Bidvest Noonan

A leading provider of facilities services and solutions

Content Manager

Welcoming Amber Support Solutions and Scott Brannigan

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Amber Support Solutions, the leading Northern Irish provider of industrial cleaning services, has become part of Bidvest Noonan in a move designed to accelerate the Group’s growth and increase the value and support it delivers to clients in Northern Ireland.

As part of the plan, Bidvest Noonan has appointed Amber Managing Director, Scott Brannigan, to the new role of Managing Director for Bidvest Noonan, Northern Ireland. The Amber business will continue to operate under the Amber brand within the Group. As a member of the Group’s senior leadership team and as Managing Director for Northern Ireland, Scott Brannigan will take responsibility for growing Amber and Bidvest Noonan’s wider business in the region.

Amber was established in 2010 and the business has a strong portfolio of clients across the public, corporate, manufacturing, retail, and commercial sectors. It is a specialist industrial cleaning company that offers services ranging from window to carpet cleaning.

The Bidvest Noonan Northern Ireland business, which Scott will lead, employs a total of 1,500 people and is already one of the region’s largest and most successful facility services companies, with a 44-year history of delivering exceptional value to clients. Across the Island of Ireland, Bidvest Noonan is the market leader for security and cleaning services, and it has a substantial and well-established M&E engineering services business. In total, the Group has a turnover in excess of £700 million and employs over 27,000 people across its key markets.

“Scott’s appointment as Managing Director for Northern Ireland demonstrates our commitment to the Northern Irish market, and to our focus on enhancing the services we provide to our NI customers, through ongoing investment in our people, services, and capabilities in the region. Amber is a great business. It has an outstanding team and a strong brand and a reputation for high standards and excellent customer service. We look forward to working with them to build on their achievements to date,” said Declan Doyle, CEO of Bidvest Noonan.

Scott Brannigan said: “This is very positive news for both Bidvest Noonan and Amber clients as well as our people. The investment from Bidvest Noonan, and their expertise and support, gives us the platform and support we need to continue to grow our business across Northern Ireland. The enlarged Northern Ireland business will allow us to provide an even stronger best-in-class service proposition to clients. I really look forward working with my team, new Bidvest Noonan colleagues in Northern Ireland, and the wider team in the future to continue providing clients with the high standards of service for which we are known”.

“We believe that working together we can both cement Bidvest Noonan’s position as market leader for facility services in Northern Ireland and Amber’s position as market leader for industrial services. This is great news and I know that this partnership will deliver increased value and support for clients,” he added.

Bidvest Noonan recently announced the acquisition of Cordant Services, a leading UK provider of security and cleaning services and, separately, Axis Group, another leading UK provider of Security, Cleaning, and Front of House Services. The deals have further strengthened Bidvest Noonan’s position as one of the fastest-growing services businesses in the UK and a market leader in Ireland.

Cordant Services is now part of Bidvest Noonan

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Bidvest Noonan has signed agreement that will see Cordant Services join its group. This move further expands Bidvest Noonan’s leadership position, footprint, service profile and expertise in the UK. It also brings the total number of employees to more than 27,000 employees and annual revenues beyond £700 million.

Founded in 1957 and employing more than 7,000 people, Cordant Services is made up of three dedicated divisions Cordant Security, Cordant Cleaning and Cordant Thistle, a specialist and industrial cleaning business. With a total turnover in excess of £170 million, Cordant Services operates across 1,900 client locations throughout the UK in a range of industries.

Bidvest Noonan is a leading provider for services such as Security, Cleaning, Front of House and Ancillary Services in the UK & Ireland. The company has significantly expanded its services and footprint in the UK and Ireland in recent years through a combination of organic and acquisition-led growth, to consolidate its leadership position in Ireland and become a market leader in the UK.

Welcoming the announcement, Declan Doyle, CEO of Bidvest Noonan, said: “This is a landmark moment for Bidvest Noonan and Cordant Services, as together we will deliver even greater support and value to our clients and create more opportunities for our people. It cements Bidvest Noonan’s position as a leading provider of security, cleaning and support services in the UK, with a significantly enhanced footprint, capability and expertise to deliver the highest standards of services to clients across a wide range of sectors and industries.

“Importantly to us, we are achieving this by bringing over 7,000 new colleagues to the Bidvest Noonan team who share our passion and commitment for delivering great value, high-standards and excellent service to customers. We look forward to working with our new colleagues to further enhance the services and supports to clients and build on their successes to date.”

