professional retail operations including a CBRE European Health and Safety Award, a ROSPA Health and Safety Award, the ISO 14001 standard in Environmental Management, an OCS Star Team of the Year Award and a Purple Pip at the British Council of Shopping Centres Purple Apple Marketing Awards.

According to CBRE, the company managing the centre, the backing from OCS Integrated Services which provides everything from cleaning and security to car park control and engineering expertise, has been a vital part of the Centre’s success. CBRE’s director of procurement and FM, Keith West, said, “Integrated services is definitely the way forward for managing a customer-centric environment such as a shopping centre. Staff are all on the same payroll and conditions, they wear the same brand on their uniform and share the same restrooms. This creates one big family feel and the service it delivers is vastly superior to trying to work with many providers.”

CBRE should know what they are talking about - they are the world’s leading commercial real estate advisor with 400 offices across 58 countries. In its European, Middle East and African portfolios alone, CBRE manages more than £6 billion of property investments.

OCS Integrated Services is a natural development of the OCS philosophy of offering expertise across many disciplines. By bringing such services together under one delivery arrangement, the integrated approach dovetails perfectly with the company’s commitment to customer service excellence. It is a concept which combines the vast portfolio of professional support and experience provided by the OCS group into a fully integrated resource, tailored to the client’s need and managed under a single procurement contract.

Most importantly, the concept works for the customer, for OCS and for the front line delivery team. Alan Chalmers, a security officer who had been employed directly by CBRE before OCS won the contract said, “It felt a little strange in the beginning as our employer became our customer but I think it’s been very positive and keeps us focussed.”

Today’s modern shopping centre has to provide a safe, well-managed and enjoyable shopping experience for the thousands of customers who use the facilities every day. The services provided by OCS are integral to that success, helping to ensure that there is a comforting presence from security and cleaning teams as well as support for the efficient running of the centre as a whole. It is the commitment of the teams, improved communication and consultation, better staffing levels and training that have helped put Eastgate Inverness at the top of shopping centre success.

Keith West continued, “OCS has been instrumental in helping us achieve ISO 14001 and CBRE are particularly pleased that this is the first shopping centre in the portfolio managed for the Grosvenor estate to gain this award.”

OCS have also supported CBRE in many other projects, including helping Eastgate beat 600 other company locations to win their CBRE European Health and Safety Award. This involved a number of community initiatives which took place during the national Health and Safety and Environmental weeks.

On site operations manager for OCS, Andy Wade, who transferred from CBRE said, “It works well. I have a foot in both camps. I work very closely with the CBRE management but have the autonomy to manage my own teams.” Jackie Cuddy, shopping centre manager, confirmed, “With Andy in this new role and with the support of OCS, I know the day-to-day operational management of services is in safe hands and I can concentrate on growing the asset for the owners.”

The delivery of integrated services is seen as a significant step forward in the provision of well-invested, professionally resourced facilities management by the £600 million OCS group. As OCS chief executive, Chris Cracknell, concludes, “This contract has delivered not only what is required but far more in terms of our teams taking initiative and responsibility for ensuring the total success of the centre. Their achievements are well-deserved.”