UK facilities managers are being warned that summer maintenance windows are filling faster than ever and that teams leaving planning until May risk being locked out of their preferred contractors entirely.
The message comes from PTSG, one of the UK’s largest specialist building services providers, which says February and March have become the critical planning months for summer compliance programmes across educational, sports and commercial estates.
With the UK’s school and university summer closures creating a concentrated six-to-twelve-week window for major compliance works, demand for specialist contractors consistently outstrips supply. PTSG says the teams consistently delivering successful summer programmes are those already having detailed planning conversations — not those who will start calling around in May.
The stakes are higher than many FM teams appreciate. Empty buildings don’t mean safe buildings. When schools and universities close, water stagnating in unused pipework creates heightened Legionella risk requiring systematic monitoring and flushing throughout the holiday period. Fire safety remediation, electrical testing and building fabric inspections all compete for the same narrow access window – and each requires careful sequencing to complete within time.
Sports venues face parallel pressures. PTSG recently completed comprehensive structural inspections and steelwork painting at Celtic Park during the off-season work that would be unachievable across a 60,000-capacity match day.
PTSG, which operates across 170+ specialist services, warns that delayed planning doesn’t just mean higher costs – it means compromised compliance programmes where scope gets quietly reduced under time pressure.
To begin the conversation and book your summer compliance slots email shaun.caddick@ptsg.co.uk or via www.ptsg.co.uk
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