Case Study

Battersea Power Station

The power station is a truly mixed-use building and will be home to Apple’s London Campus, hundreds of new shops housed in the historic turbines halls, a c. 2000 capacity event venue, a 18,500 sq. ft. food hall, a glass chimney lift and hundreds of new homes.

The Benefits

We have developed a positive relationship of trust with our client through our dedicated on-site management and by delivering on our vision for site services at BPS.

Our regular meetings with the client, and their collaborative, ‘hands-on’ mindset make for a close working relationship that allows us to track and respond to each day’s challenges. This can be especially important during VIP visits or other high-profile events at BPS.

Our training, supervisory and motivational investment in our teams has made their cleaning standards more streamlined and effective, allowing more time to focus on priority areas. Our new cleaning equipment has enhanced this.

Our team spirit is significantly higher, leading to even higher performance and staff turnover much lower than previously. This team investment is also an opportunity to explore the career potential of our employees.

Through our quality audit and time and attendance technologies, we can measure and report on our data, using it to drive future performance.

The Challenge

The biggest challenge across this contract is that the site is constantly growing and developing. Communicating with construction suppliers can be difficult and trying to get an understanding of what is coming up in the programme to allow us to have flexibility in the team and management structure to deliver our services fully.

Under the previous incumbent, our client had been experiencing cleaning standards below the required level, because of a poorly supervised site team, with low motivation and high
turnover.

Operatives’ performance measured against time also was inefficient, as they were left unsupervised.

This situation was worsened by disengagement from the area management, which eroded the client’s confidence in the incumbent.

Therefore, a new strategy was required in 3 key areas of the contract:

  • Management and supervision
  • Staff training, mentoring and performance review
  • Efficiencies gained through new equipment and technology

The Solution

Our new vision for site services at BPS was built on a much fuller engagement at the management level. We introduced a dedicated on- site Account Manager to bring committed leadership and relationship management solely to BPS. This gives JPC by Samsic, Samsic UK division, a presence at the daily meeting of BPS senior management and heads of department, along with our monthly presentation on our KPI delivery to our client. We invested in the staff transferring from the previous incumbent, strengthening relationships and acting on opportunities for their career progression – for example, arranging customer service training for potential future supervisors. We’ve engaged with Wandsworth Borough Council and Wandsworth Work Match, ensuring details of guest services vacancies are provided to residents, helping to get local residents back into work and teaching them new project skills and investing in work placement programmes.

We developed a ‘one team’ mentality, the family ethos that JPC by Samsic, Samsic UK division, is renowned for, and a shared standard of performance to be achieved through working together. To accomplish this, we introduced training initiatives, including regular ‘toolbox talks’ – a team briefing from our Account Manager, whenever our service is updated with new strategies, innovations or compliance points. There was also a recognition programme introduced, such as a Certificate of Appreciation, with voucher rewards presented by our client.

Through this increased training and motivation, we saw the operatives become more efficient, effective and positive, adding significant value to our overall performance. We introduced a range of technological innovations to enhance our performance, including:

  • The ECAT quality audit software – allowed to track our service standards across the site, set action points, and report on the data.
  • Our face-recognition time and attendance technology made us accountable for shift fulfilment and absence cover
  • We replaced labour-intensive manual sweeping and spot cleaning with rideon scrubbing and sweeping machines – plus a same-day maintenance callout service from our supplier ICE.

We presented a new vision for environmental services at Battersea Power Station (BPS) that aligned with its landmark status, and the expectations of its stakeholders.

Number of the initiatives proposed and implemented:

  • Innovative equipment that will reduce our carbon footprint, i.e. instead of fossil fuel, we use battery operated cleaning equipment, balancing the increasing cost of innovation but still
    driving value through that innovation piece.
  • NFC Tags on the machinery to reduce paper usage and be compliant. QR code is being scanned on the machine, which will bring up a preused check list with requirements.
My English has improved, the frequent communication has helped and it was an area I wanted to improve. I have also done lots of Health & Safety and product training. In the future, I would like to have my own cleaning company. My life has changed since working at Battersea Power Station. I like it here, it’s local and the job gives me time to do other things in my personal life.
Elsa Llumiquinga
JPC by Samsic

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