Business View Oceania | April 2021

55 56 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA APRIL 2021 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA APRIL 2021 culture. In the past year alone, they have signed on as FM partners for a major property company, a global telephony company and a global retail chain (the latter contract entailing multi trade facilities management for their eight national sites). Business View Oceania recently spoke with Malcolm Allan, UMS-NZ Country Manager, and David Lochery, Commercial Manager, to gain insights into the company’s operations and goals, with a particular focus on its significant, ongoing contract with Auckland Council. In fact, UMS moved into the New Zealand market in 2017 on the back of winning a significant Auckland Council contract. The Auckland Council Contract New Zealand’s largest city was previously divided into seven local councils, as well as a regional council. Auckland was amalgamated into one ‘super city’ in 2010 and, in 2017, ran a project named ‘Project 17,’ with the intent of reducing the number of suppliers working for the city and opening it instead to an outcomes-based contractual model. With an outcomes-focused contract, the supplier must comply with their given specification in order to bill accordingly each month. The contract was awarded on a 5+1+1+ongoing basis – UMS-NZ impressed with their delivery and had their first extension successfully granted after the first three years of the contract. UMS-NZ looks after the very north and the west of the region, just under a quarter of Council’s total area. It’s a sizeable contract, as Allan notes: “UMS-NZ is accountable for every single asset that Auckland Council has in their far north and west areas.” This includes about 120 playgrounds and five million square metres of turf in sports fields and parks that needs to be tended, mowed and weeded. UMS-NZ is responsible for servicing 450 buildings, with sanitation, plumbing, HVAC, and keeping them cleaned and washed as part of the service contract. Reactive and preventive maintenance keep the 160-strong UMS-NZ team busy – the team recently undertook a complicated overnight boiler replacement job at one of NZ’s largest swimming pool complexes, for example. They also work hard to reduce energy consumption in these buildings – a recent project included replacing 723 halogen and incandescent lights with LED lights, which is estimated to save the client $50,000 a year. Further tasks in the contract include everything from planting on roundabouts and picking up litter to placing bollards in car parks and tending to boat ramps – even the little pontoons that children jump off at the beach in summer. As Allan puts it: “In our team we have construction, electrical, plumbing, horticultural and other experts so we’re genuinely a one-stop shop!” A Caring Ethos UMS-NZ achieves these myriad tasks with a staff URBAN MA INTENANCE SYSTEMS NEW ZEALAND (UMS-NZ)