Facilities Management Appointments for ISG

About ISG

ISG (Interior Services Group) was a global construction, fit-out and engineering specialist, delivering complex projects across commercial, education, healthcare, retail and public sector environments. It had a workforce of approximately 2,800 professionals across multiple regions, a portfolio of offices throughout the United Kingdom, and an international headquarters in the City of London. ISG's UK operating companies entered administration in September 2024.

For a business whose trade was the quality of the built environment, the standard of its own workplace mattered. Its offices were used by employees and clients alike and had to run well every day.

Our work with ISG

Maxwell Stephens recruited at both ends of ISG's facilities function:

• Head of UK Facilities Management, leading facilities strategy and operations across ISG's UK office portfolio.
• Facilities Co-ordinator, running the day-to-day operation of the City of London headquarters in support of the Head of Facilities.

Head of UK Facilities Management

To support continued growth, ISG needed a Head of UK Facilities Management to develop and deliver a UK-wide facilities strategy across a diverse portfolio of offices. The responsibilities included:

• the UK facilities management strategy, aligned with organisational objectives
• operations across multiple office locations and geographically dispersed teams
• health and safety and statutory compliance, with consistency and standardisation across sites
• facilities budgets and operational expenditure
• supplier and contractor performance
• office fit-out, refurbishment and workplace projects
• workplace wellbeing, employee experience and sustainability
• risk and business continuity
• internal and external stakeholder relationships

Multi-site leadership roles are harder to fill than single-site posts. The leader is rarely in the building where a problem occurs, so the job depends on standardised processes, capable local teams and supplier governance. We worked with ISG on the technical and strategic requirements, then searched for senior professionals who had led national portfolios, prioritising strategic thinking, operational leadership, commercial acumen, change management and stakeholder skills. Shortlisted candidates were evaluated on leadership, technical expertise, commercial understanding and their ability to align facilities strategy with business objectives. At this level the last of those is the differentiator: many senior FM professionals can run a portfolio; fewer can explain how the facilities plan serves the business plan.

The appointee brought extensive expertise in facilities leadership, workplace strategy, compliance and project delivery, and took responsibility for facilities strategy, operations across ISG's UK locations, compliance and risk, and budgets.

Facilities Co-ordinator, City of London Headquarters

To strengthen its internal Facilities team, ISG asked us to recruit a Facilities Co-ordinator responsible for the day-to-day operation of its London headquarters, supporting the Head of Facilities. The brief covered:

• coordinating the office, reception and post room functions
• supplier and contractor relationships
• health and safety compliance and workplace risk
• office moves, space planning and internal logistics
• responding quickly to facilities issues with a high level of customer service
• operational reporting, administration and continuous improvement
• acting as the central point of communication between employees, contractors and service providers

In a headquarters like this the co-ordinator is a hub role. Plenty of candidates can run a post room or log a reactive job; fewer can do so while being the visible, approachable face of the Facilities team. We consulted closely with ISG on responsibilities and reporting lines, searched our network for people from high-profile corporate workplaces, ran competency-based interviews on organisation, stakeholder management, problem-solving and communication, and assessed shortlisted candidates for professionalism, initiative and customer focus.

The appointee became an integral member of the team: coordinating day-to-day operations, building strong supplier and contractor relationships, supporting health and safety and compliance, and handling office moves and internal logistics with minimal disruption.

Why it worked

Both briefs set out the full scope of the job rather than the most visible part of it. Head-of-function roles fail when recruited around the most urgent problem; co-ordinator roles fail when recruited as administrative posts with a facilities element attached. In each case we assessed candidates against the whole remit, and the same discipline applies from operational support roles through to senior leadership.

If you are planning a facilities appointment at any level, from co-ordinator to head of function, get in touch with our team to discuss the brief.