Click here to listen to the latest FM news on Friday 18th August 2023
Welcome to InTheNews – covering all the FM news you may have missed over the week:
The British Cleaning Council (BCC) has thanked the more than 450 industry members who have so far backed its campaign to make cleaning and hygiene a national priority.
It comes as a new assessment rating the likelihood of a pandemic in the future shows how important it is that the Government takes the measures being demanded in the campaign.
The recently published National Risk Register, ranked the chances of a future ‘catastrophic’ pandemic as up to 25 per cent.
BCC Chair Delia Cannings said: “I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has backed the campaign so far. But if you haven’t, please do take part. It is literally a matter of life and death and it should only take a few minutes to get involved.”
The government has announced it is acting to bring forward changes to regulations that will mean all new non-domestic public and private buildings will be required to provide separate single-sex toilets for women and men and/or a self-contained, private toilet as a minimum.
The change comes amid dignity and privacy concerns from women and elderly people who feel they are being unfairly disadvantaged as publicly accessible toilets are increasingly being converted into gender neutral facilities.
Kemi Badenoch, Minister for Women and Equalities, said: “It is important that everybody has privacy and dignity when using public facilities. Yet the move towards ‘gender neutral’ toilets has removed this fundamental right for women and girls.
“These proposals will ensure every new building in England is required to provide separate male and female or unisex facilities, and publish guidance to explain the difference, protecting the dignity, privacy and safety of all.”
NHS Shared Business Services has unveiled the third-generation of its Construction Consultancy framework agreement, ‘Healthcare Planning, Construction Consultancy & Ancillary Services (HPCCAS)’ with an offering that can speed up hospital builds.
The new framework agreement offers the NHS and other public sector organisations a compliant and cost-effective route for procuring construction-related services including architecture, civil and structural engineering and surveying, amongst others.
Melissa King, NHS SBS senior category manager – Construction & Infrastructure, commented: “To achieve the level of investment and regeneration required across the NHS and public sector, customers need a compliant, secure and trusted route that helps them navigate construction consultancy services through to procurement.”
On Monday 14 August, Arcus FM completed the acquisition of the Trios Group in its entirety, securing the purchase from its private equity owner Rcapital.
This acquisition takes Arcus FM a step closer to realising its ambition to be the largest provider of mobile facilities management services in the UK.
Theresa Bell, Chief Commercial Officer at Arcus FM, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Trios business, and said of the acquisition, “Trios is a business with exceptional capabilities at its core. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the individuals and teams that I’ve met throughout the purchase process – passionate people who truly care about the service their customers receive, which aligns so closely to the approach and mindset at Arcus.
“I’m really excited about what the future holds for both businesses.”
You can find out more on news.fmbusinessdaily.com
