We’re raising awareness of mental health all week to support the Mental Health Foundation. You or someone you know may at some point in their life be affected by mental health issues and need support.
We are sending out advice and information each day starting with a special video from our Brand Ambassador Alex Staniforth, himself a champion for mental health awareness.
The Westgrove Group has scooped a number of prestigious industry awards for its outstanding security personnel work.
Six colleagues won regional awards in this year’s British Security Industry Association (BSIA) awards. There was further success in the ACS Pacesetters Security Officer of Distinction awards where the company scooped one of only 13 UK awards.
The BSIA award winners were recognised by the trade body representing the UK’s private security industry, in four categories – all celebrating their great work. Winners of the regional awards are put forward to the BSIA’s panel of national judges.
The BSIA holds awards both regionally and nationally to celebrate some of the outstanding personnel within the industry who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their everyday work.
The ACS awarded Steve Brooks one of only 13 Security Officer of Distinction Awards in relation in response to his contribution at Templars Square Shopping Centre in Oxford. Steve was praised after he bravely calmed a woman who was threatening to jump from the roof then went to put out a fire started by two homeless men.
Approved Contract Scheme 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.
Steve will receive his award at an event at Royal Windsor Racecourse in Berkshire on May 22.
Mike Reddington, Chief Executive of the BSIA said: “It is vital as the voice of the professional security industry that we recognise the great lengths security personnel go to in keeping the public and property safe.
“More often than not, these security professionals are first on the scene when incidents and emergencies occur and they demonstrate true quality and professionalism in their actions. This year’s regional winners are no exception and have shown remarkable achievements throughout the past year.”
Westgrove Group Managing Director Claire McKinley Smith said: “As always, we are very proud of our security officers for their dedication, loyalty, team work, customer service, use of technology and their bravery.
The Westgrove BSIA regional winners are:
Service to the Customer: Steve Allen, Haymarket Shopping Centre, Leicester
Dual Service Manager Steven was instrumental in achieving the Westgrove Aspire Six-Star award for the Centre and gained ROSPA’s silver award for the second year running. He was part of the Green Initiative for his work to help reduce the Centre’s environmental impact, slashing power consumption by 35% and introducing the Lotus Pro chemical free cleaning system which has cut the team’s chemical use by 95%. Steve, 57, won praise for his ‘consistently high performance and improvement in staff morale which gives great value to the client and demonstrable results’.
Service to the Customer: Paul Ogden, Market Place, Bolton
As part of the service to Market Place shoppers the centre was keen to ensure that they identified a mental health first aider, something which is being called for by many companies in the UK to be mandatory as part of the ‘Time to Change’ campaign. Paul Ogden is Westgrove’s first site based Mental Health First-Aider. Paul is now available to offer support and advice to vulnerable customers visiting the centre as well as to the centre’s tenants. Paul, 49, was praised for his outstanding customer service, his positive outlook and his extreme reliability.
Best use of Technology: Vijay Odedra, Haymarket Shopping Centre, Leicester
On top of his job as a security officer, Vijay, 27, used his initiative to introduce a comprehensive Health and Safety online log which is now an essential part of monthly Health & Safety meetings. It helps to track maintenance issues which may have otherwise been overlooked and caused a danger to public and staff. Vijay received an internal accolade from the shopping centre for his work as well as a Quarterly Service Excellence award from the Westgrove Group.
Outstanding Act: Gavin Jones, 50, Matthew Lamb, 48, and John Wallbank, 47, Ropewalk Shopping Centre, Nuneaton
The team, who have each worked in the industry for over 14 years, worked together to prevent an intoxicated man with a drink driving conviction from driving too far after leaving the car park. Their quick thinking and instinctive skills were praised by the police for ensuring that the public were not put in danger due to the actions of the driver.
Outstanding Act: Steven Travis, Arcades Shopping Centre, Ashton-under-Lyne
Steve, 56, bravely dealt with a gang of teenagers running amok in the shopping centre throwing bottles and armed with a knife. He kept a clear head, radioed for help, calmed the situation down and removed the youths from the premises.
