Tomorrow is World Environment Day and the theme this year is Ecosystem Restoration. This will be the first year of the United Nation’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration; a ten-year project aimed at fixing the damage that has been done to our planet.
We wanted to share an amazing project that has taken place at Royal Priors Shopping Centre over the past couple of years, adapting and developing an unused area of their multi-story carpark into a rooftop oasis, known as Les’s Garden.
Les Watkins, Deputy Centre Manager and the Team have spent time adapting and developing level 4 of their multi-story car park from an unused area of tarmac into an oasis of plants, small trees and small ponds to attracts birds and insects, with the most impressive visitor being a Hawk that nests in a church tower nearby.
Using recycled materials, the team have been creative and upcycled large wheelie bins by cutting them down to size and creating planters. The team have supported this green oasis with providing plants and watering the garden as required.
The Oasis is currently being considered for a Green Apple Award and we wish the team at Royal Priors every success with this.
The Westgrove Group are continuing to support Mental Health Awareness Week hosted by the Mental Health Foundation and this year the theme is ‘Nature’.
The last 12 months have been incredibly hard on all of us, at home and at work, and many people have found comfort in nature.
Here at The Westgrove Group, we take the Mental Health of our colleagues and those around us very seriously. We are committing to 1in10 Westgrove Colleagues having Mental Health First Aid training and all Colleagues are offered Mental Health Awareness training via our e-leaning programme. As added support we also provide free and confidential support via our partnership with the retailTRUST.
Our Brand Ambassador Alex Staniforth and his charity Mind Over Mountains are true advocates for nature, they believe spending time outdoors is the most powerful intervention to build resilience and positive wellbeing.
This week we will be talking about mental health with our colleagues and starting the conversation. If you are struggling with your mental health, we urge you to take the first step and reach out.
Our people are what make us special. From saving lives and preventing crime to helping people in need and much more. Our Reward and Recognition scheme is our way of saying thank you to our Colleagues for the amazing work that they do each and every day, often going above and beyond in their role.
Well done to all our winners and everyone who has been nominated for an award this quarter – you are all amazing!
Our Quarter 1 winners are:
Site Manager of the Quarter • Adele Jarvis – Spindles Town Square • Paul Britton – The Galleries
Colleague of the Quarter • Daxa Chauhan – Touchwood Shopping Centre • Paul Lavery – St Johns Shopping Centre • Dave Phillips – Marketplace Shopping Centre • Chris Harding – St Johns Shopping Centre • Raymond Bent – Spindles Town Square
Newcomer of the Quarter • Haider Hussain – Queens Square Shopping Centre • Simone Guadagno – Lion Yard Shopping Centre
Team of the Quarter • Telford Centre – Security Team • Haymarket Shopping Centre
CSR of the Quarter • Melissa Heaton – Longridge House • Queens Square Shopping Centre Team • Tata Technologies Team • Lisa Bradbury – Spindles Town Square
Service Excellence
Majid Hussain – Queens Square Shopping Centre
Jaspreet Singh – Queens Square Shopping Centre
Syed Shah – Queens Square Shopping Centre
Andria Devonport – Handforth Dean
Jon Walton – Telford Centre
Paul Lavery, John Costello & Mark Quinn – St Johns Shopping Centre
Harry Buckley – Gloucester Quays
Cornbow Team
Robert Radbone – Castle Quay Shopping Centre
Outstanding Act
Dave Black & Paul Kenny – St Johns Shopping Centre
Majid Khan – Templars Square Shopping Centre
Matthew Huish & Richard Grass – Telford Centre
Martin Wain – Templars Square Shopping Centre
Dave Phillips & Carlos Graco – Market Place Shopping Centre
Muhammad Ali – Templars Square Shopping Centre
Mark Quinn – St Johns Shopping Centre
Ralphael Lyttle – Queens Square Shopping Centre
Jaspreet Singh – Queens Square Shopping Centre
Jon Walton & Diane Stanfield – Telford Centre
Helen Smith & Irfan Zafar – Cornbow Shopping Centre
Sundeep Daudher – Tata Technologies
Sean Helbert – Birchwood Park
Ansaar Hussain – Spindles Town Square
Congratulations to all our 2021 Quarter 1 winners and everyone who was nominated for an award!
