The amalgamation in the UK of Bouygues and Equans has put a new FM powerhouse on the scene. And they made it look easy.

Was it a case of the proverbial duck – gliding serenely across the water while paddling furiously below the surface?  We spoke with David Carr to find out.

Carr is now CEO, Sustainable FM - Equans UK & Ireland, having formerly been CEO of Bouygues Energies & Services UK.  Those two roles ensure that he was, and is, right in the centre of the integration process.

David Carr inspires confidence.  He clearly gives a lot of thought to all aspects of his business; he’s enthusiastic, coming across as a hands-on leader from the front; and he’s happy to share his considered views.  So what does that mean for his approach to integrating these two big, well-known businesses?  “There’s no point in creating chaos,” he says.  “You need to focus your efforts on the right things when you are looking at integration.”  And that doesn’t mean bringing everyone together straightaway in some central location. “In my view,” he continues, “when you are looking at integration, offices are not really where you need to start. It’s more about getting the culture right and getting the focus right.  People have their different working routines, and different offices often have different IT systems – this sort of change is evolution, not revolution.”

And to the extent any revolution is needed in this sort of process, Carr would argue that the starting point is culture, values and communication.  But in the case of Equans and Bouygues, the concept of ‘revolution’ doesn’t really apply.

If we look back for a moment, Bouygues was named as preferred bidder for the Equans business in 2021 with the vision to create a world leader in energy & services. The acquisition was completed a year later, with the rebranding of the new business to Equans UK & Ireland announced in January this year.

In that year between ’21 and ’22, the companies were not allowed to talk to each other while various competition questions were examined in various countries.  “So when the deal was confirmed, it was very much a hot start,” Carr says.  “Obviously, a team in Paris had been looking at what integration could look like, but then in October of ’22 it became on a country-by-country basis ‘how are we going to best make this work?’”

He continues: “In terms of the timeline, things moved quickly but at the right pace.  By January of ‘23 we had made the decisions about what the overarching business structure would look like and had put in place the leadership team at Equans UK level.  The focus then was very much on clients: we needed to make sure that clients were informed and comfortable and assured that they were not going to see wholesale changes - frontline service would be consistent, with the benefit of new access to best practice ideas.  There was also a huge amount of communication with staff, lots of visibility – I spent vast amounts of time on trains visiting our sites.  The two critical areas of focus were our clients and our people – absolutely key,” Carr says, adding: “I have always been a believer in visibility – you’ve got to be visible with your people, with your clients, in the offices and or on-site.  We put a lot of energy into that, giving constant assurance and reassurance to the people who are doing the work.”

Happily, the cultures at Bouygues and Equans proved to be very compatible.  Carr recalls: “I found that when I met my now not-so-new colleagues, the two cultures fitted together quite nicely.  The focus on customer care and on sustainability – both companies were early adopters in terms of the role that customer-centric FM plays in sustainability, so there was a natural alignment in this very important area.” And in terms of the process of pulling the business together, a ‘best of both’ approach was adopted.  “What we were looking to avoid was any idea of big change that actually resulted in a step backwards,” Carr explains.  “We were really keen that existing client relationships were protected and fostered – client relations were absolutely key in terms of our service delivery.  That means the processes they were used to needed to continue and continue with the right rhythm.  At the same time, we were looking at all our methodologies and capabilities across both businesses and asking whether the best could be replicated across the entire business.  It certainly was not a case of ‘this is the way we do things, so this part has to change’. 

“So what you see today is that all our client relationships are broadly similar; you see the same people in the same roles – we’ve had an extremely good retention rate throughout this change, which has been great.  But what you also see are cases of people doing things just a little better, thanks to the ‘best of both’ approach.” 

Summing up, he adds: “The whole integration process has been an absolute joy, to be honest.  I’ve loved it because our people are focused on the right things, and we are not managing change so much as managing evolution. That’s built on our shared cultural principles and shared values. It was a good fit,” he declares with considerable understatement.

Sustainable FM
Carr is leading this new business’s new division, Sustainable Facilities Management. 

This has been created by bringing the Equans and Bouygues operations in the FM environment together. At the same time, the energies and digital services offerings have been brought together.  In a third business area, the Equans Places and Communities operations focused primarily on local government and housing associations are largely unaffected by the merger, as is Vivo, the growing defence sector joint venture with Serco. 

From the point of view of FM, the merger has been relatively straightforward, Carr says. It has created an FM business with a current turnover just over £1bn.  The overall Equans UK turnover is about £2.5bn, with 15,000 people employed - about 75% of those work in FM-related activities. Worldwide, Equans’ turnover is about £18bn, employing close to 90,000 people with FM accounting for around £3.5bn of that – so the UK&I business is quite a significant one. 