Best Newcomer: Matthew Bray, Concourse Shopping Centre, Skelmersdale
Security Officer Matthew, 30, won praise for his ‘infectious personality and drive to help others’ after just four months in the job. He was recognised for helping an elderly man who was unsteady on his feet to do his shopping and also for quickly resolving an issue with a children’s vending machine for a customer.
Facilities management company The Westgrove Group has won a new contract in the Midlands.
The fast-growing soft services provider, based in Warrington, has been appointed to provide security services to Queens Square Shopping Centre, managed by property management partner Lee Baron, in West Bromwich
Westgrove Managing Director Claire McKinley Smith said: “We are delighted to announce this new contract win.
“The management team at Queens Square and Lee Baron were impressed with our bid which included our bespoke real time patrolling system, extensive shopping centre experience and the colleague centric nature of our business.
“Our people are what makes us special and we are looking forward to developing the on-site team through our training and development programs.”
Aaron Powell, Centre Manager for Queens Square said: “We are delighted to award Westgrove the Security Contract for Queens Square. We pride ourselves on delivering an exceptional level of customer service alongside on-going support for our retailers and are excited to partner with a national leading service provider who shares these same values as us.”
The Westgrove Group is expanding rapidly across its core service areas of security, cleaning and customer service teams, increasing its market share in shopping centres as well as moving into new sectors. The company is on track to grow its turnover to £40million by the end of 2021.
Congratulations to our brilliant colleagues who have just scooped awards in this year’s BSIA Regional Awards and ACS Pacesetters.
This is great news and testament to how you all continually go the extra yard for the company and our Partners.
The BSIA Regional Award winners are
ACS Pacesetters (one of only 12 in the UK)
This is a huge achievement by all involved – well done! Fingers crosses for the national awards!
Our second Colleague Engagement Survey is now online. This new survey focuses on career development and training.
We would love to hear from as many of you as possible – follow this link to complete the survey.
Thank you for your time.
Mental Health is something that Westgrove believes strongly in. Look out for a series of activities which we will be getting involved in during this important week, which runs from May 13-19. These include:
Skyfall AbseilWe are – nervously – looking forward to helping our Partner St Johns Shopping Centre in Liverpool to raise £3,000 for Alder Hey by abseiling 450ft down St Johns Beacon on Saturday, 11th May.
If anyone would like to support us, please visit this page.
Here are all our R&R Award winners for Quarter 1. Congratulations to you all.
Site Manager of the Quarter – Shane Roberts, The Core
Shane’s hard work and dedication has enabled us to raise our SLA score at The Core to 99.5%. He has strengthened the team, managed manning levels and created detailed procedures for the site to ensure compliance is met.
Colleague of the Quarter – Anthony Clegg, Grosvenor
We love Anthony’s easy to use fire system’s control panel guide which is perfect as a training manual for new security officers and all staff.
Team of the Quarter – St Johns Security Team
Well done to the team for their professionalism in dealing with a number of harrowing and challenging situations this year which have included escalator falls, serious assaults and first aid emergencies.
We have a number of great nominations, which include:
Front of House Team – TATA Technologies
Special mention to Silvia and Phil from the EIDC reception team who go out of their way to welcome customers, help with conference room bookings and make sure visitor parking bays are available ahead of meetings. They both give ‘wonderful support’ and ‘provide a super experience when people visit EIDC’.
Security Team – Birchwood Park
Thanks to the security team who quickly manned both barriers to the ANPR car park in heavy rain, allowing 700 people arriving at Birchwood Park to park their cars without any issues. Excellent customer service.
Sean Helbert and Paul Clarke – Birchwood Park
Sean and Paul were praised for spotting a contractor working at a weekend without a Building Manager on site. They prevented the contractor from potentially having an accident due to the high winds and kept health and safety well under control on site out of hours. With the telephone support of a Building Manager they did an excellent job, well done.
Gillian Davison and Dave Phillips – Market Place
Gillian and Dave acted quickly after a radio call from Debenhams reporting a flood in their plant room. Dave and two maintenance engineers from the site quickly went to assist and quickly cleared it up.
Robert Mercier – The Galleries
Whilst on car park patrol, Robert noticed loose signage on one of the public/pedestrian entrances to the shopping centre. He immediately contacted the duty manager and made the area safe for the public.