You are all amazing and Westgrove are extremely proud of you all.
We are delighted to have FIVE regional winners in the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) British Security Awards, 2021. We have some outstanding security colleagues and teams across our business and we are thrilled that their hard work and dedication throughout the last year is being recognised.
The Westgrove Group’s regional winners are:
BEST NEWCOMER – Sering Sallah, Market Place Shopping Centre, Bolton
BEST TEAM – St Johns Shopping Centre, Liverpool
OUTSTANDING ACT – Ahmed Karim & Alan McCabe, St Johns Shopping Centre
OUTSTANDING ACT – Martin Wain & Majid Khan, Templars Square Shopping Centre
SERVICE TO THE CUSTOMER – Paul Nevins, Haymarket Shopping Centre
We’re told that the standard of nominations was exceptional and the judging panel had a very difficult job shortlisting the winners. Well done to all the nominees and regional winners and good luck in the Nationals in June!
Welcome to your April edition of The Westgrove Group Newsletter.
Ramadan Mubarak to all our Colleagues who are taking part in fasting for the month of Ramadan. The Westgrove Team would like to wish you and your families a blessed and peaceful time.
After weeks of waiting, it was exciting to see shopping centres and retailers all over the country reopen their doors and welcome back their customers.
We were delighted to see our Westgrove teams back in action and we welcome back those colleagues who were furloughed. Good luck to you all over the coming weeks. We are proud to support you all.
Shortly we are restarting the Westgrove Mystery Shop Programme giving you the opportunity to showcase your work. Your Manager and Business Manager will be able to provide further detail on this over the coming weeks.
Do You Want to Volunteer in Your Local Community?
Westgrove is committed to making a meaningful contribution to the communities where we work and live. Volunteering allows you to connect with your community and make a real difference. It can benefit you as much as it can benefit your chosen cause.
Your HR Contacts
We’re changing the way in which our HR team operate to make it easier for you to contact them and for them to know you better.
If you are based in the South, your main HR contact is Timea Kubikova.
The HR team are always on hand and can be contacted by calling 01925 414190 or emailing HR@westgrove.co.uk but in the first instance please direct your calls and emails to Timea and Kathy.
Westgrove Annual Reward & Recognition Awards
During 2020, we received a record number of Reward and Recognition nominations from colleagues and partners and we would like to congratulate all our nominees and winners.
In case you missed it, you can see the full list of winner and watch the virtual ceremony by clicking HERE.
Westgrove have just completed part of our annual audit process and we are delighted to have achieved a record score yet again from the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS).
This makes us members of a select group of security service suppliers, namely The ACS Pacesetters. ACS Pacesetters membership is made up of Contract Security Guarding Companies who are in the top 15% benchmarking and achievement levels set by the Security Industry Authority Approved Contractor Scheme. To be in the top 15% we had to prove that we provide excellent standards of service and a high degree of care to our colleagues.
Claire Mckinley-Smith said: “We are delighted to have achieved a higher level than ever before. Throughout the last year, our officers have played a pivotal role in keeping communities safe. We continue to ensure the welfare of our security colleagues and to recognise their achievements through the Westgrove Reward & Recognition Awards.”
Tony Page, Head of Health Safety and Compliance added, “I would like to thank all those who have contributed in helping us to achieve another great score, particularly during these difficult times”.
Being recognised as an ACS Pacesetter is a fantastic endorsement, not only for Westgrove but for all our security colleagues and all those involved behind the scenes. We will continue to provide excellent levels of service and standards to our Partners.
This unprecedented year has thrown up many obstacles for our teams but in true Westgrove style, our colleagues have stuck together, dug deep and brought some true Covid Spirit to their work.
They have shown resolve, compassion and kindness and the pandemic has brought out a true team spirit.
