Seamless service for The Boulevard Academy

A West Hull academy has become the latest school to enlist the support of Sewell Facilities Management, providing peace of mind around the clock.

The Boulevard Academy, which first opened its doors in 2013, occupies the site of Hull FC rugby club’s former ground and is a learning base for almost 600 pupils six days per week.

Although the academy has its own site manager and caretaker, Sewell Facilities Management is now providing a full planned maintenance programme and responding to any reactive maintenance requirements to ensure the building is safe, legal and well-maintained at all times.

The partnership adds to Sewell’s growing portfolio of working within the education sector across the Yorkshire region.

Paul Marshall, Commercial Manager at Sewell Facilities Management, said: “It’s fantastic to work with another like-minded partner at The Boulevard Academy.

“We have had several meetings at the school since our initial contact in early summer and numerous building tours and conversations to understand exactly what they need and when.

“We have a seamless system in place to ensure a smooth transition when we start working with a new client. They meet the Sewell team members they will have regular contact with, from our Customer Care Team to our people on the ground, and feel comfortable with who is looking after them.

“This ensures open dialogue and strong relationships from the start and prevents a disjointed approach, with familiar friendly faces always on hand to solve any problems or carry out planned maintenance.

“It’s great to know Site Manager Richard Howgill and his team approached us because we are local and they know they can rely on us. They are brilliant to work with.

“The academy is actively putting employability and life skills of young people in our home city at the forefront of its teaching, which is something we’re extremely passionate about and we’re keen to support it further.

“We bring a culture of care, treating our customers’ buildings as if they were our own investment, and we have a passion for collaboratively helping The Boulevard Academy to reach its aspirations.”

Expertise provided by Sewell Facilities Management at The Boulevard Academy includes mechanical and electrical services such as heating, maintenance, gas safety, and electrical inspections and testing, as well as more specialist services relating to water hygiene, lift maintenance, access control, intruder alarms and alarm monitoring, security, shutters, emergency lighting, ventilation, and automatic gates.

A full bespoke programme of checks and inspections is planned either monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually for at least the next two years, ensuring staff can concentrate on providing first class education while leaving the rest to Sewell and the school’s on-site team.

As well as the planned maintenance contract, the school can call upon Sewell for any reactive tasks 24/7, using the dedicated Customer Care Team number at any time of day, and having access to Sewell’s online portal to manage their account, report or track jobs, receive updates and access documents.

Added value has already been provided as part of the new partnership, with the Sewell Facilities Management team able to respond to difficulties with the school’s alarm monitoring system before it potentially became a bigger issue ahead of the new term.

Paul said: “Following several meetings on site, understanding the layout of the building and understanding the needs of the school, we had plans in place to mitigate the issue before it became a problem.

“The result for the school meant they were in a much more secure position and we were able to achieve this because we can act so quickly.

“We aim to create a culture of no surprises and obsess on keeping our clients legal and safe at all times.”

Sewell Facilities Management is part of the wider Sewell Group of companies, which has operated across the Yorkshire region for over 140 years.

As a Sunday Times Top 100 Company to Work For, the company strives to be a great place to work so it can be a great, innovative company to deal with, aiming to create value for its communities and prove that a local family business can deliver world class services.

Sewell Facilities Management has also reinforced its support for the education sector, sponsoring the Hull Daily Mail Golden Apples Education Awards since its inception. Helping to shine a light on those making a difference in education, the awards celebrate everything that’s good about the sector locally.

Richard Howgill, Site Manager at The Boulevard Academy, said: “Working with Sewell Facilities Management is really good. Everything is dealt with promptly and the whole team has been really helpful.

“We had initial set up meetings and met everyone we have contact with, including Martin Stead, the Managing Director of Sewell Facilities Management. It was really informative and everything is running very smoothly.

“Having this support makes our lives a lot easier. It’s nice to know we can ring or e-mail any time and we know we will get a quick response, which is vital for us.”