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Month: November 2024

Putting a sustainable shine on The Square

Posted on by Ian Adams

Putting a sustainable shine on The Square

As part of Q3’s commitment to working sustainably, the company has adopted an environmentally friendly cleaning technology across many of its large contracts, including The Square shopping centre in Camberley.

The Toucan Eco system is used for virtually all hard surface cleaning across the shopping centre, replacing several conventional, chemical products that were used historically.

The cleaning solution is created on site using a special Active Plus device which produces 20 litre batches of water-based cleaner, at a time. This is then distributed around the site in re-usable bottles or containers – an approach that drastically reduces both the use of single-use plastics, and the carbon cost normally associated with shipping ready-mixed chemicals to site.

Once mixed, the solution has a shelf life of about a week, cleaning and sanitising surfaces and killing up to 99.999% of all germs. The same solution used for wiping hard surfaces is also used through the scrubber-drier that operates along the floors of the shopping centre. One product does everything, so there is no opportunity for someone to accidentally using the wrong product for any particular application.

The cleaning operatives like Miriam love it too because it’s virtually harmless, so there’s no risk of chemicals being inhaled or spills causing skin conditions. It’s made the wearing of PPE superfluous.

Speaking about the benefits of Toucan Eco, Q3 Operations Director, Luis Lopes, said, “This innovation has delivered a revolution in the way we work, reducing costs, improving health and safety, while reducing carbon emissions and plastic waste. It’s a winner all round!”

Top marks from the mystery shopper!!!

Posted on by Ian Adams

Mystery shopping is a technique used extensively in the retail sector to help organisations understand their customers’ experiences and identify potential areas for improvement in the quality of service delivery.

It’s a process that the Praxis Retail Management Team at The Square shopping centre in Camberley have been deploying across the site for some time. The third-party mystery shopper embarks on a series of approaches each month, to test the reaction and response of the centre team via The Square’s phone service, website, social media accounts and through personal site visits.

From Q3’s perspective, it’s the site visits and face-to-face encounters that present the big challenge. The mystery shopper can turn up at any time and will be checking the centre surreptitiously for cleanliness, safety, wayfinding, availability of facilities, sources of information, and visibility of staff.

The mystery shopper may also approach one of the cleaning or security team randomly for help, information or assistance on any manner of subject. “Where are the toilets? Where can I get something to eat? What time do you close tonight?”

So, our team needs to be well briefed to have the right answers and trained in a way to ensure that requests are dealt with politely and efficiently. Recent result have proved very encouraging. During August and September, overall scores have exceeded 96% across all the channels tested by the mystery shopper, with some scores of 100% achieved for the face-to-face encounters.

Commenting on the positive feedback from the mystery shopper programme, Gavin Vidler Shopping Centre Manager said, “The Q3 cleaning and security staff out on the centre floor are our front-line partners responsible for personal, customer engagement. These results indicate that everyone is working as a team to ensure that customer experience at The Square is being delivered to a high standard, that will keep people returning time after time.”

Q3’s sustainable business model pays dividends

Posted on by Ian Adams

Q3 is reporting another successful year’s trading, having finalised its 2023-24 annual accounts and completed its sixth year of successive growth in the facilities management sector.

During this period, the combined UK and Channel Islands business has met all its operational and financial KPIs, in relation to turnover, gross margin, profit and EBITDA.

Q3 secured a number of substantial new contracts and contract extensions in the twelve-month period, which have contributed to the company’s significant growth. These include new business wins with Fort Cumberland (Historic England), the Gateway Academy in Westminster, video game developer, Double Eleven and an extension to the nationwide IFM contract with Maximus. A new island-wide cleaning contract in the education sector in Jersey, has similarly boosted the company’s operational presence in the Channel Islands.

The company’s record on retention is also remarkably strong, with no significant losses reported, and the company reporting an NPS score of 50, a measure of the levels of customer satisfaction being achieved.

The organisation, which originally described itself as a boutique FM company, now has revenues well in excess of £20m, and for the first time, finds itself operating amongst the Top 50 UK FM companies. Q3 recently moved to a new head office facility near Reading to accommodate this expansion and to satisfy anticipated, future growth ambitions.

Despite this rapid company expansion Q3 also continues to make great strides towards achieving its Net Zero target, with reported CO2 emissions in 2024 reduced by 65% over the previous year.

Commenting on the results, CEO Martyn Freeman, said, “I am delighted with our progress. We established Q3 to operate on the principle that Quality People, will deliver Quality Services to create Quality Workplaces. It’s a sustainable business model that has underpinned our approach and allowed us to continue our successful record of growth, year-on-year. If we continue to attract new clients and retain and enhance existing contracts on this scale, we will realise our ambition to establish Q3 as a major player in the UK facilities market.”

Maximus helps solve Q3’s recruitment challenge

Posted on by Ian Adams

Q3 recently announced an extension of its facilities management contract with Maximus to 2028, extending across some 160 locations.

In an interesting twist, Maximus, the specialist health and employability service organisation has in turn, been supporting Q3 on its cleaning contract with the London Borough of Redbridge.

When our own recruitment efforts could not identify a suitable candidate for the challenging role of Cleaning Supervisor at Aldersbrook school in Wanstead, Rona Nicoll, Maximus’s Engagement Advisor for Adult Skills Funding, stepped in.

Working with Chris Finch the Q3 Contract Manager, Rona placed an advert for the role, screened suitable applicants and came up trumps with prime candidate Dorota Jazebek. Dorota has already settled quickly into her new role and is now a valued and much-liked member of the team.

Rona explained, “Maximus works directly with the London business community to open doors to meaningful employment for people with disabilities, by enhancing their skills through our fully funded courses. Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of collaborating with Q3, helping their employees gain new skills and access to opportunities. Q3 shows both a strong dedication to inclusion and disability support and a commitment to employee development, which suits us perfectly.”

Chris Finch of Q3 said, “Rona and Claire Roberts, Maximus’ Operations Director, have been so helpful and have a wealth of knowledge on the resources available to help disadvantaged people into employment. We have always sought to create a supportive and inclusive environment for our workforce, and this is a value that Maximus and Q3 share. This is certainly a partnership we want to build on!”

 

Amy Hossin promoted to Finance Manager

Posted on by Ian Adams

We are delighted to announce that Amy Hossin has been promoted to Finance Manager of Q3’s Technical Services business, starting 1st November.

Since joining Q3, Amy has demonstrated strong financial skills, analysis and technical ability on top of her excellent people skills.

Commenting on the promotion, Business Director Lian Kockelbergh said, “Amy is in the early stage of her career but it has been obvious from the outset that she had amazing potential and a very bright future ahead. We are delighted to see her progress within the finance team and congratulate her on her new role!”