For almost five decades, Capital Service Solutions (Capital SSG) has been providing reliable and high quality services to clients across the UK. Starting out as a cleaning company, Capital SSG has evolved hugely over the years and now offers a full range of soft services tailored specifically to each client’s specific and unique needs. Through this dedicated and personal approach, the company has been able to foster a trusted reputation amongst its clients and maintain long-term professional relationships across a range of industry sectors.
In October’s issue of FM Director, we spoke to Moreland McDiarmid, owner and managing director of Capital SSG. He told us all about the company, what sets it apart, where it all began and where it’s headed in the future.
In this issue, we hear from two other members of the Capital SSG family – Brian Byars, Head of Sales and Muzammil Farhan, Head of Finance, both instrumental in steering the company toward its ambitious growth targets.
Capital SSG recently transitioned to Limited Group status and relocated to larger premises, both key milestones underpinning its ambitious growth strategy. A central figure in these strategic developments is Muzammil Farhan, who joined the team in January 2024 and has already made a remarkable impact. A qualified chartered accountant, Muzammil has worked for some of the biggest names in the finance world, including KPMG. Having spent some time in the Middle East and Africa with companies such as Credo Investments and Lootah Holding, Muzammil moved to Scotland in 2022 where he completed a master’s degree in banking and finance and joined Capital SSG in early 2024.
“So far, so good,” says Muzammil about his experience at Capital over the last year. “We recently moved from a partnership to a limited company which is a good milestone and shows that there are strong prospects for the future.”
Speaking about Muzammil joining the company, Moreland commented: “I was looking for someone with the ability to take us to the next level. I wanted someone with the right background and experience who could bring both clarity and quality to the table. Muzammil has done that in bucket loads. He’s absolutely fantastic!”
A key part of Muzammil’s role at Capital SSG is working on a strategic growth plan to take the company forward over the next few years. Explaining more, Moreland said: “Muzammil has played an instrumental role in crafting our expansion plan, which is designed to attract external funding and support our ambitious goals. Through his efforts, we have developed a comprehensive strategy to increase our annual turnover by £2 million representing a 150% growth target by 2027. The recent transition to Limited
Group status and relocation to larger premises are pivotal moves underpinning Capital SSG’s ambitious growth strategy”.
The company’s future plans include expanding into new service markets such as industrial cleaning, hazard cleaning, and contract window cleaning, alongside a broader range of facilities management services. These include painting and fabric maintenance, disaster recovery cleaning, grounds management, and winterization services. By incorporating specialized training for team members, such as biohazard cleaning and PASMA, Capital SSG is well-positioned to diversify its service portfolio, cater to a wider range of client needs, and extend its geographical reach.
Another key part of Capital SSG’s growth plan was to bring in a Head of Sales, which is where Brian comes in. He joined the team in July 2024, bringing with him a wealth of applicable experience and industry relationships, having worked within the FM world his entire career. Over the last three decades Brian has worked with some of the biggest players in the FM industry, including Sodexo, Rentokil, Balfour Beatty and ISS, and is now playing an integral role in Capital SSG’s expansion strategy by find new business, as well as retaining and maintaining existing client relationships.
“We wanted to shake up our business model a little bit, and we’ve definitely done that over the last couple of months by looking at several things, including what our key differentials in in the marketplace are,” said Brian. “The biggest differential in my opinion is that we really put the worth and trust back into the workforce. We’ve already established ourselves as the first Scottish-based SME to be accredited as a Real Living Wage employer, which is huge. We’re now looking at developing a works council and re-writing our values.”
Brian added: “Since joining the company there have been a couple of notable standouts for me – most importantly, the values of the organisation and just how visible they are throughout the company.
“It’s often a challenge in business to keep everybody on the straight and narrow when it comes to company values, but when you can see that a business has strong, trustworthy values from the top down, like Capital SSG, then it makes it something that you want to be part of. When something feels good, you know you want to be part of that, and you don’t want it to become damaged in any way; it’s something that’s worth protecting.
“The other standout feature is the company’s ambition. Capital SSG wants to grow, move forward and champion a much more diverse capability in terms of services and scope, and that’s something I’m excited to be a part of. I’ve been given an open opportunity to look at widening both the scope of services that we can offer, and also the geographical reach. We want to expand into new territories and establish new operating areas. It’s an exciting time!”
“We appreciate the customers we have, and the work they give us,” says Moreland. “But we’re also eager to expand our offering and look at other services we can offer, to them and new customers as well. Brian is steadily taking us in the right direction for that.”
“It’s all about turning opportunities into commercial and operational realities,” adds Brian. “And again, that’s one of Capital SSG’s standout features. The organisation has been quick to jump on board in terms of delivery and service excellence and it has a strong ethos when it comes to customer service. In sales, the one thing you want when coming into a new organisation is a strong can-do attitude, and the Capital SSG team has that in abundance.”