Rob Hawkins and Luke Aries – Gloucester Quays
After a gentleman fell and injured his head, Rob carried out First Aid and Luke assisted before an ambulance arrived. Once then man had recovered he wrote to centre management to tell them how well they had looked after him.
Neil Disley – St Johns Shopping Centre
Neil, who works in the centre’s control room, spotted a man smashing windows. He reviewed all the CCTV footage to hand over to the Police. The next day, he spotted the same man at the back of the centre and arranged for security staff to detain him.
Edward Booker – Templars Square
Edward spotted an elderly man in distress who was struggling to walk. He calmed him down, collected a wheelchair from the management suite and arranged for a taxi to take him home – kindly paying for it himself. He also stayed on for an hour after the end of his shift to ensure all the night cleaning jobs were completed. Outstanding.
Renay Snelson – Runcorn Shopping City
Renay was thanked by a member of the public for her help, support and compassion when she visited the centre for the first time after her partner’s death. The lady said that it was the first time for a while that she had felt like a person and not a widow. Outstanding customer service, Renay.
Tom Lewis – National Operations Manager
Tom was praised for the professional way he dealt with a very difficult situation at Riverside. Tom was able to organise an internal process without delay and worked with the DSM in ensuring all shifts were covered following the departure of a Westgrove employee.
Cleaning Team – Riverside
The Cleaning Team were praised by our Partner for their high standards, their positive approach and their team spirit. They are a ‘real credit’ to themselves and Riverside.
Security Team – The Galleries
Thanks to the team for their quick thinking after a serious accident which helped to keep the public away and freed cars from the car park.
Our quarterly winners include:
Mark Quinn – St Johns Shopping Centre
Mark came across a distressed disabled man in a faulty electric wheelchair on the mall. Mark calmed him, called the man’s relative and arranged for a taxi to take him home.
Security & Cleaning Team – Templars Square
The entire team won praise for a number of incidents they handled superbly on a busy day in March. These included tracking down a handbag thief and returning the bag to the upset elderly lady it had been stolen from and coming to the rescue after witnessing a man being assaulted in the car park.
Martin Wain – Templars Square
Martin calmly helped a distressed suicidal woman. He talked to her, listened and made her a cup of tea before calling the police to make sure she was taken to hospital to get the help she needed. A fantastic example of an officer making a difference by caring and being aware.
Security & Cleaning Team – Runcorn Shopping City
The entire team at Runcorn Shopping City worked tirelessly to deal with a major incident on site. They were professional, discreet and seamless in dealing with this incident and their hard work and efforts were recognized by our Partner and very much appreciated by all. Well done.
Jason Corker – The Riverwalk
Jason helped identify two known shoplifters which led to their arrest.
Steve Brookes & Richard Holmes – Templars Square
Steve consistently goes above and beyond what is expected of him. In addition to this he has now taken it upon himself to train our other night shift officer and between them they have done an astounding job not only looking after the centre but also the local community. In the last few months they have dealt with a number of incidents.
Dave Phillips, Denise Phillips and Paul Ogden – Market Place
Well done to our security guards for quickly responding to reports of a potential suicide. Our guards were brilliant and talked to the man while waiting for the emergency services to arrive. I’m glad to say the man is still alive, which is a big thank you to Paul and Nikki for their skills, whilst Dave and Denise controlled the situation.
Natalee Watmough – The Lowry
Natalee also showed professionalism and calmness in a difficult situation when a young man was threatening to jump from the car park.
Matthew Barrett, James Thompson and Gregorz Birowka – Stamford Quarter
The team responded with the utmost professionalism after a suicide in one of the service areas.
Chris Edwards – Maylords
Chris remained extremely calm, kept a professional manner and was helpful throughout an incident when a stall holder tenant went into cardiac arrest.
Rob Hawkins, Tom Chandler, Lisa Anderson, Alan Beattie, Lanre Bhadmus and Steve Mott (MSO) – Gloucester Quays
Well done to all involved who helped restrain a woman who had attempted to jump from a car park in the city centre.
Security Team – Templars Square
The fast action of the Security Team helped the police to arrest and charge a man who was seen in the centre with two large hunting knives.
