Background
Maxwell Stephens was engaged by Event Concept to recruit a Facilities Manager for its headquarters in South Bermondsey. The role was newly created. The site is an industrial estate comprising three warehouses, three office spaces and a yard, totalling around 45,000 sq ft, and the business needed one person to take ownership of its upkeep, its health and safety standards, its legal compliance and its supplier and contract management. The Facilities Manager would report directly to the Director of Operations.
A newly created facilities role is a different search from a like-for-like replacement. There is no established job to step into: the appointee has to build the maintenance schedule, the supplier arrangements and the compliance records from whatever already exists, often informally, and do so while the operation carries on around them. That shapes the kind of candidate worth looking for.
The Challenge
The brief was broad. Event Concept needed a candidate who could:
- Maintain the facility to high standards, ensuring a quality experience for staff and visitors
- Serve as the first point of contact for resolving facility issues
- Develop and implement a planned maintenance schedule
- Ensure compliance with Building Regulations, Health and Safety, and Environmental Legislation
- Coordinate building inductions and liaise with the landlord on lease-related issues
- Conduct maintenance with minimal business disruption
- Implement robust security and emergency procedures
- Seek competitive tenders for necessary works, supplies and services
- Monitor and report supplier performance against SLAs
- Review and ensure compliance of risk assessments and method statements
- Lead environmental and sustainability initiatives
- Prepare, monitor and reconcile the facilities budget
- Provide out-of-hours assistance for facility emergencies and maintenance
The ideal candidate would have at least 2-3 years of facilities management experience, strong negotiation skills with demonstrable cost savings behind them, health and safety experience and training (NEBOSH), a basic knowledge of building systems, and the flexibility to work out of hours when necessary.
Mixed warehouse and office estates bring their own demands. The buildings are working spaces as much as workplaces: yard access, deliveries and storage sit alongside the office environment, and the facilities lead has to keep both safe and functioning without getting in the way of the operation. A landlord relationship adds a further layer, since the lease determines what the occupier can and must do to the buildings.
Our Approach
To meet Event Concept's specific needs, Maxwell Stephens:
- Searched through our network and industry knowledge to identify candidates with the required experience and qualifications, rather than relying on advertising response.
- Interviewed in depth, assessing technical competence, problem-solving ability and cultural fit with Event Concept.
- Verified qualifications and track record, with particular attention to contract negotiation and health and safety compliance — the two areas where the brief was most specific.
- Presented a shortlist of highly qualified candidates to Event Concept for consideration.
In a newly created role, the interview stage carries more weight than usual. The useful evidence is whether a candidate has set up planned maintenance or supplier arrangements before, not only whether they have run an existing regime.
The Outcome
Maxwell Stephens placed a highly skilled Facilities Manager who brought extensive experience to the role. The selected candidate demonstrated:
- Strong facilities management skills and a proactive approach to resolving issues.
- A proven ability to negotiate contracts effectively, achieving cost savings.
- A comprehensive understanding of health and safety regulations and training, backed by NEBOSH certification.
- A basic knowledge of building systems and the capability to manage out-of-hours situations.
The appointment put ownership of the South Bermondsey site in one place, as the brief intended: health and safety, compliance, maintenance planning and supplier management with a single accountable person reporting to the Director of Operations.
Why This Placement Worked
Facilities briefs for newly created roles often list everything the business has ever wanted someone to do. The list here was long, but it was coherent: compliance, maintenance planning, supplier control and cost discipline are the four legs of a single-site facilities job, and a NEBOSH-qualified manager with a few years of hands-on experience and a habit of negotiating hard covers all four. We recruited to the shape of the job rather than the length of the list.
If you are creating a facilities role for the first time, or need one person to take control of a mixed warehouse and office site, Maxwell Stephens can help you define the brief and find the candidates who have done it before. Get in touch with our team.