Building & Facilities Manager Appointments for Cushman & Wakefield

About Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield is one of the world's leading commercial real estate services firms, employing more than 43,000 professionals across over 60 countries. It provides integrated property, facilities, project management and advisory services to many well-known organisations and manages some of the UK's most prestigious commercial buildings. Its UK head office is at 125 Old Broad Street, London.

Maxwell Stephens has recruited for Cushman & Wakefield over many years, across Building Management, Facilities Management and Property Management roles. At one stage the relationship produced eight placements within a two-month period across its property management division.

Our work with Cushman & Wakefield

This page covers two strands of that work:

• Building Manager for Thames Tower, Reading, within the property management division.
• Eight Roving Facilities Managers, based at the UK head office at 125 Old Broad Street, London, managing multi-site, multi-client portfolios across a variety of property types.

Building Manager, Thames Tower, Reading

Thames Tower is Reading's landmark Grade A, multi-let commercial office development. Cushman & Wakefield needed a Building Manager to run it day to day: leading contractor performance, coordinating planned and reactive maintenance, monitoring Health & Safety compliance and managing risk under Cushman & Wakefield procedures, supporting service charge delivery and operational budgets, keeping presentation standards high and acting as the main point of contact for tenants and occupiers.

In a multi-let Grade A building the Building Manager is the face of the managing agent to every occupier, so presence and communication matter as much as technical knowledge. The client wanted someone highly organised and commercially aware who could build trusted relationships with both clients and occupiers.

Our existing knowledge of how Cushman & Wakefield operates shaped the search, which targeted Building Managers from premium commercial real estate and multi-tenanted office backgrounds. We prioritised commercial office building management experience, contractor and supplier management, tenant relationship skills, sound knowledge of building services, Health & Safety and compliance expertise, and IWFM, RICS or IOSH qualifications or progress towards them.

Of four potential applicants, two were put forward for interview and one was offered the position. The appointee joined the property management team and took on the operational management of Thames Tower, covering day-to-day operations, tenant engagement, contractor management, Health & Safety compliance and maintenance support.

Feedback from the placed candidate:

I would like to thank Maxwell Stephens for all the assistance they offered me. They showed that they cared throughout the process and kept me updated at all times. I would definitely recommend Maxwell Stephens to anyone looking for a new challenge in Facilities Management.

Feedback from the client:

I am pleased with the service provided, which was efficient and helpful. The candidates recommended fit my specification and we were able to complete the recruitment process in good time due to good communication and a good understanding of requirements. Out of 4 potential applicants, 2 were put forward for interview, one of which passed the interview stages and has been offered a position.

Eight Roving Facilities Managers, London

Cushman & Wakefield also asked us to recruit Roving Facilities Managers for its UK operations. Based from 125 Old Broad Street, these managers do not own a single building or account. They support multiple properties and client accounts, so they have to pick up different operational requirements quickly and hold the same service standard across a varied portfolio.

The brief covered multi-site facilities management; preparing and managing budgets across several locations; service delivery against contractual obligations; contributing to FM service strategy and business plans; client and tenant relationships; supplier and service provider management; monitoring SLAs and KPIs and coordinating performance reports; health and safety across the portfolio; and promoting Cushman & Wakefield's FM capability to existing and prospective clients.

A roving role needs a different search from a single-site one. Plenty of capable single-site managers struggle without a fixed building; the people who do well in it are a distinct group and are not always easy to spot from a CV. We assessed for multi-site and multi-client portfolio experience, budget preparation and financial control, SLA and KPI management, client and tenant engagement, supplier management, health and safety compliance, performance reporting, commercial awareness and the ability to work independently across changing environments.

Maxwell Stephens recruited all eight Roving Facilities Managers. The appointments added FM capability across Cushman & Wakefield's multi-site and multi-client portfolios, covering service delivery, client and tenant relationships, budget oversight, SLA and KPI monitoring, and health and safety management. Filling eight positions of the same type also reflects how recurring this requirement is.

Why it worked

The length of the relationship meant each search started from a clear understanding of Cushman & Wakefield's operational expectations and the type of professional who succeeds in its business. Both briefs were then assessed against the realities of the role: occupier-facing presence for a multi-let Grade A building, and the adaptability, stakeholder skills and commercial understanding needed to work across complex outsourced, multi-client FM environments.

If you are recruiting a Building Manager for a multi-let commercial building, or Facilities Managers across several sites or client portfolios, get in touch with our team to discuss the brief.