‘Rising Stars’ Sewell Facilities Management gain Silver Award in recent SFMI audit

Sewell Facilities Management has recently been recognised in the Sustainable Facilities Management Index (SFMI) 2022 Awards – the UK’s only sustainability benchmark in the sector – after putting itself forward for its third assessment with a view to build on feedback for the future.

This sees the business jump from its ‘Bronze Award’ achieved in 2020 and 2021, to the ‘Silver Award’, alongside being recognised in the ‘Rising Stars’ special category for the first time.

The ranking is compiled following the completion of three independent audits to assess the businesses’ performance across 23 different criteria categories covering a wide range of issues from sustainability, social value and energy to health and safety, employee development and diversity.

Business Development Manager at Sewell Facilities Management, Katie Crosby said;

“Since we first put ourselves forward for the SFMI Award back in 2020, we have made it our mission to continue to improve and develop our business off the back of the feedback we received on each of the 23 criteria.

“I’m so proud of the team for their hard work and dedication over the past couple of years, which has now resulted in us moving up a rank into the Silver category.

“Not only that, but to be acknowledged as ‘Rising Stars’ in the industry is fantastic, and it just shows the extent to which we have been focusing on improving our sustainability offering both internally and externally, and how much staff engagement has increased because of it.

“Being accredited under SFMI allows us to better understand the requirements, giving us exposure to all different aspects and expectations in order to better position ourselves to support our customers on their individual journeys to a more sustainable future too.

“We scored particularly high in compliance, health and safety, and employment. It all starts from within, and our recent accolade which sees us in the Top 50 UK Best Companies to Work For, along with being one of only 18 companies to receive a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity, only solidifies this.

“We use the feedback from both the SFMI audit, and our people to inform our sustainability trackers and develop strategies for future business planning to ensure continual improvement and innovation, helping to make us more competitive with the bigger players in our industry.”

Compliance covers the way Sewell Facilities Management communicates with the wider team, adhering to contracts, new legislations and staying up to date with any new requirements of the operations team.

From an employment perspective, the company has an apprenticeship scheme in place and shows successful social mobility by pledging to triple its investment in Graduates, Apprenticeships, Trainees and Work Experience (GATEway Programme) over the next five years, as part of the wider Sewell Group.

There is also 87% staff retention and almost 22 hours of staff training takes place each month, including a Mentorship Programme. The business is also an Equal Opportunities employer.

Sewell Facilities Management also has Health and Safety accreditations in OHSAS 18001 and ISO 45001.

The team had to provide evidence against each category and used it to focus on the work they’ve been doing with Hull-based LIFT company, Citycare, to help realise its decarbonisation ambitions and reduce energy usage across its estate.