News on 30 November 2000
The long running saga of ICL's attempt to find a property
partner appears to have ended. The IT services company has announced a
seven year deal with Chesterton which embraces all its property and facilities
management requirements.
The facilities and property partnering agreement covers around 204,000
sq m (2.2 million sq ft) across 117 buildings. Chesterton has handled
ICL’s facilities management since 1995 through its Workplace
Management subsidiary. The property portfolio was managed by its in-house
property management team but under the new agreement their responsibilities
will transfer to Chesterton. A project manager, a space planner and an
accountant will also move across
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| Richard Reed (left) of ICL and Hamilton Comely of Chesterton Workplace Management |
Richard Reed, ICL’s Director of Corporate Infrastructure,
said: “We believe that it is important for companies like ICL to
explore new ways to address the future needs of the business. By outsourcing
the day to day property management, we will be able to focus on our core
activity of e-Business services, whilst benefiting from Chesterton’s
expertise in terms of efficiency and cost effective management.”
Hamilton Comely, Operations Director at Chesterton Workplace Management,
added: “This contract is excellent news for both organisations. ICL
have recognised the positive synergy of combining first class property
and facilities management. We believe that such integrated property and
facilities partnering services, supported by sophisticated technology,
represent a major opportunity for the Chesterton group.”
This announcement follows protracted negotiations over several years during
which ICL sought to find a partner to help it implement its property strategy
(see Interview with Richard
Reed).
Five years ago ICL's property service group was spun off as Workplace
Management, subsequently acquired by Chesterton and then put into a separate
plc to consolidate Chesterton's FM business. Workplace Management has
now been integrated with Chesterton's asset management arm – see
below.
In 1998 the company pulled out of talks with Nomura which had been widely
expected to lead to the first 'private sector PFI' deal, worth between
£800m and £1bn over ten years. By July last year ICL was in
'exclusive discussions' with Integrated Workspace Solutions, a consortium
led by Comax (now part of Amey plc), Deutsche Bank and Regus, about outsourcing
the management of its UK property portfolio.
Richard Reed told i-FM that the original strategy to transform ICL's working
environments within four years remains in place: "The only thing
that has changed is that we will be retaining the portfolio, there really
wasn't a financial incentive to transfer it."
ICL wants to occupy modern campus-style developments more in tune with
the business it has become. The company 's strategy sees consolidation
in four locations Thames Valley East (near Heathrow), Thames Valley West
(Bracknell, Winnersh, Reading area), Greater Manchester (east or south)
and Stevenage. The space reduction programme is being accelerated and
desk utilisation improved. Reed says it is possible that the Bracknell
redevelopment may now be able to support the entire Thames Valley headcount.
The property partnership will undoubtedly be under pressure to produce
savings as ICL completes restructuring following the aborted IPO. The
company, owned by Fujitsu, recently confirmed that it is to cut up to
200 more jobs.
l Chesterton has brought together
the activities of its facilities management arm Chesterton Workplace Management
with its Property & Asset Management activities to create a new division
Chesterton Managed Services.
