ProfSec27-09ps

London Interview, News
➬
About the firm
Incentive Lynx do slant
towards the London
corporate sector, doing
guarding at such sites as
The Leadenhall Building,
nicknamed ‘the Cheesegrater’,
pictured above left;
and The Blue Fin Building
in SE1. Visit www.
incentive-fmgroup.com.
Top: The Leadenhall
Building on the left and
30 St Mary Axe to the
right. Above: The Gherkin
close up
Photos by Mark Rowe
continued ... from page 30
a London and south east-based
company, working with the likes of
The Kings Cross Development, 30 St
Mary Axe (The Gherkin), Paddington
Central and The Leadenhall Building;
and some shopping centres. Note
that the security firm is looking to
extend geographically, where there’s a
‘cultural fit’.
Not all a bundle
While it’s always good for
conversation, because there’s
not a right or wrong answer - as
Professional Security said, it's
whatever the customer wants - we
resisted the temptation to ask about
the merits of security as a single
service or part of the FM ‘bundle’.
Suffice to say that Craig made the
case for his company - as privatelyowned,
‘so the shareholders are
involved in the day to day activity
of the business, and no external
shareholders’; and with central Group
resources such as health and safety,
and HR, that a stand-alone security
company might not afford. “We don’t
just try to bundle everything together,
because we believe that can dilute the
expertise of a single service. Because
no matter what it is, you have to have
the knowledge and the experience.”
Security, then, by subject matter
expert, or ‘trusted advisor’ as Sara
added. Which does bring us back to
how and why Incentive Lynx recruited
Sara.
Front line
School goes in-house
Whether guarding or other services should be in-house or
contracted out depends on many factors - not only cost.
For example, SOAS – the School of Oriental and African
Studies at the University of London – is to stop outsourcing
its core support services to contractors from September
2018. This covers more than 120 staff in security
and portering; cleaning; catering; events hospitality;
mechanical and electrical services; post-room; help desk
and reception. Not covered are lift maintenance; waste
management; fire safety and protection; and independent
inspections and testing; the school is looking into those.
Russell Square-based SOAS has told its two private
contractors Elior (which does catering and hospitality)
and Bouygues (which manages all other support services)
Craig said: “And the thing that struck
us about Sara was her experience,
and her obvious attention to detail,
but also her appreciation for the front
line, as it were. Too many managers
tend to get caught up in the theoretical
and the strategic, as opposed to
the understanding exactly what is
being done. Because the role of a
security officer is what we have just
talked about,” - as we were eating in
Borough Market, it seemed indecent
not to have raised terrorism - “the
current risk is just getting more
and more complicated, really. I am
sure other companies say the same
thing. A wide range of services are
required from your security officer.”
Sara nodded here about the ‘much
maligned’ security officer. When
something goes wrong, people jump
up and down; but as Craig put it,
who ever rings payroll, to thank
them for getting their pay right this
month?! Having covered Sara, and
the company, it remained only to
cover the wider sector; and - while it
may be wrong to treat women as an
issue, rather than anything out of the
ordinary - Craig (who’s Canadian by
the way) did say: “I don’t think there’s
enough women in the security,” and
here he gave a word of praise to
the Professional Security Women
in Security awards. “I think it’s
important that we have a team that is
diverse.” Since that last 2012 lunch,
guarding is still a competitive and
price-driven sector; and, Craig noted,
regulation of it has stalled. Having a
licensing regime more fixed on the
security business than the individual
was what his company supported.
But Brexit
They like others in contract guarding
feel, to use Sara’s phrase, ‘the whole
thing needs an overhaul’, including
the Security Industry Authority’s
approved contractor scheme. Yet
given Government and parliament will
have its hands full with Brexit, for
years, regardless of the fact that the
SIA might like an overhaul itself - as
much has changed since the original
2001 Act, and the regulator is holding
a gathering of industry figures to
sound out views next month - it hardly
seemed a topic worth following with
Craig and Sara. When we stepped out
of the restaurant, Borough Market was
still busy with tourists seeking food
and drink. It was turning to drizzle. p
it will end their current contracts by the start of the next
academic year. SOAS Director Baroness Amos, a Labour
life peer, called it a right decision; the institution already
guarantees the London Living Wage (set at £9.75 an hour)
for all staff, contract or not. “Now putting our whole
workforce on same terms and conditions reflects our values
of social justice and equality. Our support staff help to
make the university tick and we could not deliver on our
teaching and research agenda or offer an excellent student
experience without them. Our staff and students have
campaigned passionately for this. It has been a challenging
journey at times but they have enabled us to get to this
point.” Meanwhile, Transport for London has been merging
50 facilities management contracts into six, and requiring
its FM providers to show what they’re doing on equality
and diversity, and apprenticeships. p
32 SEPTEMBER 2017 PROFESSIONAL SECURITY www.professionalsecurity.co.uk