Our winners include:
Market Place
Thank you to the team for their work helping singer Jamie Lawson and his team make his new music video in the centre. Two of the Market Place team are actually in the video!
Lee Stones – Haymarket
Lee has been instrumental in helping the centre raise funds for their nominated charities. Thank you Lee.
Runcorn Shopping City
Thank you to every member of staff who helped to make the centre’s Christmas appeal to collect warm clothing for homeless people in the North West such a success. A great team effort.
Paul Ogden, The Westgrove Group’s first site based Mental Health First-Aider, has won a prestigious industry award.
Paul, who is a mental health champion at Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton, has won a Revo ACE Award.
The awards programme showcases people and places that achieve excellence customer service.
Paul was presented with his award at an event at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole last night.
Also shortlisted for an award was Handforth Dean Retail Park and St Johns Shopping Centre in Liverpool, both of which Westgrove provides services for.
Westgrove has been working with one of its key partners, Market Place, to champion awareness of mental health.
As part of the service to shoppers the centre was keen to ensure that they identified a mental health first aider, something which is being called for by many companies in the UK to be mandatory as part of the ‘Time to Change’ campaign
Following a very successful mental health awareness week in 2018, Changing Minds, the centre and Westgrove worked together to train over 80 staff in mental health awareness.
Following the training, Paul Ogden, one of the centre’s Guest Service Ambassadors, took on the role as mental health champion.
Paul is now available to offer support and advice to vulnerable customers visiting the centre as well as to the centre’s tenants.
As part of his training, Paul completed a mental health first aid course through St John Ambulance, the nation’s leading first aid charity, and a NCFE CACHE Level 2 certificate qualification in Mental Health Awareness.
Claire McKinley Smith, Managing Director of The Westgrove Group, said: “As a company, we take mental health extremely seriously so we are delighted that Paul has been recognised for all of his hard work to champion mental health in the workplace. We are so proud of him.
“Since starting in the new role, Paul has rolled out his training to the Westgrove team onsite and to the tenants within the centre.
“He has already identified a number of vulnerable customers and offered them advice and support. We will be looking to appoint mental health first aiders at many more centres across our UK portfolio during 2019.”
Two Westgrove Group cleaners have a cameo role in singer Jamie Lawson’s new video.
Pat Grogan and Bev Jones were filmed during the making of the video to go with Jamie’s new single, The Answer.
The singer, who is signed to Ed Sheeran’s record label, spent the day with Pat and Bev, as well as shoppers on Space Hoppers, at Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton.
The Westgrove Group provides Market Place with cleaning and security services.
The production company, Sitcom Soldiers, who made the video suggested the Market Place as they knew it was a good light space that would look great on camera.
Jamie is best known for his 2015 hit single ‘Wasn’t expecting that’.
The video features Jamie bouncing around the shopping centre on colourful space hoppers with a number of people. It followed an appeal on Jamie’s social media for a wide range of ‘physically fit’ people to get in touch to be cast for the video.
Jamie said: “It was great to film at Market Place with its stunning architecture, ornate Victorian roof and basement vaults which provided a beautiful and interesting backdrop to our quirky space hopping video concept.
“We wanted to show how love gives you this happy, walking on air, bouncing feeling… so we came up with either trampolining or space hopping. My trampolining skills are not all that good, my space hopping skills on the other hand are second to none! So the idea was that I would bounce around a shopping mall spreading love and having couples join me as I go.
“The staff were amazing, all very kind and helpful, the cleaners were ace and did a great cameo in the video, helping to set the story up.
“The strangest thing was how most customers seemed to walk straight by without batting an eyelid whilst I bounced past them on a space hopper, as though a man on a space hopper in the middle of town is an everyday occurrence…which maybe it is in Bolton!”
Jamie’s new single is called ‘The Answer’, from his new album ‘The Years in Between’ and the accompanying video can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Da1vhbrWIA&feature=youtu.be
Annual awardsA huge congratulations to all our winners at this year’s Reward and Recognition Award Ceremony.
We gave out a record number of awards and were delighted to see the room packed with so many people.
