Equans’ UK&I CEO for Sustainable FM, David Carr recently spoke with I-FM magazine about how, since Equans was acquired by Bouygues Group in 2022, the company’s UK FM capabilities have evolved to continue to address the market’s needs.

David reflects that the merger of the business’ capabilities was supported by a compatible customer service culture and an emphasis on fostering customer relationships:

“Both companies were early adopters in terms of the role that customer-centric FM plays in sustainability, so there was a natural alignment in this very important area… client relations were absolutely key in terms of our service delivery”. 

Following the subsequent uniting of Bouygues Group’s energy & services capabilities under the Equans brand, David comments on why ‘sustainable FM’ was chosen as a focus area within the UK market:

“We quickly homed in on the sustainability agenda.  The commitment to self-delivery, the utilisation of SMEs in the supply chain – both principles were well embedded within both businesses as the most effective way to deliver the required services.  In addition, the fact that both organisations had energy and decarbonisation services on offer in parallel and in support of their FM services… the logical next step is what we are delivering is sustainable FM”.

Commenting on the future of the FM industry, David impresses the need for FM service providers to help their customers navigate broader economic and societal challenges and highlights themes such as digitalisation. He also observes that collaborative partnerships between customers and service providers enables this value to be realised.  

“There is, of course, a huge amount of change going on in society, and we need to change and react to it, as well as anticipating it.  As an organisation, you need to be on top of your game, really focused on how those external factors are impacting your clients, what that means, and whether and how that will affect your services… If we can grab these sorts of issues and run with them… then I think the FM industry will move into a different place”.

Read the full article in I-FM Magazine here: https://www.i-fm.net/features/easy-does-it-at-equans

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