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Posted August 31, 2000

Rentokil disposes of non-core activities and creates new FM division
Rentokil Initial is creating a new facilities management division which will be headed by director Stephen Fretwell.

Survey explodes myth about dot.com business leaders
The myth that dot.com leaders are young, inexperienced, and looking to make a fast buck while ploughing through venture capital handouts, has been exploded by new research from KPMG Consulting.

Posted August 30, 2000

Whitbread to build and manage university hotel
In the first Private Finance Initiative scheme to involve a UK university, Whitbread is entering a ground-breaking partnership with Nottingham Trent to build and manage a 158-bedroom Travel Inn on its city centre campus.

Skanska acquires Kvaerner’s Construction business for £357m
Anglo-Norwegian Kvaerner has sold its building and engineering activities to Skanska, including a 50% shareholding in Hong-Kong based Gammon Construction, for Nkr4.7bn (£357m).

OFTEL seeks competition in leased lines
Telecommunications regulator Oftel is proposing to regulate BT's wholesale leased lines in an effort to increase competition and reduce prices.

ABB wins two £4.3m M&E contracts
ABB has won two mechanical and electrical services contracts worth over £4.3m.

Posted August 29, 2000
Research into impact of property and FM on business launched
A new research grouping, 'Occupier.org', has been set up to address the holy grail of FM - how does the design and management of buildings influence business productivity?

US building owners defend property rights
Representatives of building owners in the United States are fighting any attempt to give telecommunications service providers the right to take space in office buildings.

E-commerce firms combine property and loan services
PropertyFirst.com, which provides services and information to commercial property professionals and MortgageRamp.com, the commercial real estate financial services group, have agreed to combine their real estate, pricing and loan services. The aim of the partnership is to make property sales and pricing more efficient resulting in faster closing of deals.

Posted August 25, 2000

Anglian acquires Morrison for £262m
Anglian Water has acquired Scottish construction company Morrison for £262m. The shares were sold at an 83p premium to the company’s closing price of 302p the day before the offer.

Guinness Peat bids for Staveley
Investment group Guinness Peat is bidding almost £70m for Staveley Industries, the diversified industrial group which has steadily divested leaving little but the facilities services company Integral.

Posted August 24, 2000

Audit Office to examine Underground PPP
The National Audit Office will report on the financial evaluation of the proposed infrastructure public private partnerships for London Underground, before any contracts are signed

Managed videoconferencing the way forward says research
Application service providers or ASPs are leading the way for turnkey video services at affordable prices says Frost & Sullivan.

New chief executive for PACE
Vivien Bodnar is to head PACE, Property Advisers to the Civil Estate, the agency which advises Government departments on how to achieve best value for money in the procurement and management of their workspace.

Posted August 23, 2000

BBC selects AMEC for framework agreement
The BBC has chosen AMEC as its building services, project management and cost consultancy provider.

Defence Animal Centre PFI award
A 25 year PFI contract has been awarded to REALM Services (DAC) Ltd for the running of the Defence Animal Centre at Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.

Smokers 'Cost Firms £100 a Week'
Workers who smoke could be costing their employers more than £100 a week in lost productivity, according to new research from Guy's Hospital and York University.

Elisa Communications to outsource its support services
Finnish Elisa Communications Group aims to streamline its support services by outsourcing its logistics, functions of the staff restaurants and real estate services by the end of this year.

Posted August 22, 2000

Serco tops new i-FM industry rankings
From today i-FM will carry continually updated listings of the major facilities management companies operating in the UK – the only online industry rankings available.

Building & Property wins £23m contract for ONS
Building & Property has been awarded a £23m five-year contract to provide FM services to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

FM Expo 2000 announces Future Solutions
FM Expo 2000 organiser, United Business Media, formerly known as Miller Freeman, has introduced Future Solutions to its free FM Inter@ctive programme.

Turner & Townsend appoints FM consultant for Asian market
The international construction consultant Turner & Townsend has appointed Malaysian Kuan Mun Lee as a senior facilities consultant.

Posted August 21, 2000

E-commerce partners sought for local authority marketplace
The Government is seeking commercial partners to build a procurement web portal for products and services bought by local authorities.

BT chooses Kings Hill as first eLocation in South East
BT will promote Kings Hill, the mixed-use development off the M20 near Maidstone, as the first eLocation in the South East.

Johnson Controls one of world's 100 best-managed companies
Johnson Controls has been selected for the fifth annual list of the 100 Best Managed Companies, published by US magazine Industry Week

Posted August 18, 2000

ABB buys US software and service provider
ABB has extended its software and eBusiness arm by acquiring US company Energy Interactive Inc.The technology company, together with the US based provider of information software and services, will form the new business ABB Energy Interactive.

ISS acquires British and European companies
Danish cleaning and services company ISS continues its acquisitive streak by buying cleaning companies in the UK and continental Europe.

Posted August 17, 2000

Amey reaches financial close on £155m PFI
Amey plc has completed financial closure of the £155m Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal for the Northern Birmingham Mental Health Trust.

Manager appointed at ESP
John Lloyd has been appointed as General Manager for the newly formed Eurica (Stockley Park) Ltd, a joint venture between Stockley Park Consortium and Eurica, the Facilities Management arm of ISG

Construction starts on new City home for Scottish Widows
Construction of a new 20,000 sq m (215,000 sq ft) office scheme at Athene Place, in the City of London, has commenced.

Posted August 16, 2000

Carillion to take £34m hit on Crown House Engineering
UK firms mentioned in a weekend report that Swedish construction giant Skanska is preparing to bid for one of them have refused to comment on market speculation.