We had some great speakers, including Karl Clawley, Centre Manager of Runcorn Shopping City. He explained how his team has transformed empty units into successful community led spaces including youth zones to tackle anti-social behaviour and a church service which attracts over 100 people on a Monday morning. We heard from Hayley Thomas, Fundraising Manager of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, about how our fundraising efforts are making a difference to children in the hospital.
It was good to get the latest update from Alex Staniforth, our Brand Ambassador and Adventurer, who is working on his brand new book.
And there was barely a dry eye in the room after Paul Ogden talked about overcoming his mental health issues has led him to, today, being Westgrove’s first Mental Health First-Aider.
A big thank-you to everyone who took part in the day.
Launch of our Specialist Cleaning DivisionPhoto: From left Craig Robinson, Specialist Cleaning operative, Daina Parker, Specialist Cleaning Manager, and Lee Wilkinson, Specialist Cleaning Supervisor
Appointment of our first Mental Health First AiderPhoto: Paul Ogden Westgrove Group’s first Mental Health First-Aider
Our commitment to the Living Wage
Singer Jamie Lawson has filmed his new music video at Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton.
The singer, who is signed to Ed Sheeran’s record label, spent the day with shoppers on Space Hoppers.
The production company, Sitcom Soldiers, who made the video suggested the Market Place as they knew it was a good light space that would look great on camera.
People featuring in the video included Pat Grogan and Bev Jones, two cleaners from facilities management company The Westgrove Group. The company provides Market Place with cleaning and security services.
Jamie is best known for his 2015 hit single ‘Wasn’t expecting that’.
The video features Jamie bouncing around the shopping centre on colourful space hoppers with a number of people. It followed an appeal on Jamie’s social media for a wide range of ‘physically fit’ people to get in touch to be cast for the video.
Jamie said: “It was great to film at Market Place with its stunning architecture, ornate Victorian roof and basement vaults which provided a beautiful and interesting backdrop to our quirky space hopping video concept.
“We wanted to show how love gives you this happy, walking on air, bouncing feeling… so we came up with either trampolining or space hopping. My trampolining skills are not all that good, my space hopping skills on the other hand are second to none! So the idea was that I would bounce around a shopping mall spreading love and having couples join me as I go.
“The staff were amazing, all very kind and helpful, the cleaners were ace and did a great cameo in the video, helping to set the story up.
“The strangest thing was how most customers seemed to walk straight by without batting an eyelid whilst I bounced past them on a space hopper, as though a man on a space hopper in the middle of town is an everyday occurrence…which maybe it is in Bolton!”
Jamie’s new single is called ‘The Answer’, from his new album ‘The Years in Between’ and the accompanying video can be watched here:
The Westgrove Group has been accredited as a Living Wage Service Provider.
Westgrove, which employs over 1000 security, cleaning and customer service colleagues across the UK will recommend to its Partners that those colleagues are paid the higher wage rate of £9.00 per hour.
Living Wage Foundation Director Katherine Chapman, said: “We are delighted to recognise The Westgrove Group for their on-going commitment to the Living Wage as a Service Provider.”
Claire McKinley Smith, Managing Director of The Westgrove Group, said: “We are proud to have been accredited as a Living Wage Recognised Service Provider.
“We believe strongly in the importance of looking after all our people from apprentices through to members of staff who have been with us for more than 20 years.
“Although we do not set the wage rates ourselves, we will be working with our Partners to recommend that they pay the living wage rather than the minimum wage. Our customers and suppliers value the fact that we are committed to the training and development of our people along with our commitment to our comprehensive range of products and our passion for customer service.”
The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually. It is calculated according to the basic cost of living using the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ for the UK. The Living Wage enjoys cross party support, with public backing from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The principle behind the Living Wage is that work should bring dignity and should enable families to enjoy the essentials of life.
The Westgrove Group specialises in providing security, cleaning and security services in high footfall destinations from shopping centres, airports and corporate businesses to retail environments across the UK.
The Warrington based company, founded in 1998, has grown considerably in the past two years and is on target to turnover £40 million in the next five years.
Facilities management specialist Westgrove Group has recorded another year of strong growth.
The Warrington based company saw turnover rise from £20 million to £25 million – and profits increased by almost 30% – in the 12 months to the end of December 2018. The colleague centric business also added a further 200 to its workforce.
