29 June 2012
The NEC Group has selected one of the world’s leading service providers to deliver major facilities management services across its venues.
The Group announced in November 2010 that the “soft services” contracts would be available for renewal in July 2012. It has reviewed its major facility management requirements and can announce that OCS Group UK will deliver soft services at all NEC Group venues with effect from 1 July 2012. The services include security and event stewarding, traffic and car park management, portering, cleaning, waste management, and helpdesk services.
The selection of OCS will ensure that the delivery of soft services facilities management across the NEC Group remains cost effective and that customer service standards remain high.
The NEC Group already has a proven track record of partnership with facilities management services providers, with services first being outsourced more than 10 years ago. The latest move is an expansion of this successful outsourced delivery of services.
As part of previous partnerships, some NEC Group staff members transferred their employment from the Group to facility management companies. When the new contract with OCS begins on 1 July, around 670 staff working for the incumbent service provider and the NEC Group in the services affected will be transferred under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations) to OCS. That transfer has been subject to a consultation process. The casual workforce has also been given the opportunity to register their interest in continuing casual work with OCS.
John Hornby, COO of the NEC Group, said: “This major new soft services contract will greatly assist the NEC Group in retaining its position as a leading venue management company in what is a highly competitive market, both in the UK and internationally.
“OCS operates globally and understands the services and the people at every level of our industry. The bid process has demonstrated that OCS can deliver an innovative and efficient approach to the delivery of soft services across the NEC Group and we look forward to our alliance with them.”
Martin Gammon, Managing Director for OCS Group UK Ltd, added: “This contract award demonstrates our capability as a service provider to major exhibition, conferencing, leisure and sporting venues. As well as delivering our services to meet the aspirations of the NEC Group, we will be implementing over 130 innovations during the life of the contract. This includes a dedicated OCS Academy that will attract, recruit, train and retain over 2,000 OCS employees. Another key initiative is our unique proposal to deliver zero waste-to-landfill from day one.”