Kier preferred bidder for new £25m Reading hospital
Prospect Healthcare, a consortium comprising Kier Group and equity investor Innisfree Ltd, (each with 50%) has been named as preferred bidder by West Berkshire Priority Care Service NHS Trust

ISS reports turnover and profits up in interims
Danish cleaning and support services company ISS has reported turnover for the six months to June up 66% at Dkk 13.3 billion

Posted August 15, 2000

Skanska to bid for UK construction firm?
UK firms mentioned in a weekend report that Swedish construction giant Skanska is preparing to bid for one of them have refused to comment on market speculation.

Lean office conference goes ahead
This year's Lean Office conference, which looked in jeopardy, has been rescued and will once again deliver a stimulating programme say the new organisers Catalyst Management Development and Santa Raymond Consultants.

Open offices
If you've always wanted to visit some of the more interesting buildings in and around London you'll have your chance next month during the London open House weekend

Posted August 14, 2000

PFM Partnership Awards finalists announced
PFM magazine has announced the finalists in its annual Partnership Awards. There are 10 categories, covering everything from the delivery of a Single Service, such as maintenance and cleaning, to full Facilities Management.

RIBA welcomes new Chief Executive at Environment Agency
The RIBA welcomes the new appointment of Barbara Young as Chief Executive of the Environment Agency.

Wireless solution for mobile workforce
After eight months of research a Massachusetts company has announced the WorkAway Suite, what it snappily calls a ' turnkey, packaged mobile workforce automation solution for handheld wireless devices'.

Posted August 11, 2000

Things go better for Citex
No sooner does Citex boost its FM team with new appointments than it wins a new contract with Coca-Cola.

Online energy exchange launched
European Energy Services (EES), the London-based brokerage, will officially launch e-Gas & Power, an internet exchange for the trading of industrial gas and power for the industrial and commercial sectors

High tech FM updates
ICL confirms that following its decision not to float and the resignation of its Chief Executive Keith Todd, the plan to outsource its property will be reviewed.

Posted August 10, 2000

Cushman & Wakefield wins Lucent FM
Cushman & Wakefield is to take responsibility for the UK and Netherlands portfolios of Lucent Technologies. The international real estate services firm will provide facility management

DEGW to design workplaces for WCRS
DEGW has been appointed as workplace consultant and designer for advertising agency, WCRS, whose clients include Camelot and BMW.

Axis wins design job via the internet
An e-mail invitation which arrived out of the blue has resulted in a London based design firm being appointed to design the UK offices of an Indian software company.

Posted August 9, 2000

Salvesen wins £60m logistics contract with GM
The European logistics company Christian Salvesen, specialising in managing the delivery of outsourced supplies for blue-chip customers

Survey shows dramatic shift online among SMEs
The latest Mori survey shows that 75% of UK-based SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) now have an online presence

Posted August 8, 2000

TCS pursues Deutsche Telekom property deal
The new property services joint venture Trammell Crow Savills is reported to be in the running to buy the FM component of the property management arm of Deutsche Telekom, DeTeImmobilien.

Ecovert to provide FM at new Home Office
Ecovert (South) Ltd, a UK operating division of French construction giant the Bouygues Group, will provide facilities management services at the new London headquarters of the Home Office.

Minerva gets go-ahead to develop ‘Park Place’
Croydon Council has granted planning consent for the development by Minerva plc of 'Park Place', a major regeneration project totalling over 122,000 sq. m.

Posted August 7, 2000

Johnson Controls in Chinese joint venture
Johnson Controls Inc. has announced the formation of a joint venture with Hsin Chong Group to provide integrated facility management services in China, including Hong Kong and Macao.

Mapeley wins STEPSs
As heavily tipped earlier this week, the Mapeley consortium has been selected as preferred bidder for the Inland Revenue/Customs & Excise STEPS accommodation outsourcing project.

Jarvis in confident mood
Jarvis expects to meets its financial targets for the current year to March 2001,

Posted August 4, 2000

News Extra Mapeley wins STEPSs
As heavily tipped earlier this week, the Mapeley consortium has been selected as preferred bidder for the Inland Revenue/Customs & Excise STEPS accommodation outsourcing project.

Securitas to acquire Burns
Swedish security company Securitas and Burns International Services Corporation from the US yesterday signed a definitive merger agreement for Securitas to acquire Burns for SEK 4.1 billion (£297m).

Over 40% of customers switch supplier each year, says KPMG
Lifetime customer loyalty is disappearing – over 40% of UK customers changed at least one of their suppliers over the last year, according to a new research report from KPMG Consulting.

Posted August 3, 2000

Mowlem preferred bidder for school PFIs
Mowlem has been selected as preferred bidder to design, build, operate and maintain schools in Leeds and Cornwall under the Private Finance Initiative.

Over 16m European teleworkers by 2005
Teleworking has really started to boom in Europe, with Finland in the lead, Germany as the runner-up and Spain coming in third place.

"e-FM" this year’s topic for the FM Graduate of the Year Award  
‘e-FM’ is the essay topic for entrants to this year’s FM Graduate of the Year Award, sponsored by Claremont Business Environments, with the backing of the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM).

New director general at HSE  
The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has appointed Timothy Walker as Director General of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Posted August 2, 2000

WS Atkins' FM contract in South Africa is largest ever
A consortium (TFMC) comprising WS Atkins and Rebhold, a Johannesburg-listed investment holding company, has been awarded a £1.5bn contract by Telkom South Africa to deliver FM services to its entire South African property portfolio

Mowlem secures M&E capability for Aqumen
Mowlem's £7.5 m offer for Bower Group plc has been declared wholly unconditional and Aqumen Group Plc, Mowlem's facilities services division takes over operational control of Bower from this month.

BIFM forms building services interest group  
The British Institute of Facilities Management has formed a Building Services Special Interest Group and is currently canvassing the views of facilities managers on the priorities for its first project.