It says it remains firmly on course to become a £40 million turnover business in the next five years and has exciting expansion plans forecast for the South UK later this year.
Westgrove provides its security, cleaning and PRM (Persons with Reduced Mobility) services to shopping centres, corporates, business parks and airports across the UK.
Recent successes have included the launch of a Specialist Cleaning Division and a move into aviation, providing cleaning and PRM services to two regional airports.
Westgrove were appointed by managing agents CBRE to provide the security for Birchwood Park in Warrington, the region’s leading out of town business location.
They also enjoyed a number of new contract wins in Bracknell, Bristol, Liverpool, Dagenham, Swansea and Leamington Spa.
The company, which recently celebrated its annual Reward and Recognition Awards at The Village Hotel in Warrington, was recently shortlisted in the Finance Awards North West and has just been accredited as a Living Wage Service Provider.
Westgrove, which celebrated its 20th birthday by climbing Ben Nevis for charity, has also appointed its first Mental Health First-Aider.
Claire McKinley Smith, Managing Director of The Westgrove Group, said: “We are always striving to improve the business and to grow through innovation, quality of service and by recruiting the best possible people.
“Remaining independent has been a massive strength. It gives a much greater personal feel to our business and we can offer a level of flexibility and transparency without compromising on service.”
Over 50% of Westgrove’s clients are based in the south of England. The company will be announcing exciting expansion plans for the southern region later in the year.
We have appointed our first site based Mental Health First-Aider.
We are working with one of our key partners, Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton, to champion awareness of mental health.
As part of the service to shoppers, the Centre was keen to ensure that they identified a mental health first aider, something which is being called for by many companies in the UK to be mandatory as part of the ‘Time to Change’ campaign
Following a very successful mental health awareness week in 2018, Changing Minds, the Centre and Westgrove worked together to train over 80 staff in mental health awareness.
Following the training, a member of the team, Paul Ogden, one of the Centre’s Guest Service Ambassadors, took on the role as mental health champion.
Paul is now available to offer support and advice to vulnerable customers visiting the Centre as well as to the Centre’s tenants.
As part of his training, Paul completed a mental health first aid course through St John Ambulance, the nation’s leading first aid charity, and a NCFE CACHE Level 2 certificate qualification in Mental Health Awareness.
Nikki Wilson-Cook, Centre Manager of Market Place said: “With mental health in the workplace being such a burning issue nationally, we are proud to be setting an industry precedent with the introduction of our first Mental Health First Aider at Market Place.
“Paul Ogden is equipped with all the skills required to help someone, be it a colleague or a member of the public suffering mental distress, which is all too common an occurrence today.”
The Westgrove Group, based in Warrington, specialises in providing security, cleaning and security services in high footfall destinations from shopping centres and corporate businesses to retail environments.
Claire McKinley Smith, Managing Director of The Westgrove Group, said: “As a company, we take mental health extremely seriously so we are very proud to be one of the first facilities management companies in the UK to appoint a mental health first-aider.
“We are fully on board with the ‘Time to Change’ campaign, supported by many UK businesses, to take mental health more seriously in the work place as we believe that mental health needs to be given the same weight as physical first aid.
“Since starting in the new role, Paul has rolled out his training to the Westgrove team onsite and to the tenants within the Centre.
“He has already identified a number of vulnerable customers and offered them advice and support. We will be looking to appoint mental health first aiders at many more centres across our UK portfolio during 2019.”
The Westgrove Group was founded in 1998 by Group Chairmen Simon Whittle and Steve Fives. Based in Warrington, North West UK, it employs over 1,000 colleagues across the UK and has an annual turnover of £25M.
Paul Ogden, the Westgrove Group’s first Mental Health First-Aider
© Westgrove Group. 940 Lakeside Drive, Centre Park, Warrington, WA1 1QY. Tel 01925 414190. Westgrove Group, trading as Westgrove Support Services Ltd and Westgrove Cleaning Services Ltd, which are registered company’s in England. Registered address is 940 Lakeside Drive, Warrington, WA1 1QY. Registered numbers are 9215403 for Westgrove Support Services Ltd and 3599280 for Westgrove Cleaning Services Ltd.