Case Study – Compliance and
Asset Management

Introduction

A Science Park based in the South of England was opened in 2018. The science park provided laboratories, flexible office space and meeting spaces.

Our client, the owner of the Science Park, after a short period of occupation, wanted to ensure that the tenant and landlord maintenance solutions were meeting legal  and contractual obligations and that maintenance procedures were providing a demonstrably safe, compliant and fit for purpose building.

Problem Statement

Potential issues were identified by our client that included:

Fitness for purpose of building systems installed by the design and build contractor. Defects (now latent) to be actioned. Tenants not meeting obligations under their lease obligations. Maintenance contractors not delivering a compliant maintenance service to a timely programme. Documentation unavailable for record and inspection. Asset registers not complete. An appropriate regime of inspection. Lack of control of contractors. Value for money in the delivery of the services.

We were asked to assess to what extent these problems existed and to develop an action plan to ensure that the estate reflected good practice facility and asset management and could demonstrate full compliance with law, regulation, guidance and Good Industry Practice.

Sample
Workflow

Our first requests were for documentation which the management could not provide.  When documents were provided, they were found to be out of date, inaccurate and inadequate in form and scope.  

Due to the fragmented nature of the compliance services no one organisation was taking control.  

We worked with the client to ensure these issues were resolved. Immediate actions were undertaken to ensure compliance with water, fire, electrical and Health & Safety issues.  Assets were checked and family grouped with a confirmation of who was maintaining the asset and who was responsible.  We then procured a compliant service.

We engaged with tenants and building management, clarified tenant obligations and put in place, working in partnership with other stakeholders, processes to ensure that compliance and control was at the forefront of building practices.

Solution

Due to the type of building, technical multi tenanted, and with Covid-19 issues delaying works and a complicated variety of stakeholders Ensuring the necessary changes were implemented was complex because each party needed to understand and deliver their compliance obligations.  

Changes were recommended to the management team and there is now an ongoing development of the team.

We developed a 52 week rolling PPM planner based on an updated asset register to ensure control is with building management in place of the previous position where contractors alone had this knowledge.

We also worked with building management to control and resolve Latent Defects particularly focussing on assets which failed to meet legal compliance obligations.

Value

The Science Park owners now have systems and personnel who know the legal obligations and are ensuring the Science park is compliant with law, regulation and Good Industry Practice.

As part of this process value for money has improved with greater compliance being achieved at lower cost with increased control of maintenance.Documents up to date and available for inspection

Conclusion

The building is now in a compliant state and latent defects are being resolved.  The right people with appropriate systems that allow them to know that they are in compliance have been implemented.