Zoe has never been one to let the grass grow under her feet!

In the latest in our series of five-minute chats with Q3 people, we hear from Zoe Miles the Operations Director for our Landscape business.

“Hi, I’m Zoe Miles and I am the Operations Director for Q3’s landscaping business. I have had an interesting journey into the world of FM and my current role.

“For many years, I worked for various homeless charities involved with ex-service personnel and helping people with drugs and alcohol issues. The work was very rewarding, but after nearly 10 years on the front line, I decided to take a step back and moved into the social housing sector instead. After a short space of time, I was headhunted by the former head of operations at a multi-service provider called VPS, who invited me to jump the fence from client to contractor.

“This was in May 2019, and I arrived on the first day of the job to find that the business had been acquired by Q3 only the day before. Consequently, I joined a completely different organisation to the one which interviewed me. Even worse, was that Q3 had not been informed of my appointment, so no one in the senior management team knew I was supposed to be there, which was unsettling as a newbie. I had been given the title of Junior Contract Manager, but it was obvious pretty quickly that the expectation and level of responsibility was much higher than that. Given the fluidity of the situation, I felt I had to prove my credentials to the new organisation during this early period, and gave the job role everything I had.

“Fortunately, the hard work paid off and I was quickly appointed as Head of Account Management in September 2019 and then Operations Director in March 2020.

“Despite the unusual start with Q3, this career move has worked well for me. It’s a demanding role with lots of responsibility and no two days are ever the same. Most days are a juggling act, with demands coming my way from every angle and although you can plan as much as you like, unless you can be flexible and adapt on a day to day, this job would not be for you. I feel I thrive under pressure and have the ability to be reactive and turn things round. That’s important in this management role and I can usually bring the teams along with my decisions because I like to think I make (on the whole) logical and fair decisions.

“Our grounds maintenance teams cover the South-East and West of England, delivering GM services to social housing clients as well as schools, retail centres and blue-chip organisations. My typical week starts with an Ops update with the team leaders, then meetings to deal with invoicing, cash flow, KPI reporting, works orders, client contract meetings, then site surveys and quotes. Recently, I’ve been overseeing the transfer of one of the depots. It’s incredibly varied.

“I find the HR aspect is the toughest part of the role for me, but at the same time, I love working in a people business and there is a real sense of togetherness and buzz about Q3. It’s a great feeling getting compliments from clients about the quality of the teams’ work and the willingness to go the extra mile.

“Outside work I really enjoy music events; listening and creating. It’s a complete contrast to the hurly-burly of the working day and allows me to switch off and relax, – failing that wine always helps!!!”

Greg explains why FM in retail is definitely his bag

Hi, my name is Greg Lindley, and I am Q3’s Account Manager at the Alhambra Centre in Barnsley. The Alhambra is a bustling shopping centre right in the heart of the town. It’s a full-on job managing the facility and keeping it safe and welcoming for all the shoppers who come through the doors, seven days a week.

I joined the facilities team here in 2014, from university. I had been studying Criminology and Psychology with a view to taking this qualification into the Police service. However, the prospect of a further five years of postgraduate learning made me reassess my career options and the idea of immersing myself in something like FM and working my way up, had more appeal.

I had already been working part-time at the Alhambra as a student and was familiar with the set up and the team. Aaron Powell, Alhambra’s Health & Safety Manager was running the cleaning operation at that time, and he really helped my development in what was my first full-time job. I cut my teeth as supervisor on that cleaning team.

In April 2018, Q3 successfully won the cleaning contract at the Alhambra, and we transferred over from the previous FM incumbent. We’ve subsequently expanded the contract to include security, taking the team to around twenty on site. The Q3 directors have been really hands on and supportive since they came on board, allowing me the opportunity to develop my career and in May last year I was offered the role of Account Manager for the cleaning operation.

There’s always been a good relationship with the client at the Alhambra and I feel comfortable that I can go to them to discuss new ideas or any operational problems, knowing that they will listen. Having never been a manager before, Dave Probyn the Centre Manager and Aaron Powell have stepped up and supported me during some challenging times, particularly during the last two years with lockdown and Covid.

We have to carry out our work around the public, and their safety is of the utmost importance. There’s a big difference between delivering FM in an office and FM in a retail environment and during lockdown, when essential shops had to stay open, this difference was emphasised. With Covid, the focus of our cleaning activities shifted to cleaning and sanitising hand-touch points, and toilet cleaning schedules were revised so that we were cleaning virtually on demand. We rolled out sanitiser dispensers at entrances and introduced social distancing tape and signage. Lockdown also created an opportunity. With fewer shops open and reduced footfall, we were able to divert our resources to activities we would not have the chance to tackle under normal circumstances. So, we did deep-cleans and attended to areas such as high-level glass balustrades. I took the opportunity to go through IPAF training, enabling me to use the cherry picker for this kind of work.

One thing I like about my role is the ability to bring about change. For example, the cleaning team was set up historically so that individuals had a set job and repeated the same tasks every day. This was a recipe for boredom, so I alternated the rotas and mixed things up to give people different roles and responsibilities which has generated new interest and kept people motivated.

It’s been a great learning experience too. A challenge I had to face was learning the QHSE side of the job in preparation for an ISO accreditation audit. Q3 put me through my IOSH training and that gave me a better understanding of this and gave me the skills I needed to tackle the site pack which later helped me pass the ISO audit.

Covid has had an impact on visitors to the Centre, and it will be interesting to see how the retail sector will now recover. Fortunately, business has been picking up again recently and Christmas was particularly busy like old times! Then recently, just when we were getting comfortable, a local bus strike occurred which threw all our plans into chaos. Apart from reducing visitor numbers, it prevented many of our team from getting to work, so on occasions I have had to become a part-time taxi service to maintain staffing levels and operational delivery.

I live local to Barnsley and when I’m not at work, I enjoy spending time with my family and learning the guitar. My mum’s side of the family is from Serbia, so with restrictions on international travel starting to relax, I am planning a trip to Serbia to meet up with my grandmother and that side of the family, who we haven’t seen for over fifteen years.

Amy Merrell to head up Q3’s Sustainable Recycling Management business

We’re delighted to announce that from February, Amy Merrell will be taking over as the manager of our sustainable recycling business.

Amy has been with Q3 since June of last year and has a wealth of industry experience and knowledge. Sustainability is such an integral element of modern facilities management, particularly with the pressure for businesses to attain Net Zero status.

Amy will be contacting all existing clients in the coming weeks and will be working with them and many new clients to assist with their sustainability journeys.

Details of our range of services can be found on the Sustainable Recycling Management webpage and if you would like to explore the possibilities for your organisation, drop Amy a line via the contact form on the bottom of the webpage, or in the main menu.

Sid, George Pierre, Gladys, Susie, Charles and Hank combine for some festive fun!

In the run up to Christmas, Q3’s team in Guernsey promoted a fun competition, run in conjunction with local retailer Just Games and the island’s lifestyle magazine, GYone.

The magazine’s readers had the challenge of spotting the Q3, animal-themed cars and recording the registration numbers on a special competition form published in the GYone magazine.

It’s quite easy to spot the difference between a racoon and a giraffe but first you had to find them!

Congratulations to Freya and Isla, the lucky first and second prize winners who completed the challenge and walked away with a Nintendo Switch games console and plush unicorn toy, respectively. They seem delighted with the result!