To recognise our amazing colleagues who have gone above and beyond during the pandemic, we have added a new category to our Reward and Recognition awards; the Covid Spirit award.
Here’s just a handful of examples of how our teams have shown their true Covid Spirt:
Today we were delighted to welcome colleagues from across the UK to the ‘virtual’ Westgrove Annual Reward and Recognition Awards 2021.
Due to Covid restrictions we weren’t able to host the awards in person this year but we still wanted to celebrate the many successes of our fabulous colleagues with a virtual ceremony. We heard from Westgrove Managing Director Claire Mckinley-Smith, Westgrove Brand Ambassador and Adventurer Alex Staniforth and British Security Industry Association (BSIA)’s Andrew Cooper.
Each year we receive hundreds of nominations from across the UK showcasing some of the great work that our teams carry out on a daily basis and 2020 was no different. Our colleagues have played a crucial role in keeping shopping centres and critical sites open over the past year amidst all the uncertainty of the pandemic.
There have been some outstanding achievements from our colleagues and as a business we are extremely proud of all our award winners, finalists and nominees. From saving lives, to acts of kindness, and going above and beyond with their customer service, our colleagues are the backbone of our business.
Welcome to the February issue of your Westgrove Colleague Newsletter.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Westgrove would like to wish all our colleagues a very happy Chinese New Year! 2021 is the year of the Ox which signifies the hard work, positivity and honesty that will be revealed in all of us in the coming 12 months. If you would like to know more about the year in which you were born, click here.
We’re Expanding
We are delighted to welcome 60 new colleagues to the Westgrove Community from Touchwood Shopping Centre in Solihull.
The new contract award sees Westgrove expanding into maintenance services alongside cleaning and security. You can read more about Touchwood and the expansion into Total Facilities Management here.
Health and Safety Check-up
Westgrove have just completed part of their annual audit process and are delighted to have achieved a record score yet again from the SIA Approved Contractor Scheme.
Tony Page, Head of Health Safety and Compliance would like to thank all those who have contributed in helping us to achieve another great score, particularly during these difficult times. Westgrove are committed to the Health, Safety and Compliance of all our colleagues and here’s how you helped us achieve our 2020 Health and Safety targets:
If there is an eLearning and training course you’d like to complete but we don’t currently offer it, please email Tony Page to discuss it further. Email: tony.page@westgrove.co.uk.
Fast growing facilities management company, The Westgrove Group, launches into the total facilities management market by adding hard services to its well-established multi award-winning soft services provision. The expansion will see the company offering planned and reactive maintenance services to existing and new partners across the UK.
To further strengthen its position in the market, Westgrove has appointed a Technical Services Director to drive its business forward. Paul Booth joins the Westgrove Leadership Team as Technical Services Director to support and grow the business across the UK in hard facilities management. Paul has worked extensively in facilities management both on the front line and in management, bringing a wealth of experience in the delivery of engineering services to a broad range of partners.
Westgrove has already secured its first Total Facilities Management contract with Touchwood Shopping Centre in Solihull delivering cleaning, security, concierge and hard services with a team of 60 colleagues.
Claire McKinley-Smith, Managing Director at The Westgrove Group, said ‘This is an exciting development for the business and a real milestone in our growth. Hard services will add real value to our already strong soft services offering and we are confident that Paul will help us take the business into new sectors and services. We pride ourselves on the quality of our customer service, the flexibility we can provide as an independent business and the introduction of innovative new services and technologies.”
Paul said: “With my years of experience in hard services both client side and as a provider, I am looking forward to building on the success of Westgrove’s award winning soft services provision and becoming part of such a forward thinking and innovative company.”
Westgrove specialises in providing total facilities management to shopping centres and mixed-use destinations, manufacturing, business parks and airports throughout the UK. Following a successful 22-year history, the company has expanded to over a £30M turnover business and offering hard services to enhance its well-established award-winning soft services provision. Based in Warrington, Westgrove was founded by Group Chairmen Simon Whittle and Steve Fives.