But why ‘Sustainable FM’?  “This,” Carr says, “was one of the issues we debated long and hard.  We had two strong brands, uniting behind the larger of the two - but to describe ourselves within the FM sector we were keen to have something new.  We looked at what we actually do in both businesses and what is different – and we quickly homed in on the sustainability agenda.  The commitment to self-delivery, the utilisation of SMEs in the supply chain – both principles were well embedded within both businesses as the most effective way to deliver the required services.  In addition, the fact that both organisations had energy and decarbonisation services on offer in parallel and in support of their FM services… the logical next step is what we are delivering is sustainable FM.  So why not call ourselves that?  It focuses the mind: we believe quite strongly that sustainability starts with our frontline workforce.  It’s about ensuring the right technical capabilities but also about supporting and contributing to long-term commitments and goals.” 

An international perspective
One advantage of working in a global business that David Carr is already seeing is the opportunity for knowledge sharing.  “This is a big business that gives me the ability to pick the brains of my colleagues across the world about any issue or, where this opportunity is particularly useful, about innovation.  For example, I can turn to our Canadian business for information about ‘smart’ hospitals, which they have been delivering for the past 10 years.  I can pick their brains about how these work and how we can bring the ideas to the UK.  FM markets tend to be very local, but this sort of network opens the way for new ideas – something that you are doing there I could bring into my business here.” 

The group has a structured process for this sort of sharing, organised around ‘business clubs’.  For example, Carr hosted the FM business club in March which drew in colleagues from around the globe to share knowledge and experience, and to do some brainstorming on the issues they are encountering.  In addition, there are digital updates, as well, to support the periodic meetings. There are also management networks where colleagues can talk on a regular basis.  “There’s a considerable range of knowledge and capabilities across the Equans business, and even within the UK – which means all that specialist resource and experience is available to FM.  Quite a powerful thing,” he says. 

Facing the market
With so much change behind him, and more underway, how is Carr thinking about the UK market and Equans’ place in it?  “I think it looks fascinating,” he says.  “FM is a great snapshot of the country as a whole.  As the economy evolves, and as the social environment evolves, FM feels pretty much every impact.  There is, of course, a huge amount of change going on in society, and we need to change and react to it, as well as anticipating it.  As an organisation, you need to be on top of your game, really focused on how those external factors are impacting your clients, what that means, and whether and how that will affect your services.” 

Ensuring the business evolves as the market evolves is an ongoing challenge for FM service providers. Carr outlines a few of the key themes he sees for the industry now and over the near to mid-term – the office or not the office; digitalisation and the pace, process and level of investment in that; data and how we identify the right data and really use it; the sustainability agenda and how to make a difference.  “If we can grab these sorts of issues and run with them,” he says, “then I think the FM industry will move into a different place.  The industry needs to be valued.  Too often it has been caught in races to the bottom, on costs or ideas.  Having a sustainable industry is about having the right level of returns, the right level of protections so that we can get on with the things we do best.”

He continues: “FM can be slow because it is dependent on influencing the client and that can take time. But that goes to prove the importance of the relationship – as well as the ability to pick the clients who are ready to accelerate and then work to accelerate with them.  Then that success needs to be exported across your base as quickly as possible.  I am a firm believer that you need to have people who are looking to make a difference, to challenge the boundaries and who are ready to spread the message of success across the portfolio.  This comes back to the value of business clubs and networks – opportunities to learn and share experiences elsewhere in order to bring them back home.”

This is a topic close to his heart: “More integration and collaborative working across the industry, with service providers and clients, would allow us to move forward at pace. We need market leaders who do that; we need people who are prepared to invest in these things; and we need people who are proud of the industry and what they are doing.  People who can make a difference and then talk about what they have achieved.  We need to talk more about the successes.”

So what remains to be done at Equans UK&I?   Carr reiterates: “We concentrated on the ‘front office’ – our people, our clients, consistency in the services delivered – with the ‘back office’ – the tools and support systems – evolving over a somewhat longer timescale in line with the needs and opportunities within the enlarged operation.  In terms of what is still ongoing now, there are systems in development – the tools that sit below the common communications network are being assessed to ensure we have what is best for the business and then we’ll make the necessary changes.”  The rest - the people, the services, the client relationships, the communication – is never finished but the fundamentals are all in place.

David Carr trained as an economist, qualified as a chartered accountant and joined a small environmental division of Bouygues UK more than 20 years ago – because he wanted to make a difference.  That business was way ahead of its time, he says, focused on ways to better manage waste before the market was really interested.  Fast forward through his move to Ecovert, through ETDE, to Bouygues E&S as the company evolved and adjusted its brand.  “I’ve loved nearly every minute,” he says.  “Especially the commitment to a long-term view, which wasn’t, and still isn’t, that common in the business world.”  You certainly come away feeling he’s the right man now to drive Sustainable FM forward.