Managing director of Cordant Services, Guy Pakenham, who together with his senior team will remain at the helm of the business, added: “This transaction is a very positive reflection of the quality of our business and all of our people and today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Cordant Services. I am thrilled that we are now part of Bidvest Noonan. Bidvest Noonan is an exceptional company whose leadership team is passionate about delivering outstanding value to clients and supporting their people.”

Today’s announcement follows Bidvest Noonan’s acquisition of Axis Group, a leading UK provider of Security, Cleaning and Front of House Services, in January 2021.

Ready to welcome students and faculty back on campus

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Contract Manager, Mark McDonald, tells us how his team has adapted to Covid-19 and is equipped and ready for the return to on-campus learning very soon.

When the pandemic hit, how did your team overcome the initial challenges?

My team and I began preparing for this pandemic before the first lockdown started in early 2020. Our biggest challenge was to maintain a clean and safe environment whilst keeping all those on campus safe. Like so many universities around the world, this was unchartered territory, and an uphill battle, but something myself and my team were ready to tackle together.

From the offset, we took a proactive approach. We knew the safety of people was our priority so gaining knowledge of what we were dealing with was important for us. I organised socially distanced toolbox talks to help my team develop an understanding of what was needed. I collated and distributed material and publications from our government on measures to be taken. I also implemented frequent catch-up meetings with the team to educate and update them on the latest developments. This was all done with the aim of protecting ourselves and those around us.

How were you able to maintain service standards?

The joint contract managers and I formulated new strategies and schedules that would allow us to maintain our usual standard of service amidst this disruption. We introduced working pods to ensure minimal crossover and to reduce the number of close contact situations. Working closely with the client we established a new daytime role to increase touch point cleaning frequency. This new role has been the backbone of our service during the pandemic and an important factor in how we have been containing the spread of Covid-19 on campus.

Have you taken any steps to improve your response outbreaks?

From an early stage, I ensured the team was prepared for a potential outbreak on site. Ecostatic sprayers were installed to actively apply a preventative disinfectant, but they also enabled us to decontaminate infected areas if Covid-19 was identified. Several members of both team and management were trained up to use the equipment.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have decontaminated a variety of areas around campus in response to suspected cases. In our high-traffic areas, we have completed countless preventative spraying projects also.

What is your teams’ priorities for the reopening, will there be new systems and ways of working?

Our focus is to continue working closely with the client and estate services to facilitate a smooth transition back to on-campus learning. Currently, we are planning to return as per current government guidelines. This means for the foreseeable future we expect to continue our daytime touchpoint cleaning procedures, remain working in smaller groups, adhere to social distancing where possible, and wear PPE where necessary.

The rollout of a new request logging system is also currently underway. Our client will be able to raise tickets through this system which will be forwarded to our team, providing them with a real-time feed. The job can then be assigned to a team leader to complete and closeout, triggering a notification to all included on the job tree that the job is complete. This means there will be a faster response time and will minimise staff deployment to the affected area where unnecessary.

What do expect in the coming months?

Since we began our work on-site here at UCD, and particularly since the start of the pandemic, our team has had an incredible ability to adapt to change and overcome any challenges put in front of us. We have strong backing from the leadership team at Bidvest Noonan that will ensure we have the resources we need to continue doing so.

While the government guidelines may change how we work, we will adjust as required and continue to work to the best of our ability in the safest manner possible, supporting client operations across the portfolio. We will stay in discussion with the client to ensure both teams are working in tandem.  This continued support and communication has built an environment of trust and partnership and we look forward to continuing this as we welcome everyone back on campus.

Launching our Customer Relationship Programme

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We are passionate about building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with customers. We know that strong relationships can deliver success on every level, and we work hard to be the best partner we can be. This year we are investing in an ambitious new customer relationship programme to ensure that doing business with Bidvest Noonan is a fantastic experience with current and new customers:

Welcoming Interact to Bidvest Noonan

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We have some great news! The CCPC has approved our deal and we can officially welcome Interact and H2O Solutions to our group. Interact is one of Ireland’s leading M&E engineering services companies and H2O Solutions is Interact’s specialist water treatment company. Both will bring so much value to our business. We are incredibly excited to welcome all our new colleagues. Their expertise will help bolster both our reach and scale.

We’ve launched our Innovation Programme

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We are delighted to announce the launch of Edge, our innovation programme. Innovation is critical to our success. Our ability to challenge conventions, find better ways of working, and create greater value for clients is what sets us apart from our competition. 

Edge provides a set of tools and processes to help us:

  • Empower our teams to innovate faster,
  • Develop greater innovation skills, capabilities, and culture,
  • Grow our business by designing better solutions for clients,
  • Excel in the areas that make the biggest impact for our business.

Watch the introduction video to Edge here: