Background
Cluttons is one of the UK's leading property consultancies, delivering specialist real estate services across the commercial, residential, investment and infrastructure sectors. With a heritage spanning more than 250 years and operations across the UK, the Middle East and South Africa, Cluttons manages a diverse portfolio of commercial properties on behalf of investors, landlords and occupiers.
As part of the continued growth of its Commercial Management division, Cluttons appointed Maxwell Stephens to recruit a Facilities Coordinator to support the management of a high-profile commercial property portfolio across London.
The Challenge
The Facilities Coordinator would sit within Cluttons' Commercial Management team, supporting the Regional Facilities Manager while taking direct responsibility for the day-to-day management of several commercial properties.
The successful candidate needed to combine strong organisational skills with sound technical knowledge, commercial awareness and a customer-focused approach, so that service standards stayed consistent across every building in their care.
Key responsibilities included:
- Managing the day-to-day facilities operations across a portfolio of commercial properties.
- Acting as the primary point of contact for tenants and occupiers.
- Managing service charge budgets and monitoring expenditure.
- Assisting with year-end service charge reconciliations in accordance with RICS guidelines.
- Carrying out regular building inspections and property audits.
- Managing contractors and monitoring supplier performance.
- Ensuring health & safety and statutory compliance across all sites.
- Supporting procurement exercises and contract tendering.
- Processing supplier invoices and maintaining accurate financial records.
- Producing reports, maintaining property databases and supporting operational administration.
Cluttons required someone who could work confidently in a fast-paced property management environment while building strong relationships with both clients and tenants.
Managing-agent coordinator roles differ from in-house equivalents in one important way: the coordinator is spending the tenants' money, not the employer's. Service charge budgets, year-end reconciliations and RICS guidelines add a layer of financial discipline that a coordinator from a single-occupier corporate office will not have met, which narrows the useful candidate pool considerably.
Our Approach
Working closely with Cluttons, Maxwell Stephens built a detailed understanding of the organisation's culture, service standards and the technical requirements of the role.
Using our specialist facilities management network, we targeted professionals with experience across commercial property management, managing agent environments and multi-tenanted office buildings. Our search focused on candidates who demonstrated:
- Commercial facilities management experience.
- Strong customer service and stakeholder management skills.
- Knowledge of service charge budgets and financial administration.
- Health & safety awareness, ideally supported by IOSH qualifications.
- Experience managing contractors and supplier relationships.
- Excellent organisational and administrative capability.
- Strong communication and problem-solving skills.
- A proactive, collaborative approach to workplace and property management.
Each shortlisted candidate went through a detailed assessment of both technical capability and cultural fit.
The Outcome
Maxwell Stephens appointed an experienced Facilities Coordinator who quickly became an integral member of Cluttons' Commercial Management team. The successful candidate brought a strong understanding of commercial property management, good organisational skills and a proactive approach to tenant engagement and operational delivery, and made an immediate positive impact across the managed portfolio. In particular they have delivered:
- Operational efficiency. Improved coordination of day-to-day facilities operations across multiple commercial properties, with consistently high service standards.
- Tenant satisfaction. Clear communication and relationship management improved the experience of tenants and occupiers, with issues resolved quickly and professionally.
- Compliance and risk management. Regular inspections and proactive management kept buildings fully compliant with health & safety legislation and industry best practice.
- Financial control. Effective management of service charge budgets, supplier invoices and contractor expenditure supported accurate financial reporting and cost control.
- Contractor management. Better oversight of external contractors and service providers helped maintain building performance while delivering value for money.
The appointment strengthened Cluttons' Commercial Management team, providing experienced operational support across a diverse commercial property portfolio while improving service delivery, compliance and tenant satisfaction.
Why This Placement Worked
The search was scoped around the managing-agent context from the start. Rather than treating this as a generic coordinator role, we looked specifically for people who already understood service charge finance, multi-tenanted buildings and the client-and-tenant relationship, and then assessed for the organisational discipline and customer focus that Cluttons' service standards demand.
Maxwell Stephens recruits facilities management professionals for managing agents, property consultancies and commercial real estate organisations where technical knowledge, customer service and operational reliability all matter. If you are recruiting a Facilities Coordinator or a similar portfolio-facing role, get in touch with our team to discuss the brief.